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| Chinua Achebe. Photo Credit: Naijamajor Icon |
Chinua Achebe, the greatest
African novelist who ever lived died on Friday morning in Boston.
A statement released on
behalf of his family said Mr Achebe was "one of the great literary voices
of his time".
"He was also a beloved
husband, father, uncle and grandfather, whose wisdom and courage are an
inspiration to all who knew him. Professor Achebe's family requests privacy at
this time."
Best known for his 1958 novel
Things Fall Apart, Achebe fiction masterpiece was the story of how the British
came to Nigeria to colonize the country in the 19th century. In the
novel, Achebe describes the Igbo culture and how it adjusted to the gradual
intrusion of the white man. The book went on to be a best seller with over 10m
copies sold worldwide and printed in 50 languages.
Early life
Born Albert Chinualumogu, 16 November 1930 in Ogidi, in southeastern Nigeria. He was raised by his parents in the
Igbo town and Achebe excelled at school and won a
scholarship for undergraduate studies. Studied at
Government College, Umuahia, 1944–47; University College, Ibadan,
1948–53, B.A. (London), 1953.
Experience
Worked in various positions for the Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation in
Lagos and Enugu, 1954–66. Married Christiana Chinwe Okoli, 1961 and had two
sons and two daughters.
He was the founding editor of Heinemann African Writers series, 1962–72, and
director, Heinemann Educational Books (Nigeria), and Nwankwo-Ifejika
(later Nwamife) publishers, Enugu, from 1970. He was chair, Citadel Books,
Enugu, 1967. Senior research fellow, 1967–73, and professor of English,
1973–81, now emeritus, University of Nigeria, Nsukka
He became fascinated with world
religions and traditional African cultures, and began writing stories as a
university student. After graduation, he worked for the Nigerian Broadcasting
Service (NBS) and soon moved to the metropolis of Lagos. He gained worldwide
attention for Things Fall Apart in the late 1950s.
When the region of Biafra
broke away from Nigeria in 1967, Achebe became a supporter of Biafran
independence and acted as ambassador for the people of the new nation. The war
ravaged the populace, and as starvation and violence took its toll, he appealed
to the people of Europe and the Americas for aid.
After the war, Achebe helped start two magazines: the literary journal Okike, a forum for African art, fiction, and poetry; and Nsukkascope, an internal publication of the University. Achebe and the Okike committee later established another cultural magazine, Uwa Ndi Igbo, to showcase the indigenous stories and oral traditions of the Igbo community.
When the Nigerian government
retook the region in 1970, he involved himself in political parties but soon
resigned due to frustration over the corruption and elitism he witnessed. In
1990 a car accident in Nigeria left him paralysed from the waist down, and
forced his move to the US.
Achievements
Achebe was made a Professor
at the University of Massachusetts in the United States. (1970)
In February 1972 he released Girls at War, a collection of short stories ranging in time from his undergraduate days to the recent bloodshed.
He was awarded with an
honorary doctorate from the University of Stirling and the Lotus Prize for
Afro-Asian Writers. (1975)
He won the Commonwealth
poetry prize for his collection ‘Christmas in Biafra’.
He was a finalist for the
1987 Booker prize for his novel Anthills of the Savannah.
He became the Charles P.
Stevenson Professor of Languages and Literature at Bard College in
Annandale-on-Hudson, New York; he held the position for more than fifteen
years. (1990)
Achebe won the Man Booker
International prize. (2007)
He joined the Brown
University faculty as the David and Marianna Fisher University Professor of
Africana Studies. (2009)
In 2010, Achebe was awarded
The Dorothy and Lillian Gish Prize for $300,000, one of the richest prizes for
the arts.
He was awarded Commander of
the Federal Republic of Nigeria– a national honour – first in 2004, and second
in 2011. (Posts he rejected because he said he had lost faith in the
government).
He was made a David and
Marianna Fisher university professor and professor of Africana studies.
His work
Achebe novels include: No
Longer at Ease (1960), Arrow of God (1964), A Man of the People (1966), and
Anthills of the Savannah (1987). Achebe wrote his novels in English and
defended the use of English, a "language of colonisers", in African
literature. In 1975, his lecture An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad's
"Heart of Darkness" featured a famous criticism of Joseph Conrad as
"a bloody racist"; it was later published amid some controversy.
His fourth novel, A Man of
the People was published in 1966.
He went on to write what he
called a "limited harvest" of five novels – the most recent of which
was 1987's Anthills of the Savannah.
His most recent work was
published last year by Penguin Books, a mix of memoir and an account of the
Nigerian civil war called, ‘There Was a Country: A Personal History of Biafra.’
Achebe left behind his wife
of many years, children and grand-children.
World leaders including
Nelson Mandela, Wole Soyinka and many others from across the world have paid
their respects to a master and literary gem that the world will find difficult
to replace.
Burial arrangements will soon
be announced.
