Johann's Summary - "An Image of Africa"

Link

Please see the link above for Johann's summary of Chinua Achebe's "An Image of Africa."  The summary is a Word attachment, so you will need to open or download it.

By the way, below is a picture of a young Achebe with Langston Hughes.  It is from Hughes' 1962 visit to Lagos, Nigeria.

 

 

Study Guide for Midterm in EN 202 Summer 2010, pt. 2

Today (7/21) we moved on to African literature, specifically Things Fall Apart.  I'm pleased that I was able to find an image from the movie that we saw today.  Having been done in 1987, the movie (or mini-series) is just old enough not to have much about it on the internet.  Below is a link to an interview with Pete Edochie, the actor who played Okonkwo.  Underneath the bombast and politics he does talk about the experience of filming Achebe's novel:

http://www.thesourceng.com/Thingsapartseptember8.htm

OK, I've found a good summary of the entire series from African Movies Direct:
http://www.africanmoviesdirect.com/product_info.php?products_id=43036

Below are the scenes that we watched in class:
http://www.youtube.com/user/MEDIAFRICTV#p/u/49/5ZijfjuYftw

http://www.youtube.com/user/MEDIAFRICTV#p/u/48/qBy0-08uw3o

In addition to watching these scenes from the 1987 Nigerian mini-series, we also discussed Achebe's depiction of Africa, Igbo society, and Okonkwo as an individual.

Leopold Sedar Senghor's "Black Woman" and "Prayer to the Masks" will also be on the exam.  See the following link for his obituary:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/1722156.stm
The BBC also has some interesting links to articles about France's relationship to its former colonies as well as to information about Senegal.

Here is the original French of "Black Woman" or "Femme Noire":
http://www.clubsoleil.net/beaute_noire/senghor.htm

See the link below for the original "Prayer to the Masks" or "Priere aux masques":
http://poemasenfrances.blogspot.com/2004/11/lopold-sdar-senghor-prire-aux-masques.html

Below is a map of Senegal.

On Thursday (7/22), we continued discussing Things Fall Apart.  I mentioned the Soviet theorist Mikhail Bakhtin (1895-1975) who is a useful theorist for reading Achebe's novel.  Bakhtin considered the novel to be the apex of literature because it could include many different voices.  I called this polyphony, but it may also be called heteroglossia.  In fact, that is the term that Bakhtim used.  Sandy Kuo's outline is fairly technical, but it is among the more useful sources I could find:

http://www.eng.fju.edu.tw/Literary_Criticism/marxism/Bakhtin_heteroglossia.htm

This page from the University of Singapore is also useful; plus, it is more concise:

http://www.cyberartsweb.org/cpace/theory/maslin/The_Novel_716.html

After I introduced Bakhtin's idea, we looked at how heteroglossia plays out in Things Fall Apart, specifically when the third-person narration moves to Ikemefuna.  However, as you pointed out, there are other parts where we hear voices other than Okonkwo or the omniscient narrator ('voice of God").

We watched the following videos of Igbo dance:

The first is of dancing at an Igbo funeral.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1xvnjo8xckQ&feature=related

These dancers wear masks:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qrWu7Dp3Ea0

These we used to look at the funeral in chapter 13. 

How would you respond to Okonkwo's accident in chapter 13?  How does Achebe wish us to respond?  Consider Oberieka's thoughts at the end of chapter 13, another moment of heteroglossia.

We talked about Okonkwo's exile in his mother's hometown.

We concluded by considering Things Fall Apart as a tragedy and as a naturalistic novel.  For the definition of tragedy that I used, see the following link:

http://academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/english/melani/cs6/tragedy.html

For the definition of naturalism, see this link:
http://www.csustan.edu/english/reuben/pal/chap6/6intro.html

Okonkwo's conflict with his father and his son Nwoye are also important.  Consider that at the time when Achebe wrote this novel Freudian psychology had much credibility and currency.  A man's conflict with his father (the Oedipus conflict) was seen as an inevitable stage of a male child's life.  (Note that Oedipus is a key figure in tragedy.  Perhaps he is the ultimate tragic hero.)

