One of the great ironies of my life is that an English girl in America introduced me to African literature. The book she gave me, which sealed my abiding affection for this genre, is Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe of Nigeria.
Nobody familiar with his work would be surprised that I think one of the great injustices in the world of literature is the Nobel Committee never awarding Achebe, 76, this hallowed prize. Especially given that he is universally acclaimed as:
…the father of modern African literature.
Of course, by citing this egregious oversight I intend no disrespect to other writers who have been awarded this most-coveted literary prize; most notably, Achebe’s fellow Africans Wole Soyinka also of Nigeria in 1986, and Nadine Gordimer in 1991 and J.M Coetzee in 2003 both of South Africa.
Nevertheless, as literary awards go, the Man Booker International Prize is easily second only to the Nobel Prize; although some literary snobs would argue the reverse is true.
Either way, the good news is that a panel of distinguished judges awarded it to Achebe this week for his body of work. But, frankly, he would have gotten my vote based solely on two of his works, namely: Things Fall Apart, which sired the recurring theme in African literature of chronicling the birthing pains of national independence amidst the death throes of British colonialism; and An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad’s “Heart of Darkness”, which rebutted condescending and hypocritical presumptions in white liberal thought by exposing celebrated novelist Joseph Conrad as a self-righteous racist.
At any rate, given that the nominees for this prize included such luminaries as Ian McEwan, Salman Rushdie, Doris Lessing, Philip Roth and Margaret Atwood, this is no modest achievement.
Meanwhile, as far as that elusive Nobel is concerned, hope springs eternal. Because even though it’s hardly an established trend, I suspect that Man Booker might be to Nobel as Golden Globe is to Oscar: i.e., winning the former might presage winning the latter…
So, congratulations Mr Achebe…and good luck!
NOTE: Although virtually unreported in the United States, the death of Pakistan cricket coach Bob Woolmer in Jamaica last March led to a post-mortem spectacle that rivaled the one which followed the death of Anna Nicole’s son in The Bahamas. And to be sure, people throughout the rest of the world were just as riveted as Anna Nicole junkies were – until the Woolmer case was closed on Tuesday.
Click here to read my CNN article on this recurring Caribbean tragic comedy.
Related Articles:
Short biography of Chinua Achebe
Chinua Achebe, Man Booker Prize, Bob Woolmer, Pakistan Cricket World Cup
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.