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Notes

CHAPTER ONE

1. Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness (1902), ch. ii. 2. Heart of Darkness, ch. ii. 3. Leo Africanus, The History and Description of Africa, translated by John Pory, edited by Robert Brown (London: Hakluyt Society, 1896), Vol. I, p. 187. 4. Useful discussions of these ideas are to be found in Michael Crowder, The Story of Nigeria, fourth edition (London: Faber & Faber, 1978); Philip D. Curtin, The Image of Africa: British Ideas and Action, 1780-1850 (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1964); James S. Coleman, Nigeria: Background to Nationalism (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1958); Nigerian Perspectives, edited by Thomas Hodgkin (London: Oxford University Press, 1960); Dorothy Hammond and Alta Jablow, The Africa That Never Was (New York: Twayne, 1970); Patrick Brantlinger, Rule of Darkness: British Literature and Imperialism, 1830-1914 (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1988). 5. 0. Mannoni, Prospero and Caliban: the Psychology of Colonization, translated by Pamela Powesland (New York: Praeger, 1964). 6. , (London: Heinemann, 1974), ch. xi. 7. Morning Yet on Creation Day (London: Heinemann, 1975), pp. 65-70. 8. I am indebted to the works listed in the Bibliography under 'Background Studies' for this brief description of Igbo culture. See, in addition, Achebe's recent account of how he came to write his novels in the Preface to African Trilogy (London: Picador, 1988), a reprinting of his first three novels in one volume. 9. Morning Yet on Creation Day, pp. 93-103. 10. Ibid., pp. 90-92. 11. Jean-Paul Sartre, 'Orphee noir', in Anthologie de la nouvells poesie negreet malgache (Paris: PUF, 1948), p. XX. 12. Morning Yet on Creation Day, p. 61. 13. African Writers on African Writing, edited by G. D. Killam (London: Heinemann, 1973), p. 12. 14. Morning Yet on Creation Day, pp. 19-29. 15. Ibid., p. 9. 16. Ibid., p. 24. 17. Ibid., pp. 42-5. 18. 'The Role of the Writer in a New Nation', Nigeria Magazine (Lagos), 81 (1964), 157. 19. African Writers Talking, edited by Dennis Duerden and Cosmo Pieterse (London: Heinemann, 1975), p. 7. 20. African Writers Talking, p. 13. 21. Morning Yet on Creation Day, p. 82.

196 Notes 197

22. 'The Black Writer's Burden', Presence Africaine, 31 (1966), 135. 23. Morning Yet on Creation Day, p. 15. 24. Bernth Lindfors, 'Achebe on Commitment and African writers', Africa Report (Washington, DC), 3 (March 1970), 16-18. 25. The Trouble with Nigeria (London: Heinemann, 1984), pp. 2, 62. Roland Oliver disputes Achebe's diagnosis in a review which suggests that countries also get the politicians they deserve (The Times Literary Supplement, 12 October 1984, p. 1150). 26. The Trouble with Nigeria, p. 63. For details of the recent political history of Nigeria I am indebted toT. C. McCaskie, 'Nigeria: Recent History', Africa South of the Sahara (London: Europe Publications, 1988), pp. 778-90. 27. They are collected in Hopes and Impediments: Selected Essays 1965- 1987 (London: Heinemann, 1988). Of the 14 essays in this collection five are reprinted from Morning Yet on Creation Day. 28. Hopes and Impediments, p. 12. 29. Ibid., p. 17. 30. Ibid., pp. 43-4. 31. Ibid., p. 36. 32. Ibid., p. 100. 33. Ibid., p. 45. 34. Ibid., p. 110. 35. Ibid., p. 112. 36. Ibid., p. 117.