Today (7/28) we finished up Things Fall Apart.  We began by looking at the impact of orality.  Orality encompasses the characteristics of a culture without a system of writing.  Once a culture has a system of writing, it is literate.  Once it has printing, we may refer to it as a print culture.

For more detailed information about Orality and Literacy, a key study by Father Walter J. Ong, S.J., see the link below:

http://worldlit2.multiply.com/journal/item/51

Art Bingham's review is more detailed.  It essentially outlines the book:

http://www.engl.niu.edu/wac/ong_rvw.html

Or you may find Prof. Mindy McAdams' slide show to be useful:
http://www.slideshare.net/macloo/orality-and-literacy

Given that Things Fall Apart is a novel, a genre that epitomizes print culture, how does Achebe's depiction of Igbo society reflect its orality?  (Consider elements such as performance, the practical past, fullness of expression, use of proverbs, and perhaps even Igbo attitudes towards the law and forgiveness.) 

We also looked at law & forgiveness in TFA, the performance of authority, and Achebe's depiction of Christianity & Christianization.  What did you make of the ending?


We then discussed the language of TFA.  Does it matter that Achebe wrote his novel in English?  (Thanks for the background information about Igbo & Achebe's own translation of TFA into his dialect of that language, Michelle & Natalia!)  Of course, translation is less of an issue when an author can be his (or her) own translator.



We finished up this part of EN 202 Summer 2010 by talking about Acholi/Ugandan author Okot p'Bitek's Song of Lawino and Song of Ocol.  Lawino is a traditional African woman responding to the contempt of her husband, Ocol.  Ocol wishes to be more "modern," to assimilate into Afro-European culture.  Lawino is illiterate and worships her people's gods.  Ocol is literate and Christian.  In the original book-length poems, we see that Ocol is interested in another woman, the young, Westernized Clementine or Tina. 

How does Song of Lawino reflect orality?  How does Song of Ocol reflect literacy?

Do you believe that Lawino is a woman speaking with a woman's voice?  (p'Bitek was a man.)

Below are Acholi dancers.

And of course, the picture below is a map of Uganda.

Study Guide for Midterm part two (Summer 2009)

Now that another week is over, I thought that I'd post the next installment of our study guide.  This entry will cover Things Fall Apart, The Turkish Embassy Letters, The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, and Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl as well as the web sites and videos we looked at this week.

Monday we began our discussion of Things Fall Apart (1958), one of the first major works in modern African literature and the first that most of us read.  This novel was also Chinua Achebe (1930-)'s first.  Among the topics we talked about were Okonkwo's character, his relationship with his father (was Achebe influenced by Freudianism), Achebe's depiction of Igbo society, his use of third-person narration, the role of the council, the role of the egwugwu, and Okonkwo's wives.  We also discussed Okonkwo's hypermasculinity and compared it to the masculinity of the other men in the village.  In addition, we talked about elements of orality, especially the proverbs that appear in the narrative as well as in characters' speech.  For more information about orality, see this site here:  http://www.owlnet.rice.edu/~univ302/StudentWork/S96/Sandman/Orality.html


We also watched the following scenes from the TV movie version of Things Fall Apart:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qBy0-08uw3o

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RXFuiRaiYB0

I have to add this earlier scene that we did not watch because it allows us to watch Pete Edochie's Okonkwo in action.  Isn't he well cast?! 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ZijfjuYftw


Tuesday we continued discussing Things Fall Apart.  Topics we considered included Okonkwo as tragic hero, his tragic flaw (his temper?  his pride?  his hypermasculinity?  his misogyny?), Ikemefuna's murder (and Okonkwo's role in it), Igbo society, colonialism, and the impact of Christianity on Umuofia. 

