Things Fall Apart
Posted by Peter W. Schramm
This piece in the Los Angeles Times reminds us that Chinua Achebe’s great novel, Things Fall Apart, is fifty years old, and of course, very much worth reading and re-reading. I have used it in class next to Ellison’s Invisible Man, with some effect.
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Double fine-reminder; a great novel indeed.
I obtained the novel at a furniture store. "Things Fall Apart" was used as a prop in a bookshelf. I asked them whether I could have the book, but they insisted on charging me something nominal for it--despite a title that you would think inappropriate for quality furniture!
It can be compared to the Bard's Coriolanus or to other texts concerning classical republicanism to powerful effect.
Incidentally, some readers get the wrong idea from the novel about Achebe's take on Christianity and missionaries. A friend of mine met Achebe's son, Chitu or Chiti, I think, who was a devout Christian with his father's approval. And his other novel are also great, BTW, especially Man of the People.