Chinua Achebe's 'Things Fall Apart' Among The 20 Best Books Of All Time

"The books you read in your high School English class are not necessarily the best novels ever written. What makes for great literature, anyway? Some could argue that all your book needs in order to be considered “great” is leather-bound packaging and microscopic print, but the truth is, you really can’t judge a book by its cover.Instead, you have to judge it by what’s written inside. Is the story meaningful, honest, moving? Does it transport you to another time or place? When it comes to ranking the best novels ever written, we had to look for all of these things…and just because you love a certain book doesn’t mean it made our list."

READ FULL REPORT HERE 

To Kill In The Name Of God Is Outrageous Murder – Archbishop Obinna

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THE CHINUA ACHEBE 

FOUNDATION INTERVIEW SERIES

  April 2006

All Rights Reserved ©

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*Archbishop Obinna during the interview 

Dr. Anthony J.V. Obinna, the Catholic Archbishop of Owerri, is one of Africa’s foremost theologians and scholars. Born on June 26, 1946 in Emekuku (near Owerri), and educated at St. Peter Claver Seminary, Okpala (near Aba), and Bigard Memorial Seminary, he was ordained a Roman Catholic priest on April 19, 1972. Obinna graduated with First Class Honours in Divinity, from the Bigard Memorial Seminary, an affiliate of the Pontifical Urban University, Rome. He left for Rome for a Masters Degree in Theology, and then for the United States for another Masters in Religious Studies, concentrating on Religion and Culture, and then a PhD in Education and Theology.

A former lecturer in the Religious Studies Department of the Alvan Ikoku College of Education, Owerri, Archbishop Obinna is the current Chair of the Education Committee of the Catholic Bishop’s Conference of Nigeria (CBCN). He was ordained a Bishop on September 4, 1993, and became the first Archbishop of the Catholic Archdiocese of Owerri when it was created in 1994.

In this interview with UGOCHUKWU EJINKEONYE, Archbishop Obinna canvasses an attitudinal change, which he hopes will help steer Nigeria out of its present political, moral, and economic descent, and reroute it to the path of progress and lasting development.

Excerpts:

Your Grace, do you think we can in all honesty say that we have freedom of worship in Nigeria today?

Well, constitutionally there is freedom of worship. So, to some extent, it is possible to say: yes, Nigerians worship as they choose. But we have had problems in certain parts of our country, where people were prevented from worshipping, as they desire. There have been attempts to muzzle Christians in some parts of the country, and that goes to show that the freedom of worship enshrined in the constitution is not given its full play. In the more Christian-dominated areas, I believe that there is no prevention of anybody from being a Moslem, from worshipping God. But in some areas of our country, there have been churches that were bulldozed, and land allocations have been refused to Christian worshippers.

Chinua Achebe’s ‘Things Fall Apart’ Listed Among Ten Top Stories That Shaped The World

A recent poll conducted by the British Broadcasting Service (BBC) among “writers, critics and academics” yielded the verdict that Chinua Achebe’s classic, Things Fall Apart, published in June 1958 – which turns 60 this year – qualifies as No 5 on the list of “ten top stories that shaped the world.”

Other works on the list are: The Odyssey by Homer (8th Century BC), Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe (1952), Frankenstein by Mary Shelley (1818), Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell (1949), One Thousand And One Nights by Various Authors (8th – 18th Century), Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes (1605 – 1615), Hamlet by William Shakespeare (1603), One Hundred Years Of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez (1967) and The Iliad by Homer (8th Century BC) 

In a recent release, the BBC said that the writers, critics and academics who participated in the opinion poll voted these works “as the most influential and enduring works of fiction” ever published.

Changing Dialogue With Dialogue: Confronting The Language Of Ebola

 

 

US President Barack Obama meets with ebola 

survivor,  Dr. Kent Brantly at the oval office on 

September 16, 2014 (pix Pete Souza/White House)

By Emma Fox

The African continent – which is so often unjustifiably spoken of collectively and dismissively throughout the globe as a one entity – can truly claim a unity through its diverse and eye-opening library of great literature and language.

Whether it is in the dreamlike magical realism of Ben Okri, the underlying critiques so carefully yet organically articulated by Nadine Gordimer, or the poignant and profound work of Assia Djebar, Africa’s many shapes and sounds have been delivered in a perpetual life poem which has courageously addressed various social challenges and defined the continent as a rich and creative Diaspora of contemporary literature. 

 

While these works detail issues and triumphs which are focused on a particular region, they also encompass the bigger picture – just take Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart, for example – which has accumulated some truly remarkable responses to the heavy footprint of colonialism and the rest of the world’s inability to look at Africa and African countries separately through an unclouded lens. It is through language and literature where reclamation, liberation and life transform, a vital tool through which lies the potential for change, and is especially crucial in combating the recent challenges which certain parts of western Africa are facing.

Ghanaian President To Deliver The First Chinua Achebe Leadership Forum Lecture

President John Dramani Mahama Of Ghana To deliver The First Chinua Achebe Leadership Forum Lecture At Bard College, December 10, 2013

*Chinua Achebe 

The Chinua Achebe Foundation is pleased to announce that on December 10, 2013, at Bard College, New York, President John Dramani Mahama of the Republic of Ghana will deliver the first Chinua Achebe Leadership Forum Lecture.

The Chinua Achebe Leadership Forum is being organized as a high profile international platform to discuss Africa's challenges in keeping with Professor Chinua Achebe’s life’s work. The theme for the gathering this year is Africa's Future: Hopes And Impediments – inspired by Professor Achebe's work. President John Dramani Mahama’s lecture is entitled: "Women In Africa: How The Other Half Lives."