For more information about the tragic hero, see this site:  http://vccslitonline.cc.va.us/tragedy/aristotle.htm

This site has more information about tragedy:

http://academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/english/melani/cs6/tragedy.html



In addition, we watched the following videos.  The first, a brief video, contains Chinua Achebe's remarks on slavery, colonialism, and the African diaspora.  It will also shed light on The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mNdjcFOoVi8

The next, a longer video, is part of Bill Moyers' interview of a middle-aged and vigorous Achebe.  The interview took place just before Achebe returned to Nigeria to become the leader of his town's council.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCic_RoPhoM

We also watched the following examples of Igbo dance.  The first is a masquerade, and the second takes place at a funeral.  Note how these videos help you understand some of the rituals in the novel, particularly the egwugwu.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qrWu7Dp3Ea0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-PxvDFoBxTc


The picture below is of an egwugwu, specifically an elephant spirit.  How does this picture compare to the way that Achebe depicts the appearance of the egwugwu in the village?



Wednesday we began our unit on life writing, a genre that includes autobiographies and memoirs, letters, journals and diaries, and biographies.  In other words, life writing documents an actual individual's life.  Olaudah Equiano's and Harriet Jacobs' writing fall under the category of autobiography.  (Memoirs cover only part of an individual's life.  For example, if Jacobs wrote about her nearly seven years in her grandmother's attic, then her work would be a memoir.  Other examples of the memoir would be Maya Angelou's series that begins with I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings.  As you can see, though, from this image from www.littlebrown.uk, the terms autobiography and memoir are often used interchangeably.


Wednesday we discussed Equiano's Interesting Narrative (1789) and Lady Mary Wortley Montagu's Turkish Embassy Letters (first published in 1837, long after the author's death).  For more information about Equiano's life, see this Critical Biography by Prof. Brycchan Carey:

http://www.brycchancarey.com/equiano/biog.htm

For more about the controversy over Equiano's birthplace, see these links:

http://www.brycchancarey.com/equiano/nativity.htm
http://www.everygeneration.co.uk/equiano_review.htm

Jim Egan's review is interesting but may be too technical for some.  However, he raises some important points about biographies' old-fashioned attitudes:

http://ecti.english.illinois.edu/reviews/46/egan-carretta.html

I must admit that in our discussion of Equiano's rhetorical strategies and his relationship with Capt. Pascal we fell into some of the errors that Egan mentions.  However, as Prof. Carey's biography indicates, Equiano really did have a complicated relationship with the captain. 

Other passages we focused on were Equiano's first impressions of the Europeans, his relationship with his mentor Daniel Queen, his first impressions of England, a paragraph on cruelty towards new slaves (especially women and girls), the way that he achieved his freedom, and his expressed wish to track down Capt. Pascal (who had sold him off his ship right before it landed in England...again).


This picture is from the University of Maryland's Early Americas Web Gateway.  Vincent Carretta, the scholar who argued that Equiano was born in the Carolinas and not in Africa, is a professor at College Park.  I guess I am going to put his biography of Equiano on my reading list! 

Now for Lady Mary Wortley Montagu and her Turkish Embassy Letters!  For a biography of this most interesting woman, see this link:  http://www.luminarium.org/eightlit/montagu/marybio.htm

I think that her letters are particularly interesting in EN 202 for two reasons.  First of all, she is writing at a time (1716 to 1718) when the British Empire was not dominant, so she did not depict the Ottoman Empire from a position of superiority and perhaps contempt.  Secondly, she writes to a number of different people, so her point of view changes from letter to letter.  In fact, here are a few more letters that our anthology did not include:

http://www.ic.arizona.edu/ic/mcbride/ws200/montltrs.htm

The letters we looked at in class were Lady Mary's literary letter to Alexander Pope, her letter to a friend that detailed the Turkish practice of vaccination against smallpox, and her letter to her sister, the Lady Mar.  In that last letter, Lady Mary writes about her visit to two very different harems.  The picture below looks more 19th century than 18th century, but it gives you an idea of what the harems might have been like for Lady Mary.


