Achebe's Things Fall Apart

by Ogede, Ode

• ISBN13: 9780826490841
• ISBN10: 0826490840
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2007-05-16
• Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic

Summary

Chinua Achebe's remarkable novel Things Fall Apart (1958) is probably the best known African novel and has become one of the world's most influential literary masterpieces. Since publication, a total of nearly 12 million copies have been sold, with translations into more than 50 languages. Despite its undoubted success, its apparent simplicity has tended to blind readers to the dazzling storytelling resources and the inventive language, plot, setting and characterization which first draw them to the novel and keep them reading. This introduction to the text is the ideal companion to study, offering guidance on: Literary and historical context, Language, style and form, Reading the text, Critical reception and publishing history, Adaptation and interpretation, Further reading. Book jacket.

Author Biography

Ode Ogede is Professor of English at North Carolina Central University and past vice-president of the Modern Language Association of Nigeria

Table of Contents

Preface	p. ix
The Contexts of Achebe's Writings	p. 1
Unity and Variety in Structure, Language, Style and Form	p. 17
Reading Things Fall Apart: The Communal World, the Embattled Zones of Conquest, and the Decline of Tradition	p. 39
Critical Reception, Interpretation and Afterlife (Adaptation and Influence)	p. 83
Notes	p. 95
Guide to further reading	p. 103
Bibliography	p. 107
Index	p. 117
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