CHAPTER FOUR

1. Arrow ofGod was first published by Heinemann in 1964 and then in their in 1965. In 1974 a revised edition appeared in which the author acknowledged he had removed 'certain structural weaknesses'. Three of the most striking changes are: (a) Obiageli's song in the first edition (pp. 79-80) is reduced to five lines in the revised edition (p. 65). (b) the 18-line continuation of the song in the first edition (p. 80) is omitted in the revised edition. (c) the story of the two boys in the world of the spirits (pp. 235-9) is reduced to a six-line introduction in the revised edition (pp. 190-1). For a detailed analysis of the revisions, see: Robert M. Wren, 'Achebe's Revisions of Arrow of God', Research in African Literatures, 7 (1976), 53-8; and Bruce King, 'The Revised Arrow of God', African Literature Today, 13 (1983), 69-78. 2. In a discussion of his fiction in 1972 (Michel Fabre, 'Chinua Achebe on Arrow of God', The Literary Half-Yearly, 21 (1980), 1-10) Achebe made the following comment on the phrase, 'in the name of the son':

There is a bit of parody there, but it is not really parody because Christianity is not a joke, and suddenly what will happen to the 198 Chinua Achebe

Ibo culture is not going to be a joke. But there is an even deeper possibility in which the harvest in the name of the son becomes a reversal of the natural order. In the society we have been looking at in this story, you do not do things in the name of the son but in the name of the father. The legitimacy is with the elders, the ancestors, with tradition and age. We now have a new dispensa• tion in which youth and inexperience earn a new legitimacy. (p. 7).

CHAPTER SEVEN

1. For 'Mother Idoto', see Christopher Okigbo' s poem, Heavensgate (1962), 'The Passage'. 2. Idemili's messenger and agent is Eke-Idemili, the royal python, who appears in the conflict between the gods Ulu and Idemili in Arrow of God.

CHAPTER EIGHT

1. Morning Yet on Creation Day, p. 94. 2. Ibid., p. 94. 3. Ibid., pp. 67-8. 4. Ibid., p. 90. 5. 'Dereliction'. 6. 'Mango Seedling'. 7. 'Beware, Soul Brother'. 8. 'Beware, Soul Brother'. 9. Morning Yet on Creation Day, p. 94. 10. Hopes and Impediments, p. 96. 11. Hopes and Impediments, p. 45; and John Keats, Letters, ed. M. B. Forman (London: Oxford University Press, 1931), 2 vols, I. 77. 12. Morning Yet on Creation Day, p. 94. 13. Hopes and Impediments, p. 93. 14. Ibid., pp. 115-6. 15. Illuminations, translated Harry Zohn (London: Fontana/Collins, 1973), pp. 83-109. Select Bibliography

This bibliography lists only Achebe' s main works and a selection from the large amount of criticism written about him. For a comprehensive list the annual bibliographies of the Journal of Commonwealth Literature should be consulted. Wren (1980) and Innes and Lindfors (1978) contain very useful bibliographies. The latter contains the best collection of critical essays; it is referred to below as Critical Perspectives. Journals which have devoted special issues to Achebe in recent years are: Echos du Commonwealth, 5 (1979-80) on Arrow of God; The Literary Half-Yearly, 21 Ganuary 1980) which also contains an up-to-date bibliography; and Research in African Literatures, 12 (Spring 1981).

(I) WORKS BY ACHEBE

Things Fall Apart (London: Heinemann, 1958). (London: Heinemann, 1960). The Sacrificial Egg and Other Stories (Onitsha: Etudo Ltd, 1962). Arrow of God (London: Heinemann, 1964; second edition, 1974). (London: Cambridge University Press, 1966). [Children's book] (London: Heinemann, 1966). Beware, Soul Brother (Enugu: Nwankwo-Ifejika, 1971; revised and enlarged edition, London: Heinemann, 1972). Girls at War and Other Stories (London: Heinemann, 1972). [Includes the stories in The Sacrificial Egg] (with John Iroaganachi) How the Leopard Got His Claws (Enugu: Nwamife, 1972). [Children's book] Morning Yet on Creation Day (London: Heinemann, 1975). The Drum (Enugu: Fourth Dimension, 1977). [Children's book] The Flute (Enugu: Fourth Dimension, 1977). [Children's book] The Trouble with Nigeria (Enugu: Fourth Dimension, 1983; Heinemann, 1984). (London: Heinemann, 1987). Hopes and Impediments: Selected Essays 1965-87 (London: Heinemann, 1988). [Reprints five essays from Morning Yet on Creation Day]

(II) BACKGROUND STUDIES

Basden, G. T., Among the lbos of Southern Nigeria (London: Seeley Service, 1921). --,Niger Ibos (London: Seeley Service, 1938). These two books, written by a missionary, provide an ethnographic picture of the Onitsha Igbo early in this century.