Thursday we covered Harriet Jacobs' Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl (1861) and scenes from film adaptations of 19th century British novels.  I also talked about the transition from the 18th century to the 19th century.  Even though the difference in gender and geography between Equiano and Jacobs may well be differences enough, I think that the different time periods are also important factors.  I'm particularly thinking of the difficulty that Jacobs' family has in buying their freedom, Jacobs' own embrace of True Womanhood (piety, purity, submissiveness, domesticity), her praise for womanly women like her grandmother and the elderly white woman who gave her her freedom and her scorn for unwomanly women like Mrs. Flint, and her depiction of her childhood (until the death of her parents). 

I am going to post a link to a 1973 edition of Orlando, the book that I read.  If you go to the contents and then to the end of chapter four and the beginning of chapter five, you'll find the passage that I read in class:

http://books.google.com/books?id=EOC258GapEoC&dq=virginia+woolf+orlando&printsec=frontcover&source=bn&hl=en&ei=KAxiSvj1D6Oltgf8r8jvDw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4

About fifteen years ago Orlando was made into a movie.  The picture below is of Orlando as a young man during the Elizabethan era.  I told you that this novel was not realistic!!



Here is a YouTube video of Orlando in the 18th century with her salon of literary friends.  One (the man with his head wrapped up) is, I believe, Pope. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=acWUkoi4Zpc

Unfortunately, I can't find a video of Orlando during the 19th century.

Here are links to the videos that we watched in class:


Above is a picture of young David Copperfield working in the shoe-blacking factory after his mother dies.  His evil stepfather Mr. Murdstone sent him to work there.

This is the part of David Copperfield that we saw:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vAle3Efw8-s

This is the opening to the 2006 Jane Eyre:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2XsB22Qjz3A

You may also prefer this more straightforward opening from the 1940s:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxoB2FqeuXw

By the way, she ends up marrying her employer (see picture below):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l-5owa_DD7o



What light do these videos shed on Equiano's and Jacobs' autobiographies? What light to they shed on the novel? or the 19th century with its separate spheres for men and women?

Below is an image of the wanted poster that Dr. Norcom (the actual Dr. Flint) circulated after Harriet escaped to her grandmother's attic.  As we learned, Harriet was not free from the Norcom family's menaces until her employer bought her freedom or, rather, paid their blackmail.

Study Guide for Midterm (Summer 2009)

It seems like we've just begun,but I'd like to start posting our midterm guide as soon as possible.  The take home midterm is due July 27, but since it will cover what we've discussed in class, I want to make up this guide sooner rather than later.

We began our summer session by defining literature and watching some scenes from Francis Ford Coppola's film Apocalypse Now (1979).  Coppola's film reworks Heart of Darkness, resetting it during the Vietnam War.  For people in the late 1960s and 1970s, Vietnam was extremely controversial and, for some, disillusioning.  (BTW, in the interview we saw, Joseph Campbell alludes several times to Vietnam--even though the interview took place in the mid-1980s.)


If you would like to rewatch some of the scenes that we saw, here are links to YouTube videos.  The first is the beginning when Willard (Coppola renamed Marlow) is in Saigon, waiting for his mission:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZzM4D2_uOP0

Next Willard gets his mission:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5iw1KobfPwk

Then he and his men meet Col. Kilgore. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TmrEo85vuEI

I am not able to find a video of the rest of this scene, but here is the scene where Lance surfs and Willard mutters "Charlie don't surf."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WiRTONtkVb8

Finally, here is the scene where Willard & Chef encounter the tiger:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YbFvAaO9j8M



Tuesday we discussed the first part of Heart of Darkness.  I gave a brief definition and history of the novel.  Here is a link to a more extended definition.

