Chinua Achebe, Mixed Feelings, and Nigeria

January 23, 2010

Chinua Achebe, Mixed Feelings, and Nigeria

In The Guardian, Chinua Achebe discusses his troubled relationship with his native country, which was under British colonial rule when he was born.

Being a Nigerian is abysmally frustrating and unbelievably exciting. I have said somewhere that in my next reincarnation I want to be a Nigerian again; but I have also, in a rather angry book called The Trouble with Nigeria, dismissed Nigerian travel advertisements with the suggestion that only a tourist with a kinky addiction to self-flagellation would pick Nigeria for a holiday. And I mean both.

Achebe is still most associated with his first novel, Things Fall Apart, but he is still writing. His book of essays, The Education of a British-Protected Child, was published a few months ago. I'll be blunt: I want it.

Posted at 04:02 PM in Culture, Literary Life | Permalink

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