199 200 Chinua Achebe

Forde, D. and G. I. Jones, The lbo and lbibio-Speaking Peoples of South-eastern Nigeria (London: International African Institute, 1950). Standard ethno• graphic survey. Isichei, E. A., A History of the Igbo People (London: Macmillan, 1976). A comprehensive cultural and historical account. Ogbalu, F. Chidozie and E. Nolue Emenanjo, Igbo Language and Culture (lbadan: Oxford University Press, 1975). Interesting on culture, history and proverbs. Uchendu, V. C., The Igbo of Southeast Nigeria (New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1965). Accessible account by an Igbo anthropologist. Wauthier, C., The Literature and Thought of Modern Africa, translated Shirley Kay. Second English edition. (London: Heinemann, 1978.) Most com• prehensive background study of the literature and thought of the period as a whole. Wren, R. M., Achebe's World: the Historical and Cultural Context of the Novels of Chinua Achebe (London: Longman, 1980). Useful material with exten• sive glossary and bibliography.

(III) CRITICISM

Booth, ]., Writers and Politics in Nigeria (London: Hodder, 1981). Chapter on No Longer at Ease and A Man of the People. Brown, H. R., 'lgbo Words for the Non-Igbo: Achebe's Artistry in Arrow of God', Research in African Literatures, 12 (1981), 69-85. Brown, L. W., 'Cultural Norms and Modes of Perception in Achebe's Fiction', Research in African Literatures, 3 (1972), 21-35. Achebe's ironic treatment of Western views of Africa. Rpt in Critical Perspectives. Duerden, D. and C. Pieterse (eds), African Writers Talking: A Collection of Radio Interviews (London: Heinemann, 1972). Contains interviews with Achebe. Echeruo, M. ]. C., 'Chinua Achebe', in A Celebration of Black and African Writing, ed. B. King and K. Ogunbesan (lbadan: Oxford University Press, 1975), pp. 150-63. Relates the novels to Igbo culture. Egudu, R. N., 'Achebe and the Igbo Narrative Tradition', Research in African Literatures, 12 (1981), 43-54. The various function of anecdotes in the novels. Griffiths, G., 'Language and Action in the Novels of Chinua Achebe', African Literature Today, 5 (1971), 88-105. The paradox of Achebe using English for self-discovery. Rpt in Critical Perspectives. Innes, C. L., 'Language, Poetry and Doctrine in ', in Critical Perspectives (1978), pp. 111-25. Language as it both limits and extends thought is linked to the action of the novel. Innes, C. L. and B. Lindfors, Critical Perspectives on Chinua Achebe (Washington DC: Three Continents Press, 1978; London: Heinemann, 1979). Irele, A., 'The Tragic Conflict in Achebe's Novels', Black Orpheus, 17 (1965), 24-32. Succinct account of the first three novels as a tragic trilogy. Rpt in Critical Perspectives. Select Bibliography 201

