Fact-fiction correlation: The abuse of authority in Chinua Achebe’s Arrow of god and There was a country

Uchenna David Uwakwe, Adaeze Regis-Onuoha

Abstract


The engagement with literary creativity and criticism has always received impetus with the measure of relatedness to reality. In this regard, the socio-political conflicts in Africa and Nigeria in particular have been seen to take a centre stage in all the works of Chinua Achebe. From Things Fall Apart through A Man of the People and Anthills of the Savannah, power and the abuse of authority remain protuberant as the overriding conflict. It is intended to present the patterning of the social-political system within the Igbo state at the immediate dawn of colonialism. This work previews the posture of the court clerks who were merely stooges of the colonial government. Again, this comes with the persistent indictment of Britain in the postcolonial woes of the Nigerian ship of state. Therefore, this work considers the intensity of this posture from Achebe’s fictional creations in Arrow of God to the correlating historical events which There Was A Country embodies. There is an attempt here to examine how the facts presented in Achebe’s memoir may have instigated and coalesced intohis creative work in spite the wide gap in publication dates of the texts under study.

Full Text:

PDF

References


Achebe,Chinua. Things Fall Apart. London: Heinemann Educational Books,1958. Print.

---------------------.Arrow of God. London: Heinemann Educational Books,1964. Print.

----------------------. The Trouble with Nigeria Enugu: Fourth Dimension Publishers, 1983. Print.

------------------------.Anthills of the Savanna. Ibadan: Heinemann Educational Books,Nigeria, 1988.

--------------------------. ‘The Novelist as Teacher’, in African Literature: An Anthology of Criticism and Theory (TejumolaOlaniyan&AtoQuaysoneds.) Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, 2007. (103-106).

---------------------------. There Was a Country: London: Penguin Books, 2013.

----------------------------,‘The Truth of Fiction’, in African Literature: An Anthology of Criticism and Theory (TejumolaOlaniyan&AtoQuaysoneds.)Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, 2007. (107-114)

Aizenberg, Edna. ‘The Dictator and the Intellectual: Myth as a Socially Symbolic Act in Achebe and Asturias’ in Eagle ontheIroko(Selected papers from the Chinua Achebe International Symposuim) 1990. (507-527)

Anyanwu, Ikenna ‘Language of Altercation in Chinua Achebe’s Arrow of God’ A Scholar in the Eyes of His Students: Essays In Honour of ProfessorJ.O.J Nwachukwu-Agbada. Aba: Leadership and LiteraryAchiever’s Series, 2008. (270-280).

Dobie, Ann. Theory into Practice: An Introduction to Literary Criticism. Houston, Texas: Wadsworth Cengage Learning, 2009.

Lindfors, Bernth. ‘Politics, Culture, and Literary Form’ in African Literature: In Anthology of Criticism and Theory(TejumolaOlaniyan&AtoQuaysoneds.) Oxford: BlackwellPublishing, 2007 (22-30) Print.

Ngugi,WaThiong’O. ‘Writing Against Neo-Colonialism’ in African Literature: An Anthology of Criticism and Theory (TejumolaOlaniyan&AtoQuayson eds.) Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, 2007 (157-164)

Ola, Virginia U. ‘The Conflict of Genius and Discipline’ in Eagle on the Iroko(Selected papers from the Chinua Achebe International Symposium) 1990,(95-104).

Opata, Damian. ‘Chinua Achebe: The Writer and a Sense of History’ in Eagle onthe Iroko(Selected papers from the Chinua Achebe International Symposium) 1990,(56-69).

Schaefer, Richard and Robert Lamm.Sociology.Fifth Ed. New York: McGrawHill, 1995. Print.

Scott, Wilbur. Five Approaches to Literary Criticism. New York: Collier


Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.