http://www.nvcc.edu/home/ataormina/novels/history/define.htm

Here are some outlines of the 18th, 19th, and 20th century novel.  Note that Conrad is not included in this history! 

http://www.nvcc.edu/home/ataormina/novels/history/origins.htm

http://www.nvcc.edu/home/ataormina/novels/history/19thcent.htm

http://www.nvcc.edu/home/ataormina/novels/history/20thcent.htm

For more information about Conrad's life, see this very full chronology:

http://conrad-centre.w.interia.pl/pages/chronology_en.html

This page has more detailed information about Conrad's most well-known novels:

http://www.mantex.co.uk/ou/a319/conrd-01.htm

Below is the album cover for the soundtrack of a 1960s movie based on Conrad's novel Lord Jim.  (Marlow also narrated this novel as well.  In this novel, he mentions that he likes to mentor young men.)


Among the topics we discussed Tuesday were the frame narrative (story within a story), the unnamed narrator & Marlow's depictions of London, Marlow's depiction of Brussels ("whited sepulcher"), his description of Africa (coast & the first station), his audience's perception of him, our perception of him, his relationships with women (specifically his aunt), his relationship with other Europeans, and his perception of the native workers.  Since we discussed Marlow's admiration for the accountant with his starched cuffs and collar, we watched a little more of Apocalypse Now's scenes featuring Col. Kilgore.


On Wednesday we moved on to part 2 of Heart of Darkness, focusing on its depiction of Africa and Africans as well as of Europeans.  Some key scenes were Marlow's depiction of his fireman, his reaction to the death of the helmsman, and his encounter with the young Russian.  A number of you mentioned Chinua Achebe's "An Image of Africa":

http://www.idst.vt.edu/modernworld/d/Achebe.html

We also took another perspective on Conrad's novel, examining the more recent history of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (aka DR Congo or Zaire).  For more specific information, see this link to my earlier Multiply entry:

http://worldlit2.multiply.com/journal/item/84/Reading_Heart_of_Darkness_Historical_Background>Reading Heart of Darkness (Historical Background)

Here you may rewatch the YouTube documentary on Patrice Lumumba that we saw in class:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HrcX3XUm7eA

In addition, these are links that I sent you with the questions for Wednesday:

This is a link to an English-language trailer of the movie Lumumba :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iLh4LGadxoU

Here are links to Al-Jazeera English's documentaries on the Congo:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_d4dFYiIzK8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kpd3ykS4QOQ



Although we did not listen to the music of the Baka people until Thursday, I am linking it here since it fits in better with Wednesday's emphasis on African history and culture.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=98Xj_oLkRT4


Thursday we moved on to part three of Heart of Darkness and another perspective: Joseph Campbell's outline of the hero's journey.  Do you think that Marlow follows the hero's path?  If so, where does he cross the threshold?  who are his helpers?  and what is the elixir that he brings back?  Was his elixir that compassion that he shows to Kurtz's fiancee? 

To review the outline, you may go to this link from UC Berkeley:

http://orias.berkeley.edu/hero/JourneyStages.pdf

To watch more of the video that we saw in class, go to this link:

http://www.mythsdreamssymbols.com/herojourney.html

We also discussed Marlow's expectations of Kurtz, his impressions of him, the reasons why Kurtz escaped into the woods & Marlow went after him, and his final interview with Kurtz's fiancee, his Intended, as well as the novel's last paragraph.

On to Things Fall Apart!!

