Books by Chinua Achebe

One of the BBC's '100 Novels That Shaped Our World'A worldwide bestseller and the first part of Achebe's African Trilogy, Things Fall Apart is the compelling story of one man's battle to protect his community against the forces of changeOkonkwo is the greatest wrestler and warrior alive, and his fame spreads throughout West Africa like a bush-fire in the harmattan. But when he accidentally kills a clansman, things begin to fall apart. Then Okonkwo returns from exile to find missionaries and colonial governors have arrived in the village. With his world thrown radically off-balance he can only hurtle towards tragedy. First published in 1958, Chinua Achebe's stark, coolly ironic novel reshaped both African and world literature, and has sold over ten million copies in forty-five languages. This arresting parable of a proud but powerless man witnessing the ruin of his people begins Achebe's landmark trilogy of works chronicling the fate of one African community, continued in Arrow of God and No Longer at Ease.'His courage and generosity are made manifest in the work' Toni Morrison'The writer in whose company the prison walls fell down' Nelson Mandela'A great book, that bespeaks a great, brave, kind, human spirit' John UpdikeWith an Introduction by Biyi Bandele

Penguin Modern: fifty new books celebrating the pioneering spirit of the iconic Penguin Modern Classics series, with each one offering a concentrated hit of its contemporary, international flavour. Here are authors ranging from Kathy Acker to James Baldwin, Truman Capote to Stanislaw Lem and George Orwell to Shirley Jackson; essays radical and inspiring; poems moving and disturbing; stories surreal and fabulous; taking us from the deep South to modern Japan, New York's underground scene to the farthest reaches of outer space.

Includes "Things Fall Apart", "No Longer at Ease", and "Arrow of God". In "Things Fall Apart" the individual tragedy of Okonkwo, 'strong man' and tribal elder in the Nigeria of the 1890s is intertwined with the transformation of traditional Igbo society under the impact of Christianity and colonialism.

From the legendary author of Things Fall Apart comes this long-awaited memoir recalling Chinua Achebe's personal experiences of and reflections on the Biafran War, one of Nigeria's most tragic civil warsChinua Achebe, the author of Things Fall Apart, was a writer whose moral courage and storytelling gifts have left an enduring stamp on world literature. There Was a Country was his long-awaited account of coming of age during the defining experience of his life: the Nigerian Civil War, also known as the Biafran War of 1967-1970. It became infamous around the world for its impact on the Biafrans, who were starved to death by the Nigerian government in one of the twentieth century's greatest humanitarian disasters. Caught up in the atrocities were Chinua Achebe and his young family. Achebe, already a world-renowned novelist, served his Biafran homeland as a roving cultural ambassador, witnessing the war's full horror first-hand. Immediately after the war, he took an academic post in the United States, and for over forty years he maintained a considered silence on those terrible years, addressing them only obliquely through his poetry. After years in the making There Was A Country presents his towering reckoning with one of modern Africa's most fateful experiences, both as he lived it and came to understand it. Marrying history and memoir, with the author's poetry woven throughout, There Was a Country is a distillation of vivid observation and considered research and reflection. It relates Nigeria's birth pangs in the context of Achebe's own development as a man and a writer, and examines the role of the artist in times of war.Reviews:'No writer is better placed than Chinua Achebe to tell the story of the Nigerian Biafran war ... [The book] makes you pine for the likes of Achebe to govern ... We have in There Was a Country an elegy from a master storyteller who has witnessed the undulating fortunes of a nation' Noo Saro-Wiwa, Guardian'Chinua Achebe's history of Biafra is a meditation on the condition of freedom. It has the tense narrative grip of the best fiction. It is also a revelatory entry into the intimate character of the writer's brilliant mind and bold spirit. Achebe has created here a new genre of literature' Nadine Gordimer'Part-history, part-memoir, [Achebe's] moving account of the war is laced with anger, but there is also an abiding tone of regret for what Nigeria might have been without conflict and mismanagement' Sunday TimesAbout the author:Chinua Achebe was born in Nigeria in 1930. He published novels, short stories, essays, and children's books. His volume of poetry, Christmas in Biafra, was the joint winner of the first Commonwealth Poetry Prize. Of his novels, Arrow of God won the New Statesman-Jock Campbell Award, and Anthills of the Savannah was a finalist for the 1987 Booker Prize. Things Fall Apart, Achebe's masterpiece, has been published in fifty different languages and has sold more than ten million copies. Achebe lectured widely, receiving many honors from around the world. He was the recipient of the Nigerian National Merit Award, Nigeria's highest award for intellectual achievement. In 2007, he won the Man Booker International Prize. He died in 2013.

