Understanding Things Fall Apart: A Student Casebook to Issues, Sources, and Historical Documents

by Ogbaa, Kalu

• ISBN13: 9780313302947
• ISBN10: 0313302944
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1999-01-30
• Publisher: Greenwood Pub Group

Summary

Things Fall Apart is the most widely read and influential African novel. Published in 1958, it has sold more than nine million copies and been translated into fifty-two languages. African culture is not familiar to most American readers however, and this casebook provides a wealth of commentary and original materials that place the novel in its historical, social, and cultural contexts. Ogbaa, an Igbo scholar, has selected a wide variety of historical and firsthand accounts of the Igbo historical and cultural heritage. These accounts illuminate the historical context and issues relating to the colonization of Africa by European powers, in particular Britain's colonization of Nigeria. Fascinating materials bring to light the novel's cultural context--folkways, language and narrative customs, and traditional Igbo religion. Among the documents included are a slave narrative, interviews, journal and magazine articles, and historical essays. Each chapter is followed by questions for class discussion and ideas for student paper topics. A selection of maps and photos of Igbo culture complement the text.

Author Biography

KALU OGBAA, an Igboman scholar, is professor of English at Southern Connecticut State University, where he teaches Africana (African, African American, and Afro-Caribbean) and American literatures.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	xiii	(2)
Introduction	xv
1. Literary Analysis: Unifying Elements of Things Fall Apart	1	(20)
2. Historical Context I: The Scramble for and Partition of Africa FROM:
J.D. Omer-Cooper et al.
The Making of Modern Africa, vol. 1. (1968)	28	(4)
C. Raymond Beazley
Prince Henry the Navigator (1967)	32	(4)
Theodore Canot
Adventures of an African Slaver (1928)	36	(3)
Olaudah Equiano
"The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the African, Written by Himself" (1997)	39	(3)
Theodore Canot
Adventures of an African Slaver (1928)	42	(7)
3. Historical Context II: The Creation and Colonization of Nigeria FROM:	49	(26)
William Nevill M. Geary
Nigeria Under British Rule (1927)	58	(5)
C.K. Meek
Law and Authority in a Nigerian Tribe: A Study in Indirect Rule (1937)	63	(3)
Elizabeth Isichei
The Ibo People and the Europeans (1973)	66	(3)
Michael Crowder
The Story of Nigeria (1978)	69	(6)
4. Cultural Harmony I: Igboland--the World of Man and the World of Spirits FROM:	75	(28)
Elizabeth Isichei
A History of the Igbo People (1976)	83	(6)
G.T. Basden
Among the Ibos of Nigeria (1966)	89	(3)
M.M. Green
Ibo Village Affairs (1964)	92	(4)
Victor C. Uchendu
The Igbo of Southeast Nigeria (1965)	96	(7)
5. Cultural Harmony II: Igbo Language and Narrative Customs FROM:	103	(24)
E. Nolue Emenanjo
Omalinze: A Book of Igbo Folk-tales (1977)	113	(14)
6. Cultural Harmony III: Traditional Igbo Religion and Material Customs FROM:	127	(30)
M.M. Green
Ibo Village Affairs (1964)	142	(3)
G.T. Basden
Among the Ibos of Nigeria (1966)	145	(2)
Victor C. Uchendu
The Igbo of Southeast Nigeria (1965)	147	(3)
Mazi Elechukwu Nnadibuagha Njaka
Igbo Political Culture (1974)	150	(7)
7. Things Fall Apart: The African Novelists' Novel FROM:	157	(34)
C.L. Innes
Bernth Lindfors
Critical Perspectives on Chinua Achebe (1978)	169	(3)
Ernest N. Emenyonu
The Rise of the Igbo Novel (1978)	172	(4)
Eustace Palmer
The Growth of the African Novel (1979)	176	(2)
Lewis Nkosi
Tasks and Masks (1981)	178	(3)
Jonathan Cott
"Chinua Achebe at the Crossroads" (1981)	181	(10)
8. Things Fall Apart and the Language Choice Debate FROM:	191	(32)
Ngugi wa Thiong'o
Decolonising the Mind (1986)	198	(3)
Emmanuel N. Obiechina
Language and Theme (1990)	201	(7)
Lewis Nkosi
Tasks and Masks (1981)	208	(4)
David Westley
Choice of Language and African Literature (1990)	212	(4)
Chinua Achebe
Morning Yet on Creation Day (1976)	216	(7)
Glossary	223	(4)
Index	227