Prominent writers and critics recount their first encounter with the late Prof. Chinua Achebe’s first novel, Things Fall Apart, to Evelyn Osagie
It means different things to various people. To some, it is the ultimate African novel. To others, it is a pioneer novel that should be judged based on the time it was published.
The late Prof. Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart has proved to be a novel, which has surpassed the writer and the publisher’s dream for it.
Writing it was an experiment; publishing it was also an experiment, but it is one experiment that the world will never forget.
Prominent Nigerian authors and critics share their first encounter with the book that has been translated into over 50 languages, including Igbo and Yoruba (Igbesi Aye Okonkwo):
Gabriel Okara, author
I can’t remember exactly when I first read Things Fall Apart. I think it was in the 60s. And I’ll tell you this, I was really impressed because of how he brought out the frustration and problem that Africans were faced with at the time with the Europeans, particularly the missionaries. I found it interesting because here is a book written in a way I would have liked to write. I was happy that someone had done what I was trying to do in writing our African experience using the English man’s language to explain the African experience. And I appreciated the skills with which he did it.
Prof. Niyi Osundare, poet
1965 was when I first read Things Fall Apart. I was in secondary school then. Things Fall Apart came at the right time. It was at a time the WAEC syllabus was being Africanised. We were lucky our set had Things Fall Apart in our WAEC syllabus as the text for prose. We had had texts from African poets like Prof. Wole Soyinka, Gabriel Okara, J.P. Clark, Lenrie Peters (Gambia), Kofi Awoonor (Ghana) and so on. Before Things Fall Apart were terrible books, which were written by Europeans, who portrayed Africans as fools, buffoons, sorcerers, witches, violent and blood-thirsty people. And we as Africans were made to read these books as written by these racists. So Things Fall Apart came as a refreshing alternative. It was the first time we read a novel written by an African that portrays our lives.
We all loved it. Soon after, we took nicknames from characters in the books. For instance, one of our class mates was called Okonkwo because he was the man of anger. Above all that, those of us from the west found that there were a lot of correspondences between Igbo culture and that of Yoruba, such as proverbs, the role of masquerades, etc. The novel was not just an Igbo novel but one that portrays the traditional African society, which every African can identify with.
My favourite of his novels is Things Fall Apart. I have taught for over 35 years now. It represents Achebe’s literary essence because of its delicate simplicity.
Hafsat Abdul, novelist
I came across Things Fall Apart over 20 years ago. Since then I have read almost all of Achebe’s works. I admired him for writing about his culture and he was the first that wrote such a great book. It was well arranged and Achebe deserves the recognition.
Elechi Amadi, author
The first time I read Things Fall Apart was in 1958/59 after the excitement of Jagua Nana in 1954 by Cyprian Ekwensi and then the avalanche of the novel started.
My impression of the book then was that I felt it was well-written. The language was “rock-solid’. He handled the English language competently. In my opinion, compared to his other novels, Things Fall Apart is his best. It was the first novel written by a Nigerian or an African to attain world recognition. And because of that, he became an inspiration to those who wrote after. He galvanised us into action to write books of quality as he had done. Achebe was an inspiration. Achebe was my prefect at Niger House at Government College, Umuahia. We knew each other personally. He was dutiful and dedicated. He always carried a novel at that time. He was always with Thomas Hardy’s novels while strolling around. I feel Achebe ought to have won a Nobel Prize.
Ahmed Yerima, playwright
The first time I read the novel was in 1973 when I was in Form Three. I found it captivating and descriptive and it made me feel I was in the village. One thing reading the novel did was to inspire me to desire to write. I marvelled at the lucid use of language. It made me see what I had never been before. At that time it was a boost that challenged contemporary writers. The book has put Nigeria in the literary limelight of the world. I have seen the book in many languages. I have seen Things Fall Apart in India. I remember I met a young man holding a translated copy in India. When I asked him if he had read it, he said the first time he read he borrowed the book from a friend of his and later proceeded to buy his own copy.
Prof. Ernest Emenyonu,
author and critic
My first contact with Things Fall Apart was in the mid 60s. I was a student then. I read it in 1958 in Teacher Training school. My intellectual contact was in 1964/65. I had done a small book on Things Fall Apart meant for teachers and secondary school students who would teach and read it. And when I came to University of Nigeria, Nsukka, in 1965/66, I read it again.
The first time I read the book, I read it because everybody was reading it. The second time was as a student. My first contact with the book was an exciting one; I enjoyed it. It reminded us of home. By the writing of the book, Achebe opened the door for contemporary African writers of the 21st century and, by his success, he had given them the boldness to write the story of their land, focusing on the traditional African culture, with the use of proverbs as part of its narrative texture. While exalting the strength of the African culture, he condemned the weakness inherent therein like the killing of twins.
Prof. Akachi Ezeigbo, novelist
Even though I had heard about it before the war, I read it as an undergraduate in the 70s. It was a big surprise because it was very different from anything I had read in my life. I attended a missionary school and they made us read books written by European authors, like Charles Dickens. I was amazed that literature could be written from the point of view of the African, telling our own story, bringing in proverbs and so on. Before then, all other African writers, like Peter Abrahams, wrote in English but none carried the kind of African colouring that Achebe’s book had, like proverbs, folklores and all. Chinua Achebe reflected the Africaness in his writings.
Odia Ofeimum, poet
I actually read No longer at Ease before reading Things Fall Apart.I read Things Fall Apart when I was 13 years old. One funny thing is that the part that stuck to my head in the whole of the book was the evil forest. This may be because there were folklores about it around me. The book wasn’t as effective then, as it is now. In my opinion, Things Fall Apart is not a model African novel but a pioneer novel that needed to be celebrated. It is not my favourite of Achebe’s books; my favourite is Arrow of God. Things Fall Apart made it seem as if fighting for the right things was wrong with the death of Okonkwo. I say it was a good fight. We needed the spirit of Okonkwo to confront evil.
Dr. Ifeoma Nwoye, author
I read Things Fall Apart when I was in secondary school in the 70s. At that time, because of the vivid nature with which the story was told I became a participant, especially when the story was from one village to the other. It was so close home and I understood the terrain. And any time one hears others talk about Things Fall Apart, one is moved and becomes a sort of participant.
My impression of the book at that time because I was young, after reading the book I hated everybody involved in the killing of Ikemefuna: I didn’t like Okonkwo and the men who went with him; I hated the elders for killing Ikemefuna eventually. I didn’t like Chinua Achebe allowing Ikemefuna to be killed. I wondered: why did Ikemefuna have to die? But as I grew older, especially when I became a writer, and today, I look at him differently. As a writer, to make the story real, it must not end the way the readers want or expect. Apart from that, I was at home with the novel; it presented the traditional African society in a vivid manner that every African can identify with.
•Parts of this report were first published in The Nation during the 50th anniversary of Things Fall Apart.