New York Senate Passes Resolution On Chinua Achebe

J1186-2013: LEGISLATIVE RESOLUTION Mourning The Death Of Paramount Novelist Chinua Achebe, Founder And Pioneer Of African literature

 

 A Nigerian National Newspaper Reports
Achebe's Passing (pix:Ugochukwu Ejinkeonye (2013))
 
WHEREAS, It is the sense of this Legislative Body to pay tribute to the lives of those esteemed individuals of international renown who distinguished themselves through their life's work; and
WHEREAS, Foremost novelist, Professor Chinua Achebe, died on Thursday, March 21, 2013, at the age of 82; and 
WHEREAS, Born Albert Chinualumogu Achebe, on November 16, 1930,
Chinua Achebe was a Nigerian novelist, poet, professor, and critic; he was
best known for his 1958 novel, THINGS FALL APART, selling over 12 
million copies around the world, and having been translated into 50 languages, 
 making him the most paraphrased African writer of all time; and

Chinua Achebe Receives His 41st Honorary Degree From Ebonyi State University

Professor Chinua Achebe, author of the classic, Things Fall Apart, and other best-selling titles, has accepted the AWARD OF DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF LITERATURE, HONORIS CAUSA from Ebonyi State University.

Chinua Achebe 

The confernment will take place on Saturday April 14, 2012 at the Abakiliki campus of the university. Professor Achebe was contacted by the institution's President - Engr. Professor F. I. Idike fnse, fniae, pe OON; Vice Chancellor, Ebonyi State University, Abakaliki - and the eminent writer accepted the honor with gratitude.

This is Professor Chinua Achebe's 41st honorary degree.

Achebe is the recipient of over 40 honorary degrees from universities in England, Scotland, Canada, South Africa, Nigeria and the United States, including Harvard University, Dartmouth College, Brown University, Cape Town University, University of Toronto, Stirling University, and the Open University of Great Britain.

He has been awarded the Commonwealth Poetry Prize, an Honorary Fellowship of the American Academy of Arts and Letters (1982), a Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (2002),^[the Nigerian National Order of Merit (Nigeria's highest honour for academic work), the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade (Friedenspreis des Deutschen Buchhandels) ; The Man Booker International Prize 2007 and The 2010 Dorothy and Lillian Gish Prize. He has twice refused the Nigerian honour Commander of the Federal Republic - in 2004 and 2011.

In September, 2012 his long awaited new book, a semi autobiography There Was A Country: A Personal History Of Biafra will be available from Penguin publishers.

Achebe who was 81 on November 16 2011 is David and Marianna Fisher University Professor and Professor of Africana Studies at Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island, United States.

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RELATED TOPIC

National Honours Controversy: Chinua Achebe's Reaction...

National Honours Controversy: Chinua Achebe's Reaction...

On November 16, 2011, Professor Chinua Achebe, author of the classic, Things Fall Apart, and Africa's best known writer turned 81.

Chinua Achebe

While his family, readers and admirers across the globe rejoiced with him on that day and thanked God for his life, Dr. Chidi Achebe,  the President/CEO of Harvard Street Neighborhood Health Center, Dorchester, MA, and son of the literary icon, was asked what Professor Achebe's reaction was to the hullabaloo from the Nigerian Presidency surrounding his rejection of the Commander of the Federal Republic (CFR) – Nigeria's Third Highest National Honour—offered to him by the Goodluck Jonathan's Administration.

His Reply:

"Today is Prof's 81st birthday, the family and well wishers around the globe are giving thanksgiving to GOD almighty!

The last I saw, Professor Achebe was digging into a delicious piece of cake.

What reaction? I will honestly tell you that Professor Achebe does not know who Reuben Abati is; has not read his reaction nor does he care to do so.

Professor Achebe loves his native country Nigeria; he did what he has done all his life -  told the truth as he sees it. Many will accept it, some will not, and that is the way it is."

President Goodluck Jonathan and Vice President

 Namadi Sambo

Professor Achebe whose works have been translated into many major languages of the world is the David and Marianna Fisher University Professor and Professor of Africana Studies, Brown University, Providence, Rohde Island, USA. 

RELATED ARTICLES

Again, Chinua Achebe Rejects Nigerian National Honour 
 

Things Fall Apart Saga? 50 Cents Forced To Change Name Of His New Movie

Hip-Hop Artiste turned Actor, 50 Cent, has changed the name of his new movie title after the legal counsel of renowned African writer, Chinua Achebe, reached out to him.

Chinua Achebe

50 Cent was forced to change the movie title from “Things Fall Apart” to “All Things Fall Apart” because it mirrors the name of Chinua Achebe’s classic novel published in June 1958.

INFRINGEMENT: Despite offering $1Million, 50 Cent's bid to use the name THINGS FALL APART for his latest movie was blocked by Chinua Achebe's legal counsel.

 A source said, Chinua Achebe was offered $1 million dollars by the producers of the movie but he declined and released a statement saying:

“The novel with the said title was first produced in 1958 (17 years before 50cent was born), listed as the most widely read book in modern African literature, and will not be sold for One Billion Dollars”



50 Cents

THAT CLASSIC NOVEL: Chinua Achebe released THINGS FALL APART in 1958, 17years before the birth of 50cent.

All Things Fall Apart was shot sometime last year, in the movie 50 Cent lost a considerable amount of weight in order to play a cancer victim.  

The movie is set to be hit the movie screens in the very near future.