Class Handouts:
Internet Resources on Things Fall Apart and Chinua Achebe:
- A good introduction to the novel, with some chapter questions worth considering, was put together by Paul Brians at Washington State University, Pullman. Here's the same thing in PDF format, if you'd like to print one for yourself.
- Annenberg Learner has one of the best sites on the internet for this book--elegantly designed, multi-media, informative. It's for teachers, but shhhhh! I won't tell if you take advantage of it.
- Take a look at the "G.I. Jones Photographic Archive of Southeastern Nigerian Art & Culture," with many photos of village life near the time of the novel, presented by the Southern Illinois University of Carbondale.
- There are lots of articles to read--and perhaps study for what you like or don't like about their style and choice of subjects in analyzing the novel--at the Chinua Achebe page of the Post-Colonial Web site.
- Things Fall Apart almost didn't get published--partly because so many publishers had never seen an African novel written by an African, but also for an annoyingly aggravating reason having to do with an unscrupulous typing company. Read the story on Slate.
- The U.S. Library of Congress has a quick, but fairly complete, tour through Nigerian history, including brief pages on the influence of Christian missions and the extension of British control, in their historical context.
- Stephen Froehlich asks, "What effect did the fact the Reverends Brown and Smith were priests of the Church of England as opposed to missionaries of the Methodist or Roman Catholic churches have on the story?" in his well-informed essay on this aspect of the novel.
- For some reason, I really enjoyed this little blog entry about the novel, a very personal response to the book written by Koranteng Ofosu-Amaah, "from Ghana by way of France and England, technologist, omnivorous reader, sometime writer and music lover."
- Don't go to the normal old "easy notes" sites, but maybe take a look at Shmoop's page on the book.
- On the 50th anniversary of the publication of the novel, Chinua Achebe sat down with a reporter from Public Broacasting in the US. There's too much reporter and not enough Achebe for my taste in the clip, but it's still good to hear some thoughts from Achebe's own mouth.
- Achebe sat down for two extended interviews with The Paris Reviewin 1994.
- When Chinua Achebe died in 2013, the New York Times marked his passing with an extended obituary, a fine appraisal by literary critic Dwight Garner, and a short essay on his effect in Africa and Nigeria. Also, from the Times Arts Blog: "'I must say it's a most painful death for me,' said Odia Ofeimun, a poet and the former president of Association of Nigerian Authors. 'Just when we were learning to argue with him, he died.'" [Note that the New York Times is a subscription site, but you can view a certain number of articles for free in any one month.]
- Thousands of people, from the president of Nigeria to his neighbors and friends and fans, lined up to pay their respects at Achebe's funeral in his home town of Ogidi.