Essay #1

Out-of-Class Essay #1– Due March 27, 2009

Outcomes:·

To study great, representative literary works from around the world, analyzing them in depth and applying appropriate literary terminology;·

To survey a selection of world literature from Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Americas (after 1650);·

To promote understanding of these works through written response;·

To identify and appreciate major literary genres, content, and style in a variety of works;·

To acquire and practice literary terminology;·

To develop critical thinking through comparative consideration of world literature and, where appropriate, secondary sources;·

To examine literature in relation to its political, social, and historical environment;·

To build on group discussions and blog entries of issues pertaining to the literature and its criticism;·

To write multi-page papers that demonstrate critical reading of texts (primary & secondary sources) and use a style appropriate for academic discourse;·

To maintain academic honesty and use MLA citation (in-text and works cited)

In this assignment, you will be writing a two to five page argument responding to a reading from our class schedule or a video that we’ve seen in class.   This essay may be a traditional literary analysis, exploring one element in a work.  This element may be a work’s genre, its plot, character, setting, theme, imagery, tone, or diction.  You may even want to explore the meaning of a specific passage. 

You may also explore the work’s cultural context (Candide as an Enlightenment text or Oroonoko as an abolitionist text) or its position within world literature.  For example, how does Candide fit with novels like Oroonoko or lifewriting like "The Interesting Narrative"?  What role does the slave narrative play in world literature?  What role does life writing play?

Consider the role of language in world literature.  Joseph Conrad chose to write in English, his third language, rather than in Polish or French.  Chinua Achebe chose to write in English; he also argued that doing so would guarantee him a wider audience.  However, Ngugi wa'Thiongo writes in Gikiuyu, his first language, because he states that to do otherwise would perpetuate colonialism.  What do you think?  Consider that in this part of the semester, we have read a number of English-language works (Heart of Darkness, Oroonoko, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, Things Fall Apart) *and* translated works (Candide, The Story of the Stone, A Doll's House, Mother Courage).  Our movie, Raise the Red Lantern, will be in Chinese.

 Finally, use this assignment to explore a topic that has come up in class or among the journal prompts. If you are in the honors module, I encourage you to write on one of the optional writings.  You may also use a reading from our anthology to illuminate one of our assigned readings.  You may use secondary sources from literary criticism, especially if you are in the honors module. 

At this point, though, I am much more interested in what you think of Things Fall Apart or Candide for example, based on your reading of the text rather than what I think or what some literary critic thinks.   However, depending on the approach that you’re taking, you may need to use some secondary sources to provide additional background or support a point that you are making.  Keep in mind that these secondary sources are simply that—background material and support.  They will assist you as you make your case, but make sure that you have the best possible source.  Even though I have gathered a number of web sites, I try to choose the most scholarly yet accessible sites. For citation, even if you do not use secondary sources, you will be using MLA (in-text and works cited). 

Please see me if you need additional information, especially if you are using a source that is not in our anthology or if it has been a while since your last freshman composition course.It goes without saying that I expect this paper to be your own work.  Feel free to draft your paper in your blog or journal.  I’ll also be happy to talk over or look over your ideas during my office hours or (internet connection permitting) online.  If you’d like a second opinion, you may also want to work with one of the Writing Center’s tutors.

Grading

An A paper will be outstanding on all or most levels: close, critical reading of a text or texts, focus, development, support for argument, organization, style, and grammar/mechanics.  (I have listed each level in order of importance; however, errors in the last area will affect your grade.)  It may be on a reading we’ve discussed to death.  In that case, it will show me new insights derived from your close, critical reading and, if necessary, secondary sources.  Alternately, this paper may be on a reading that has been assigned but not discussed in class.  This option may not produce an easier “A,” as I will be looking at your ability to scrutinize a text and produce a well-written essay without the opportunity to discuss your text (and listen to others’ insights about it) in class.  However, it can be a productive route to an A.

 A B paper will be effective on all or most levels: close, critical reading of a text or texts, focus, development, support for argument, organization, style, and grammar/mechanics.  (I have listed each level in order of importance; however, errors in the last area will affect your grade.)  It may be on a reading we’ve discussed in class or a reading that I’ve assigned but not discussed in class. 