Obi Okonkwo is an idealistic young man who, thanks to the privileges of an education in Britain, has now returned to Nigeria for a job in the civil service. However in his new role he finds that the way of government seems to be backhanders and corruption. Obi manages to resist the bribes that are offered to him, but when he falls in love with an unsuitable girl - to the disapproval of his parents - he sinks further into emotional and financial turmoil. The lure of easy money becomes harder to refuse, and Obi becomes caught in a trap he cannot escape. Showing a man lost in cultural limbo, and a Nigeria entering a new age of disillusionment, No Longer at Ease concludes Achebe's remarkable trilogy charting three generations of an African community under the impact of colonialism, the first two volumes of which are Things Fall Apart and Arrow of God.

'[The writer] in whose company the prison walls fell down' - Nelson Mandela. After a long silence Achebe published in 1987 what many see as his greatest work - an acrid, frightening look at oil-boom Nigeria, a world of robberies, road blocks and intimidation in which those who are meant to be protecting a country's citizens are in reality supervising the looting.

One of a series of fiction titles for schools. Okonkwo, a man of the Ibo tribe in Nigeria at the end of the last century, is a person of substance, character and promise, but he and his people are doomed to be destroyed - both from within the tribe and by the arrival of the white man.

This novel about Nigeria prophesied the 1983 coup.

The pieces here span reflections on personal and collective identity, on home and family, on literature, language and politics, and on Achebe's lifelong attempt to reclaim the definition of 'Africa' for its own authorship. For the first thirty years of his life, before Nigeria's independence in 1960, Achebe was officially defined as a 'British Protected Person'. In The Education of a British-Protected Child he gives us a vivid, ironic and delicately nuanced portrait of growing up in colonial Nigeria and inhabiting its 'middle ground', interrogating both his happy memories of reading English adventure stories in secondary school and also the harsher truths of colonial rule.

Asserts the author's belief in Joseph Conrad as a 'bloody racist' and his conviction that Conrad's novel "Heart of Darkness" only serves to perpetuate damaging stereotypes of black people. This title includes "The Trouble with Nigeria", the author's searing outpouring of his frustrations with his country.

Ezeulu, headstrong chief priest of the god Ulu, is worshipped by the six villages of Umuaro. But he is beginning to find his authority increasingly under threat - from his rivals in the tribe, from those in the white government and even from his own family. Yet he still feels he must be untouchable - surely he is an arrow in the bow of his God? Armed with this belief, he is prepared to lead his people, even if it means destruction and annihilation. Yet the people will not be so easily dominated.Spare and powerful, Arrow of God is an unforgettable portrayal of the loss of faith, and the struggle between tradition and change. Continuing the epic saga of the community in Things Fall Apart, it is the second volume of Achebe's African trilogy, and is followed by No Longer at Ease.

'...The story is the tragedy of Okonkwo, an important man in the Igbo tribe in the days when white men were first appearing on the scene ... a very simple but excellent novel'. The Observer Also available in an extended edition including essays, maps and illustrations

Achebe uses the 'fall' of one man, a descendent of the hero in Things Fall Apart, to depict the birth of a whole new age in Nigerian life - one ruled by the most powerful and disillusioning corruption. This edition includes an introduction by Simon E. Gikandi, Professor of English at Princeton University.

As Minister for Culture, the Honourable M. A. Nanga is 'a man of the people', as cynical as he is charming, and a roguish opportunist. At first, the contrast between Nanga and Odili, a former pupil who is visiting the ministry, appears huge. But in the 'eat-and-let-eat' atmosphere, Odili's idealism soon collides with his lusts - and the two men's personal and political tauntings threaten to send their country into chaos. Published, prophetically, just days before Nigeria's first attempted coup in 1966, A Man of the People is an essential part of his body of work dealing with modern African history.

'York Notes for GCSE' offers a useful approach to English Literature and aims to help readers achieve a better grade. Updated to reflect the needs of today's students, the new editions are filled with detailed summaries, commentaries on key themes, characters, language and style, illustrations, exam advice and much more.

This anthology represents the talent and scope to be found in contemporary African writing. It contains both new and previously published stories by such authors as Nadine Gordimer, Ben Okri, Kojo Laing, Mia Couto and Moyez Vassanji.

This anthology of 20 stories are from all over Africa, grouped geographically into four different sections - West, East, North and Southern Africa.

