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| Chinua Achebe |
The
Nigerian novelist and poet Chinua Achebe, who first made his mark with 1958
novel Things Fall Apart, has died aged 82 .
News
reports from Nigeria this morning suggest he died last night at a hospital in
Boston, Massachusetts of an undisclosed ailment.
Achebe's
agent and his British publisher Penguin confirmed his death this morning.
Simon
Winder, publishing director at Penguin, described him as "an utterly
remarkable man" and "the greatest of African writers", adding
"we are all desolate to hear of his death."
A
statement released by Achebe's agent and family confirmed his death
"following a brief illness."
It
continued: "One of the great literary voices of his time, he was also a
beloved husband, father, uncle and grandfather, whose wisdom and courage are an
inspiration to all who knew him. Professor Achebe's family requests privacy at
this time.”
A
spokesman for the Anambra state governor Peter Obi told the BBC sout-eastern
Nigeria was in mourning for its "illustrious son".
Sources
quoted in the Premium Times said he had been unwell for some time and was
hospitalised earlier this week.
For
the last four years Achebe was Professor of Africana Studies at Brown
University. Statements released by colleagues this afternoon call Achebe
"a gift to the world" and "godfather to a generation of African
writers".
Corey
D.B. Walker, associate professor and chair of the Department of Africana
studies said: "the passing of Chinua Achebe is an event of global
significance. The entire faculty share in the celebration of the great life
that is Chinua Achebe."
Achebe
is known as the "father of modern African literature", and made his name
writing about the history of Nigeria.
Things
Fall Apart, set amid 1890s Nigeria and the influx of Christian missionaries, is
renowned the world over, has been translated into 50 languages and has sold
more than 12 million copies.
The
novel takes its title from WB Yeats's 1919 poem "The Second Coming":
"Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold; Mere anarchy is loosed upon
the world…”
In
2007 Achebe won the Man Booker International Prize for his “overall
contribution to fiction on the world stage”.
Nelson
Mandela called him "the writer in whose company the prison walls came
down", and credited him as the author who "brought Africa to the rest
of the world"
Achebe's
other novels include Arrow of God (1964); A Man of the People (1966) and
Anthills of the Savannah (1987). He has also published four children's books
(including Chike and the River and How the Leopard Got His Claws), short
stories and poetry in English and Igbo.
His
1975 lecture An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad's 'Heart of Darkness' is
still available in paperback from Penguin Classics. In it, he says that
"Joseph Conrad was a thoroughgoing racist" and points out that there
are only six words spoken by Africans in the whole of Heart of Darkness.
Achebe
was born in Ogidi, Anambra State, on November 16, 1930. At the age of 12 he
moved several kilometres away from his family to Nekede to attend the Central
School there before attending Government College Umuahia for his secondary
school education.
He
was one of the first students to attend the University College, now University
of Ibadan in 1948. Having first opted to study medicine he switched to English,
history and theology after his first year.
After
winning his degree Achebe taught at Ibadan before joining the Nigeria
Broadcasting Service in 1954.
He
met his wife Christie Okoli while in Lagos and the couple married in 1961 going
on to have four children.
During
the Nigeria Civil War Achebe joined the Biafran Government as an ambassador. He
wrote about his experiences in his last book, There Was A Country.
Achebe
had been living in America since 1990 when he sustained severe injuries in a
car crash.
MP
David Lammy wrote on Twitter this morning: "RIP Chinua Achebe.Wonderful
writer and campaigner who said "One of the truest tests of integrity is
its blunt refusal to be compromised."
(source
: independent.co.uk)