A C paper will be adequate on all or most levels: close, critical reading of a text or texts, focus, development, support for argument, organization, style, and grammar/mechanics.  (I have listed each level in order of importance; however, errors in the last area will affect your grade.)  It may be on a reading we’ve discussed in class or a reading that I’ve assigned but not discussed in class.  Note that a C is not failing, simply “average.” 

A D paper will contain significant problems on one or more levels:  close, critical reading of a text or texts, focus, development, support for argument, organization, style, and grammar/mechanics.  The first five areas are especially important.  Papers can also be too long or too short.  Please check in with me or a tutor at the Writing Center if your paper has fallen into this category.

A failing (F) paper will be inadequate on one or more levels:  close, critical reading of a text or texts, focus, development, support for argument, organization, style, and grammar/mechanics.  The first five areas are especially important.  Papers can be too long or too short.  Please check in with me if your paper has fallen into this category.

I reserve the right to give your paper a grade of R.  This is not a failing grade, but I am requiring you to rewrite your paper because of problems on one or more levels:  close, critical reading of a text or texts, focus, development, support for argument, organization, style, and grammar/mechanics.  I may also assign this grade because of what I perceive to be insufficient effort or inadequate understanding of the assignment.  If your paper falls into this category, please see me to talk about ways to rework your paper.

Remember to submit your final draft to www.turnitin.com before you hand it in to me.  Let me know if you are having problems starting up your account or submitting your paper.  I’m always happy to walk you through the steps.

Please let me know if you are having problems with your paper or may have to hand in your paper late.  There will be a late penalty of one-third of a grade per day, but I will waive the penalty if you’ve talked to me ahead of time.

Chinua Achebe, Things Fall Apart, and Home & Exile (part 3)

Chinua Achebe's Home and Exile (2000) is certainly life writing, but it fits into a separate category from the ones I mentioned in class today.  His book is made up of three essays that began as lectures at Harvard.  These essays touch on not only his life but also his opinions about literature.  One cannot call these essays "simply" memoirs.

The first essay, "My Home Under Imperial Fire," begins in a way that makes the reader believe that he or she is about to read a traditional memoir.  Achebe recalls his entry into his home village, Ogidi, the home that his father, a missionary, had chosen to retire to.  Ironically, as Achebe later observes, the relative who had been watching the family home for Achebe's father still worshipped the village gods.  In fact, the relative built a shrine in the home that the former missionary had planned to retire to.  Achebe's father destroyed the shrine; however, overall, in his recollections of his home village, Achebe emphasizes the persistence of Igbo values and culture.  He underscores their influence on his own life and work.

 

 

[The first picture above is from a Catholic newspaper in Sacramento, CA.  The girls in the procession are part of an Igbo parish there.  The second picture above is from the library at Southern Illinois University and depicts a man playing a drum in an Igbo ritual.]

In the next section of "My Home Under Imperial Fire," Achebe moves on to a discussion of European writing about Africa and mid-20th century African literature.  He recalls his classmates' recoiling from Mister Johnson, an Englishman's novel about an African.  (As you can see, the book was later made into a film with Pierce Brosnan.)  Achebe's English professors had thought that the students would be interested in reading a novel set in Nigeria.

 

In the next essay, "The Empire Fights Back," you see that Achebe's criticism of Conrad is part of a cultural context.  It is amazing but not surprising to see the criticism that an early work of African literature, Amos Tutuola's The Palm-Wine Drinkard (1952), received...from a Englishwoman who wrote a number of works set in Africa...and whose works have appeared on Masterpiece Theater!  Ironically, maybe not so ironically, as Achebe later notes, Nigerian students also complained about Tutuola's novel due to its lack of style and resemblance to a "folk tale."  Achebe then reveals that these students had not read the book!

However, Achebe also mentions authors and reviewers who were sympathetic towards African literature.  One was the poet Dylan Thomas who gave The Palm-Wine Drinkard a glowing review.  Another was F.J. Pedler who encouraged Africans to write about their continent.  

