Achebe
A giant eagle flew away from the forest of African literature on Thursday as iconic thinker, writer, scholar, activist and statesman, Prof. Chinua Achebe, passed away.
Although he was 82, his passage has spread shock, grief and anxiety about Africa’s destiny across the globe.
Since about a week ago, anxiety had hovered above the health of the author of all-time greatest Things Fall Apart, whose story arguably best interprets the intricacies of the continent’s burden and contradictions.
While it was later learnt that he had been ill and hospitalised in an undisclosed medical facility in Boston, Massachusetts, United States, reports said he died Thursday night, a development that his family has confirmed.
The legendary writer, who had lived in the US since 1990, following an accident he had, in which he sustained a spinal cord injury, was, until his death, the David and Marianna Fisher University Professor and Professor of Africana Studies at Brown.
Despite the distance, Achebe had his heart in his fatherland as he regularly kept a close and critical eye on goings-on, especially on the political front.
In some of his recent reactions, he had, last year, condemned the Federal Government’s decision to remove subsidy on petroleum products.
Also, because he believed there was no progress to celebrate yet, he twice rejected the national honour that the Goodluck Jonathan government extended to him.
But he stirred what can now be termed his final controversy late last year when he published his Biafra war memoir, entitled, There was a Country.
Although the book is highly revealing in most parts and speaks to the future as much as it does to the past, Achebe’s stance that the late renowned politician, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, betrayed and dehumanised the Igbo during the war drew the anger of many followers of history, especially from the South-West, where Awo still remains an idol, based on his immense contributions to the development of the area, especially when he was the Premier of the defunct Western Region.
While Achebe’s departure may provide some people an opportunity to re-read There was a Country with a dispassionate mind, other stakeholders, including the Nobel laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka, who has described Achebe’s death as devastating, had opined that Achebe was not extravagant in his account of happenings during the Biafran war.
In his reaction to the news of Achebe’s death, an obviously shocked Soyinka reportedly told a radio station, Cool FM, that he could not yet say much as at Friday. But he noted that the passage was devastating.
Followers of the relationship between the two, and the dreams they shared for the country, would believe that what could be devastating to Soyinka is not just his compatriot’s death, but also the fact that their long-drawn battle to see a sane country did not come to reality in Achebe’s lifetime.
Now over-74-year-old Soyinka had, in a poetic tribute to Achebe, when the latter clocked 70, expressed frustration that they both appeared to have fought in futility as forces that hold the country down had not relented.
While the dream of Achebe, and those of other crtics and activists might not have been realised about Nigeria and Africa, his calling as a writer is an normous and intimidating success.
His flagship book remains Things Fall Apart, which, since 1958 when it was publsihed, has continued to be relevant and amass sales and acclaim globally.
When the book clocked 50 in 2008, it was celebrated for months in different parts of the world.
Over 15 million copies of the novel are officially said to have been sold, while observers believe more than this number may also have exchanged hands via piracy.
Although Achebe’s other novels that include Arrow of God and No Longer at Ease are also acclaimed, many critics have argued that the way Achebe was able to capture the tragedy of colonialism in Africa, through a tale that simultaneously and impeccably tells the story of the pre-colonial Igbo people, in an inspiring and believable manner, made him one of the greatest writers the world has produced.
Apart from the fact that Things Fall Apart is also one of the most translated books from Africa, its relevance, even beyond the African question, came to fore recently when American scholar and critic, Robin Bate, situated President Barrack Obama’s tax reform policy, which seems to favour the weak, in the story of Unoka, father of the protagonist of the novel, Okonkwo.
It is as a result of this that Achebe’s death has shaken the literary world globally.
In The Telegraph, Sameer Rahim observed that Achebe was a wise literary master, whose works will echo down the ages.
How he died
– Family, agent
The family and literary agent of renowned novelist, Prof. Chinua Achebe, on Friday said he died peacefully following a brief illness at an unnamed hospital in Boston, United States.
A joint statement issued by his family and literary agent, Andrew Wylie, and released to the Associated Press, said he died on Thursday night after he was admitted to the hospital some days ago.
A statement released by his agent, Andrew Wylie, and family confirmed that he died in a hospital in Boston, Massachusetts, “following a brief illness.”
