Chinua Achebe and the Politics of Narration

This book examines vital intersections of narration, linguistic innovation, and political insight that distinguish Chinua Achebes fiction as well as his non-fiction commentaries. Each chapter focuses on a different aspect of these intersections: Achebes narrative response to Western authors who have written on Africa, his integration of Igbo folklore, the political implications of writing African literature in English, his use of Nigerian Pidgin, and the Nigerian Civil War. It also addresses the teaching of Achebes works. Achebe drew on diverse resources to offer searching psychological and political insights that contribute not only a decidedly African political viewpoint to the modern novel, but also a more inclusive narrative consciousness. Achebes adaptations of Igbo oral art are intrinsic to his writings political engagement because they assert the integrity and authority of the African voice in a global order defined by colonialism. This book reveals how his work has helpedto restructure a global vision of Africa.