Africa is a Country

When Chinau Achebe’s Things Fall Apart first came out 50 years old, The New York Times “repeatedly misspelled” the lead character Okonkwo’s name and lamented the disappearance of “primitive society.” According to Ruth Franklin in the latest issue of the New Yorker, “…The Listener complimented Achebe’s ‘clear and meaty style free of the dandyism often affected by Negro authors.’ A British critic goaded Achebe: ‘How would novelist Achebe like to go back to the mindless times of his grandfather instead of holding the modern job he has in broadcasting in Lagos?’ A half-century later it is a different story. It’s been a good year or so for the Nigerian man of letters. Achebe was awarded the Man Book Prize (a kind of Booker for non-Brits) for his corpus, and late last year PEN dedicated an evening of readings to him in New York City. Here’s a link to the Franklin piece in full.