Chinua Achebe Dies at 82

Professor Chinua Achebe

Chinua Achebe has died after a brief illness. He was one of the most widely read novelist of our time. He was born in Nov.16. 1930 in Ogidi Anambra State of Nigeria.

Achebe’s works included essays, short stories and poems depicting life in Nigerian villages and cities. He had five novels to his credit, “Things Fall Apart” published in 1958, “No Longer at Ease”, 1960, “Arrow of God”, 1964, “A Man of the People”, 1966 and “Anthills of Savannah” which appeared in 1988. 

And in 1971 Achebe published a collection of poetry “Beware of Soul Brother which won the Common Wealth Poetry Prize. A short story “Girls at War” in 1972. In 2000 appeared “Home and Exile, a collection of autobiographical essays. His last book was a memoir, There was a Country: A Personal History of Biafra which appeared in 2012.

Chinua Achebe became a known figure in the world of literature with the publication of Things Fall Apart in 1958. The novel has sold 10 million copies and been translated in 45 languages.    

Albert Chinualumogu (God should fight my battles for me) Achebe was forced to leave Nigeria for Britain with his family on suspicions of conspiracy by the military government based on the accurate prediction of events unfolding in Nigeria that eventually led to Biafran War in his novel, A Man of the People” which was published in 1966. Accusations he vehemently denied.

In the 1970s he was a professor at the University of Massachussetts and Connecticut. In 1979 he went back to Nigeria and was a proffessor of english at the University of Lagos.

In 1990 he was involved a car accident that left him paralysed from waist down. On recovery in London, he moved to the United States where he taught  at Bard College in Hudson River Valley for 19 years before joining Brown as Professor of African Studies.

On the emergence of civilian rule in Nigeria, Achebe visited Nigeria for the first time after almost a dcade of absence in 1999. He was given a rousing welcome in Nigeria. However he flew back to the US after few weeks which he attributed to the lack of adequate health care facilities that will make life a worth while for the disabled  like himself.

“unfortunately Nigeria doesn’t have health care facilities to allow a physically challenged individual like myself to live with self-reliance and dignity.”     

May your Soul rest in peace.