Jabbi, B., 'Myth and Ritual in Arrow of God', African Literature Today, 11 (1980), 130-48. Killam, G. D., The Writings of Chinua Achebe (London: Heinemann, 1977). Revised pioneering study of 1969, contains useful background material. Larson, C. R., The Emergence of African Fiction (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1972). A chapter on Things Fall Apart as the 'archetypal' African novel. Lindfors, B., 'The Palm Oil with which Achebe's Words are Eaten', African Literature Today, 1 (1968), 3-18. Pioneering study of Achebe's use of proverbs. Rpt in Critical Perspectives. --, 'The Folktale as Paradigm in Chinua Achebe' s Arrow of God', Studies in Black Literature, 1 (1970), 1-15. Both articles reprinted in Folklore in Nigerian Literature (New York: Africana Publishing Co., 1973). Macdonald, B. F., 'Chinua Achebe and the Structure of Colonial Tragedy', Literary Half- Yearly, 21 (1980), 50-63. Distinguishes between colonial and Aristotelian tragic effects in Things Fall Apart. Mahood, M. M., The Colonial Encounter (London: Rex Collings, 1977). One chapter interprets and evaluates Arrow of God. Rpt in Critical Perspectives. Meyers, J., 'Culture and History in Things Fall Apart', Critique, 11 (1969), 25-32. Moore, G., Seven African Writers (London: Oxford University Press, 1962). A lively introduction to the first two novels. Ngugi wa Thiong'o, 'Chinua Achebe: A Man of the People', Homecoming: Essays on African and Caribbean Literature, Culture and Politics (London: Heinemann, 1972), pp. 51-4. Questions Achebe's social critique in the novel. Rpt in Critical Perspectives. Nnolim, C. E., 'A Source for Arrow of God', Research in African Literature, 8 (1977), 1-26. Useful anthropological material. Rpt in Critical Perspectives with reply by C. L. Innes. Obiechina, E., Culture, Tradition and Society in the West African Novel (London: Cambridge University Press, 1975). Sensitive sociological approach, with references to Things Fall Apart and Arrow of God, passim. Ogungbesan, K., 'Politics and the African Writer: The Example of Chinua Achebe', African Studies Review, 17 (1974), 43-54. Achebe's changing views of the role of the African writer. Rpt in Critical Perspectives. Ravenscroft, A., Chinua Achebe (Harlow: Longman for the British Council, revised edition, 1977). Sound introduction to the novels. Rogers, P., 'Chinua Achebe's Poems of Regeneration', Journal of Common• wealth Literature, 10 (1976), 1-9. Major poetic themes examined. Rpt in Critical Perspectives. --, 'No longer at Ease: Chinua Achebe's "Heart of Whiteness."' Research in African Literatures, 14 (1983), 164-83. Detailed study of multiple literary allusions to European modernism. Roscoe, A., Mother is Gold: A Study in West African Literature (London: Cambridge University Press, 1971). Sections on Achebe's use of proverbs and satire. Stock, A. G., 'Yeats and Achebe', Journal of Commonwealth Literature, 5 (1968), 105-11. Comparative views of history and culture. Rpt in Critical Perspectives. 202 Chinua Achebe

Walsh, W., 'Chinua Achebe', in A Manifold Voice: Studies in Commonwealth Literature (London: Chatto and Wind us, 1970), pp. 48-61. Critical evaluation of the first four novels. Wren, R. M., 'Mister Johnson and the complexity of Arrow of God', in Critical Perspectives (1978), pp. 207-18. Comparative study of their historical and cultural contexts. --, 'From Ulu to Christ: the Transfer of Faith in Chinua Achebe's Arrow of God', Christianity and Literature, 27 (1978), 28-40. Index

