Chinua Achebe death anniversary: Books and Quotes by Africa’s most widely read novelist

Often hailed as the most widely read African novelist, Chinua Achebe works are integral to the understanding of African literature. March 21, 2020 marks the author’s sixth death anniversary.

Often hailed as the most widely read African novelist, Chinua Achebe works are integral to the understanding of African literature. March 21, 2020 marks the author’s sixth death anniversary.

Often hailed as the most widely read African novelist, Chinua Achebe works are integral to the understanding of African literature. (Wikipedia.org)

Born in Eastern Nigeria in 1930, Achebe published his first stories while in undergraduate college in 1950. Eight years later, came his most popular work and debut novel Things Fall Apart.

This tale chronicled the life of Nigerians before being colonized and the arrival of the British into the country. It won Achebe the Margaret Wrong Memorial Prize.

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When Nigeria won independence in 1960, Achebe published his next novel No Longer at Ease, which was also a huge hit and won several accolades. Dedicated to preservation of the Igbo culture, Achebe’s book reflected an Igbo man’s dilemma in choosing between his African roots and European lifestyle.

But the times were tough for the Igbos. In the period from 1966 to 1967, many Igbos were massacred as the country saw military coups. After the second coup, Achebe had to leave the country.

Achebe kept talking of the crisis at the world stage during the Nigerian Civil War and published Beware Soul Brother after the war ended in 1971.

He taught for a few years at the University of Massachusetts and later went back to his country and began teaching at the University of Nigeria. In 1979, the Girls at War author received the Nigerian National Merit Award and the Order of the Federal Republic.

Achebe had a vision for improving the economy and status of his country. This led him to venture into politics. But this was short lived and he soon returned to literature and began teaching at Massachusetts.

He died at the age of 82 in Boston due to a brief illness. But through his life and tales, Achebe has let the world know more about Nigeria and Nigerians.

Here are some famous quotes penned by Achebe:

-- The world is like a Mask dancing. If you want to see it well, you do not stand in one place.

-- Until the lions have their own historians, the history of the hunt will always glorify the hunter.

-- One of the truest tests of integrity is its blunt refusal to be compromised.

-- Art is man’s constant effort to create for himself a different order of reality from that which is given to him.

-- While we do our good works let us not forget that the real solution lies in a world in which charity will have become unnecessary.

-- Nobody can teach me who I am. You can describe parts of me, but who I am - and what I need - is something I have to find out myself.

-- One of the truest tests of integrity is its blunt refusal to be compromised

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