Chinua Achebe is the writer in whose company the prison walls fell
Nelson Mandela
Indeed, Chinua Achebe is arguably the finest writer to have come out of Africa. Often regarded as the father of modern African literature, Achebe is the only African writer whose book, Things Fall Apart, published in 1958 has ranked 84 in the list of 100 bestselling books of all time. No doubt, this is a great feat for any writer considering the millions of books that have been written. It is pertinent to note, however, that Achebe also had other marvellous works: Arrow of God, No Longer at Ease, A Man of the People, Ant Hills of the Savannah, There Was A Country; and some children novel to his credit.
While also overseeing the Heinemann’s African Writer Series, Achebe made significant inputs into the works of prominent African writers. This, of course, gave global reckoning to African literature. At his death on March 21st 2013, Achebe had become a great inspiration to a new generation of African writers including the award-winning Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and several others. As a matter of fact, Google recently put up a doodle to posthumously honour Achebe.
Following Achebe's wizardry at his craft, the priceless influence he had on African literature and his international reputation and popularity, one would have expected Achebe, instead of Wole Soyinka, to win the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1986 or afterwards. Unfortunately, this was never the case. The Swedish Academy, the body of mostly European judges who award the Nobel prize, conspired against Chinua Achebe, I believe, and gave the award to Soyinka (who is to this very day the only West African to have won the Nobel Prize in Literature). I will explain why I hold this view in the subsequent paragraphs:
The West, puppeteering the Swedish Academy, denied Achebe the Nobel Prize and awarded it to Wole Soyinka because Achebe's works conflicted, in most cases, against Western values; whereas Soyinka's works often emphasized the triumph of Western civilization and modernization over traditional African values.
For instance, in Achebe's Things Fall Apart, there are several instances where Achebe questioned the whole idea of Western civilization, education, and religion, suggesting that Africa had a sophisticated culture that did not need an European upgrade. On the other hand, Wole Soyinka's The Lion and the Jewel projected the image of Africa as a continent helplessly taken over by modernization. Therefore, the works of Soyinka, being less offensive for a Western mind, was preferred to Achebe's works and awarded the Nobel Prize.
The truest test of integrity is in its blatant refusal to be compromised
~Chinua Achebe
Again, Achebe was rigged out of the Nobel prize because of his virulent attack on the seemingly racist works of prominent English writers such as H. Rider Haggard and Joseph Conrad. Particularly, Achebe's masterpiece essay, An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad's Heart of Darkness critically examined Conrad's popular short novel, Heart of Darkness, and concluded it was racist. Achebe's criticism of Conrad was so strong and compelling that it has become a tradition in Western literature to study both works side by side. As a matter of fact, Achebe's Things Fall Apart was a reaction to the shock received from Conrad's work. It is therefore not surprising that the West conspire to deny Achebe a Nobel prize as a pay back for the criticism of Western literature.
It is also important to mention that, I believe, Achebe was deprived the Nobel Prize because of his role in the Nigerian Civil War as one of Biafra's envoy to Europe, to help get support for his country. The English-speaking Western power houses such as the Great Britain and the United States were on the side of Nigeria during the bloody war. This, of course, put Achebe at loggerheads with these Western powers who had a strong interest in Nigeria. In the end, the West used the Swedish Academy to deny Achebe the prize consistently. After all, it is he who pays the piper that dictates the tune.
Nevertheless, even without the Nobel prize, Achebe's place as the father of modern African literature remains eternally guaranteed.
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