Chinua Achebe Things Fall Apart

First posted 6/12/2020; last updated 7/5/2020.

Things Fall Apart Chinua Achebe

First Publication: 1958 Category: poetic fiction/children’s novel Sales: 20 million

Accolades:

About the Book: “Things Fall Apart is the first of three novels in Chinua Achebe’s critically acclaimed African Trilogy.” AZ “Its story chronicles pre-colonial life in the south-eastern part of Nigeria and the arrival of the Europeans during the late nineteenth century.” WK “The title of the novel was borrowed from W. B. Yeats’ 1919 poem ‘The Second Coming.’” WK The story is “told through the fictional experiences of Okonkwo, a wealthy and fearless Igbo warrior” AZ “and local wrestling champion in the fictional Nigerian clan of Umuofia.” WK “The work is split into three parts, with the first describing his family, personal history, and the customs and society of the Igbo, and the second and third sections introducing the influence of British colonialism and Christian missionaries on the Igbo community.” WK Things Fall Apart explores one man’s futile resistance to the devaluing of his Igbo traditions by British political andreligious forces and his despair as his community capitulates to the powerful new order.” AZ The book “provides one of the most illuminating and permanent monuments to African experience. Achebe does not only capture life in a pre-colonial African village, he conveys the tragedy of the loss of that world while broadening our understanding of our contemporary realities.” AZ The book has been translated into 57 languages AZ and “is a staple book in schools throughout Africa and is widely read and studied in English-speaking countries around the world.” WZ Resources and Related Links: AZ Amazon WK Wikipedia