Achebe, Chinua, childhood and Brown, Dr Robert, 184 education, 11-12, 186; events Cambridge, 123 of life, ix; Igbo heritage, 186-7; Cary, Joyce, 12 and role of the writer, 23-7, Coleman, James, 196 165-6; his use of English, 22-3, Commonwealth Poetry Prize, ix 190-2 Congo, 2, 23, 93 WORKS: Conrad, Joseph, 2, 3, 4, 10, 74, 93 Anthills of the Savannah, 12, 31, Crowder, Michael, 196 167-85, 190, 193, 195 Curtin, Philip D., 196 Arrow of God, 9-11, 12, 17, 86- 118, 121, 128, 167, 187-8, 192, Darwin, Charles, 4 193 Dickens, Charles, 124 Beware, Soul Brother, 159-66, 189 Direct Rule, 18, 117 Girls at War, 146-59 Dual Mandate, The (Lugard), 7 A Man of the People, 12, 25, 119- Duerden, Dennis, 185 45, 153, 155, 156, 167, 168, 170, 184, 189-90 East Africa, ix Morning Yet on Creation Day, 11- Eastern Region (Nigeria), ix, 20 12, 16, 17, 22, 23, 24, 186, 187 Ekwensi, Cyprian, 11 No Longer at Ease, 12, 62-85, 95-6, 119, 121, 168, 189 Federal Constitution, 19 Things Fall Apart, 12, 32-61, 62, 64, 66, 70, 74, 77, 79, 83, 86, 89, Golding, William, 60-1 92, 94, 95, 100, 101, 104, 113, Gowon, Lt. Col. 19, 20, 21 119, 121, 128, 165, 167, 187-8, Great Chain of Being, 4 189, 190 Greene, Graham, 84 'Achebe on Commitment and African Writers', 26 Hammond, Dorothy, 196 The Black Writer's Burden', 25-6 Hardy, Thomas, 59 'The Role of the Writer', 25 Harvard, 123 African Personality, 25 Hausa, 13, 20 African Socialism, 25 Heart of Darkness (Conrad), 1-3, 10, 74, 93 The Beautyful Ones Are Not Yet Born Heart of the Matter, The (Greene), 84 (Armah), 175 Hitler, 160 Belsen, 164 Hodgkin, Thomas, 196 Benin, 11 Berlin Africa Conference, 6 lbadan, 19 Beti, Mongo, 11 Ife, 11 'Black Orpheus' (Sartre), 22-3, 196 Igbos, and British, 18-19; and Civil Bonny, 18 War, 19-21; personal god (chi), Brazil, ix 16-17, 36, 39; religion, 15-17; Britain, ix slaves, 18; social grouping, 12- British Broadcasting Corporation, ix 15; territory, 12-13

203 204 Index

Indirect Rule, 7, 8, 18-19, 92, 95, Ogidi, ix 99-101, 110, 117 Oil Rivers Protectorate, 18 Inheritors, The (Golding), 60-1 Ojukwu, Lt. Col., 20 Ironsi, Gen., 19 Okigbo, Christopher, 198 Okike, ix Jablow, Alta, 196 Onitsha, 13, 17, 148-50, 187 Jock Campbell - New Statesman Oxford, 123 Award, ix Oyono, Ferdinand, 11

Kaduna, 20 Petals of Blood (Ngugi), 175 Kano, 20 Pieterse, Cosmo, 196 Killam, G.D., 196 Port Harcourt, 20 Kingsley, Mary, 3 Portuguese, 18 Pory, John, 196 Lagos, 65, 66, 67, 73-83, 94, 161 Powesland, Pamela, 184 Laye, Camara, 11 Prester, John, 1 Leo Africanus, 3, 196 Prince Henry the Navigator, 1 Lindors, Bernth, 197 Linnaean classification, 4 Republic of Biafra, ix, 20 Lord of the Flies (Golding), 60 Rockefeller, ix Lugard, Lord, 7, 18 Sahara, 4, 12 Mannoni, 0., 196 Sartre, Jean-Paul, 22-3, 196 Margaret Wong Memorial Prize, ix Scramble for Africa, 6, 9 Mayor of Casterbridge, The (Hardy), Second World War, 9, 12 59 Slave trade, 5, 18 Missionaries, 8-9, 49, 57, 79-80, South American Indians, 4 102-7, 113-14, 118, 163-5 (Cary), 12 Mister Johnson Tutuola, Amos, 11 Mosquito (anopheles), 6

Negritude, 25 UNESCO, ix Niger, 13, 18, 60, 66, 94, 150 University College lbadan, ix Niger Company, 149, 150 University of Nsukka, ix Nigerian Army, 19, 21 University of Texas, 26 Nigerian Broadcasting USA, ix Corporation, ix Nigerian Civil War, 20, 21, 27, 146, Voice, The (6kara), 175 153, 155-8, 159-62 Nigerian Independence, 12 Western Region (Nigeria), 19, 20, Nigerian National Trophy, ix 103 Noble Savage, 4 Wren, Robert M., 197 Northern Region (Nigeria), 19, 20, 99 Yoruba, 13