Efter fire års studier ved et engelsk universitet vender Obi Okonkwo hjem til sit fødeland Nigeria, hvor han får en fornem stilling i administrationen. Obi er en idealistisk og moralsk ung mand med store forhåbninger til Nigerias fremtid, men han opdager hurtigt, at den udbredte korruption i landet har dybe rødder, der er svære at hugge over. Fast besluttet på at vise sig som et forbillede og ændre den herskende mentalitet modstår Obi dog ethvert forsøg på bestikkelse, men da han både støder sammen med de gamle traditioner og får økonomiske problemer, bliver det sværere og sværere for ham at modstå fristelsen. Til sidst bliver han fanget i en fælde, han ikke kan slippe ud af.Trives ej længere her er Chinua Achebes anden roman. Den udkom i 1960, som var året, hvor Nigeria opnåede selvstændighed efter i 60 år at have været under britisk herredømme. Romanens hovedperson, Obi Okonkwo, er barnebarn af hovedpersonen Ogbuefi Okonkwo i Achebes berømte debutroman Alt falder fra hinanden."Chinua Achebe løser ikke korruptionens rådne gåde, men i Trives ej længere her skildrer han tørt smilende, hvordan den langsomt og systematisk æder et retskaffent menneske op indefra ... I efteråret udkom Chinua Achebes indtryksfulde roman Alt falder fra hinanden herhjemme. Nu udkommer den mindst lige så fængslende Trives ej længere her. Begge bøger blev oversat til dansk allerede i 1960'erne. Også dengang fik de anmelderne til at hoppe af begejstring, men siden har man skammeligt nok ikke skænket den verdensberømmede afrikanske forfatter mange tanker. Med den 83-årige Chinua Achebes død i 2013 får forfatterskabet sin anden blomstring, og de danske læsere en ny chance for at lære den enestående forfatter at kende. Grib den! Chinua Achebes skildring af den afrikanske sjæl er ubetalelig." – Henriette Bacher Lind, Jyllands-Posten"Det er en meget moralsk historie, men den er fortalt med den særlige sprødhed, der er karakteristisk for Achebe, en blanding af følsomhed og ironi, en viden, der hele tiden bæres af en bestemt form for uskyld. Man kunne kalde den 'afrikansk', fordi den rummer undren over alle de nye muligheder og en smertelig viden om, at der skal tages afsked med meget godt, dybt, mystisk og oprindeligt gammelt, før det ny kan accepteres og fungere rent." – Klaus Rifbjerg, Politiken"Glædeligt gensyn med en af Afrikas store forfattere. Denne har, ligesom Achebes øvrige romaner, moderne klassikerstatus ... Achebe skriver i et neddæmpet, enkelt og klart sprog med en underspillet humor." – Lektørudtalelse"Der var en forfatter, der hed Chinua Achebe, i hvis selskab fængselsmurene faldt ned." – Nelson Mandela

Okonkwo er kendt viden om som en stor bryder og kriger, og han er en af landsbyen Umuofias mest lovende mænd. I modsætning til sin far, som han foragter, er Okonkwo hårdtarbejdende, tapper og stolt, og hans største ambition er at blive en af stammens stormænd. Han har fra et fattigt udgangspunkt langsomt arbejdet sig hen imod dette mål, da sort uheld tvinger ham og hans familie ud i syv års landflygtighed. Da de endelig kan vende hjem til Umuofia, hvor Okonkwo planlægger at tage fat, hvor han slap, har alting forandret sig; engelske missionærer har gjort deres indtog og medbragt britisk administration og retsvæsen. Som følge heraf er stammens ældgamle traditioner og hierarkier i opbrud, og Okonkwo ser magtesløs til, mens alt omkring ham falder fra hinanden."Der var en forfatter, der hed Chinua Achebe, i hvis selskab fængselsmurene faldt ned." – Nelson Mandela"Det, der gør Alt falder fra hinanden til noget ganske særligt, er Achebes formidable evne til at fortælle historien fra afrikanernes synsvinkel uden samtidig at falde i den sentimentale grøft at fremstille livet før kolonisering som et sorgløst paradis, og livet under britisk styre som et mareridt. Det eneste, der er sort og hvidt i Achebes verden, er menneskenes hud. ... Hvis man kun vil læse en eneste afrikansk roman, foreslår jeg, at man læser denne suverænt fortalte, sansemættede, smukke og smertefulde historie." – Louise Windfeld-Høeberg, Weekendavisen"Chinua Achebes Alt falder fra hinanden er et afrikansk hovedværk om kultursammenstød skrevet med empati og humor. ... Romanen giver indblik i den oprindelige afrikanske kultur og er skrevet i et klart sprog med en overordnet synsvinkel. Den oftest nøgterne stil rummer en styrke, som stadig griber." – Eva Pohl, Berlingske"Læs og forstå var der nogle lærebøger i skolen, der hed. Når man har læst Alt falder fra hinanden, forstår man lidt mere om Afrikas kultur og historie. Forfatteren Chinua Achebe er så nøgtern og ryster ikke på hånden i sine beskrivelser af de voldsomme kultursammenstød – eller nærmere kulturovergreb – der finder sted. Achebe glorificerer eller fordømmer ikke hverken stammefolkene eller de hvide kristne. Han fortæller bare historien. Sproget er lavmælt, og det er netop manglen på store følelsesladede udbrud, der gør fortællingen så stærk og vedkommende. En vigtig bog, som er god at blive klog på." – Bettina Schnegelsberg-Laursen, Litteratursiden.dk