Describing the late writer as “one of the great literary voices of his time,” the statement also said Prof. Achebe “was a beloved husband, father, uncle and grandfather, whose wisdom and courage are an inspiration to all who knew him. Prof. Achebe’s family requests privacy at this time.”
The statement said Achebe’s “wisdom and courage” were an “inspiration to all who knew him.”
Brown University, where Achebe worked until his death, said it would organise a memorial in honour of one of its most valuable faculty members in history.
A statement from the university described the late literary icon’s passing as an event of global significance.
Achebe joined Brown in September 2009 and was its David and Marianna Fisher University Professor and professor of Africana Studies until his death.
In a tribute, Brown University President, Christina Paxson said, “The colloquia he organised at Brown attracted a grand array of guests and effectively demonstrated how the humanities can build understanding by drawing from and encouraging a variety of perspectives. We were honoured to have him among us.”
Achebe was Africa’s greatest literary export – Zuma
Underscoring the implication of Achebe’s death as a continental loss, South African President, Jacob Zuma, says Africa owes a depth of gratitude to the late writer.
He said in a tribute, “I have learnt with great sadness of the passing of this colossus of African writing. Chinua Achebe was Nigeria and indeed Africa’s greatest literary export and a legend of African literature.
“It was in his famous novel Things Fall Apart that many Africans saw themselves in literature and arts at the time when most of the writing was about Africans but not by Africans,” said President Zuma.
Also, The Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory has sent its condolences to the family of renowned author and thinker.
Centre spokesman, Sello Hatang, said Achebe was “a great African writer and thinker.”
“Nelson Mandela referred to Prof. Achebe as a writer ‘in whose company the prison walls fell down.’”
He was a genius, colossus – Osofisan, Osundare
Renowned writers, Profs. Femi Osofisan and Niyi Osundare, have also hailed Achebe as an unmatched icon.
While Osundare, in a preliminary tribute, described him as a colossus, Osofisan said Achebe’s life and circumstances that surrounded his death showed that he was a genius.
He said, “His death is still a shock even though he was old enough. Achebe was one of the truly great minds of his generation, who could be grandly right and grandiosely wrong.
“That is perhaps why he has ended amid a burning controversy for such is always the paradox of genius. Only the small stars die without a noise. I am convinced that Achebe will continue to speak to us perhaps even louder from the grave.”
Duke, Babawale, others mourn
The Minister of Tourism, Culture and National Orientation, Edem Duke, has described the death as shocking and a huge loss to Nigeria and the international community.
In a statement issued in Abuja on Friday by the Special Assistant (Media) to the Minister, Dr. Oladokun, Duke said Achebe was not only a global literary icon, but also a distinguished nationalist, who contributed immensely to the making of a modern Nigerian nation.
He added, “Prof. Achebe raised issues of nation-building, peaceful coexistence and cultural affinity in his writings. He had an excellent grasp of his culture, which he deployed with uncommon deftness and a style that has remained unique and enduring.
“He made the well-being and future of this country his concern till he breathed his last, and despite living out of the country for some time, he never allowed the physical distance to separate him from his culture, his nation and his people.”
In another tribute, the Chief Executive Officer of the Centre for Black and African Arts and Civilisation, Prof. Tunde Babawale, noted that Achebe was a great nationalist, an accomplished academic, a great intellectual, a renowned scholar, a prolific writer and literary giant of note and a teacher of no mean achievements.
“He was a reputable author and assiduous global affairs commentator. He would always be remembered for his simplicity, love for his country and Africa and outstanding spirit of critical scholarship,” he said.
The Executive Secretary of the National Institute of Culture and Orientation, Dr. Barclays Ayakoroma, said the death was a big blow.
He said, “But we thank God that he had put Nigeria on the global literary map.”
He gave his best, says Odia
Poet and critic, Odia Ofeimun, has also said that Achebe was a phenomenal personality, who gave his best to posterity.
Ofeimun, who was one of the people that vehemently criticised Achebe for the way he represented Awolowo in There was a Country, said, “He gave his best. His best remains forever phenomenal. We can quarrel as we please with aspects of his works. What we all owe him makes him triumphant. I wish we argued more with him than we did. He will be remembered for as long as stories are told.”
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