In the last essay, "Today, The Balance of Stories," Achebe contemplates the current state of African and other post-colonialist literature.  He praises writers such as Nadine Gordimer, Ama Ata Aidoo (an author from Ghana), and R.K. Narayan for the clarity of their vision and their willingness to avoid stereotypes.  On the other hand, he criticizes V.S. Naipaul and Buchi Emecheta for their eagerness to assimilate into mainstream British culture.  In particular, Achebe encourages writers to...in a way...cultivate their own garden--to depict what they have seen and experienced rather than to be ashamed of it and strive to write stereotypically. 

Chinua Achebe, Things Fall Apart, and Home and Exile (Part 2)

In this entry, I will focus on Things Fall Apart, the novel that we will be reading from after we finish Heart of Darkness. 

By the way, here is an advertisement for the 1987 TV miniseries version of the novel.  I found the image at www.africanmoviesdirect.com.  Here is a link to the You Tube channel where you may watch scenes from this miniseries.  It looks like the screenwriters have made changes!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o7FS95IcRNU

Hmmm ....the "irrepressible" Okonkwo. 

As you read Things Fall Apart, how would you describe Okonkwo?  In your opinion, how does the third-person narrator seem to feel about him?

If you've read Ed Pilkington's Guardian article (see part 1), you may know that Achebe originally conceived of Things Fall Apart as a multigenerational novel.  Instead, in his final version, the novel focuses on Okonkwo, a seemingly prosperous and powerful Igbo farmer.  He is not at odds with his society....or is he?  His violent temper concerns the other men in his village, and the novel takes place at the end of the 19th century as the British consolidate their rule over what is now known as Nigeria and Protestant missionaries convert the villagers to Christianity.

Here is a current map of Africa to give you an idea of where Nigeria is.

Below is a close-up map of Nigeria, fyi.

Here is a link to the BBC's profile of Nigeria:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/country_profiles/1064557.stm

This timeline from the BBC will come in handy as well.  As we can see, Things Fall Apart takes place as the British are consolidating their rule.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/country_profiles/1067695.stm

This Wikipedia page contains specific information about the ethnic makeup of Nigeria:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_Nigeria

Because of the tensions that I mention below, the information is specific but not necessarily accurate.

Here is an article about the tribal tensions that still exist in Nigeria:

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/census-stirs-old-rivalries-between-nigerias-tribes-470671.html

In fact, in the 1960s, shortly after the country became independent, members of the Igbo seceded and formed the nation of Biafra.  Civil war broke out, and by 1970, Biafra was rejoined to Nigeria.

I would also like to post information about the Igbo, the ethnicity to which Achebe and the African characters in his novel belong:

http://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/cultural/oldworld/africa/igbo.html

http://www.uiowa.edu/~africart/toc/people/Igbo.html

http://www.geocities.com/athens/acropolis/3629/igbo.html

http://www.umunne.org/

And here is a link to a page on food in Nigeria!

http://www.foodbycountry.com/Kazakhstan-to-South-Africa/Nigeria.html

This site is by someone from the Yoruba group:

http://motherlandnigeria.com/food.html

I'd also like to post a link to the "virtual village" of Umuofia that I mentioned in part 1:

http://homepages.wmich.edu/~acareywe/umuofia/umuofiateachers.html

Finally, I will close with a few pictures.  First is a picture from Maine!  The curator of an African museum in Portland, Oscar Mokeme is teaching his son how to perform a song from the Igbo tradition.  (My husband and I have been to Mr. Mokeme's museum.)

Below is a picture that tells us what the egwugwu in Things Fall Apart may have looked like.  The picture is from a class site at Augusta State University.

Here is a reconstruction of an Igbo family compound.  It is part of an exhibit at Liverpool's International Slavery Museum.

I wanted to post this picture from www.everyculture.com as well to give you a picture of someone living in the huts. 

 

However, most Nigerians live in the city, so I thought I would end with this picture of a market in Lagos, the former capital.