Chinua Achebe

From Philosopedia

Chinua Achebe (16 November 1930 - )

Albert Chinualumogu Achebe, who was born in Ogidi, Nigeria, to Janet N. and Isaiah O. Achebe, a Christian missionary, is a novelist who left his country for medical reasons and in the United States in 1982 was named an honorary member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

After high school in Umuahia's Government College, he went to University College in Ibadan, marrying Christie C. Okoli in 1961 - they have two sons and two daughters.

Achebe became a professor of English at the University of Massachusetts (1972 - 1975), the University of Connecticut (1975 - 1976), and the the University of Nigeria in Nsukka (1976 - 1981).

In a New York Times 2010 interview, Achebe lamented the spread of Muslim extremism, blaming "the failure of the authorities in Nigeria to address the issue. The nation cannot be trusted to use the machinery of law and order."

In 1990 he became wheelchair-bound as a result of a car accident that left him paralyzed from the waist down.

Not a member of any of the organized religions, Achebe responded to a question about what he considers the most important thing about himself:

• Oh, the most important thing about myself is that my life has been full of changes. Therefore, when I observe the world, I don't expect to see it just like I was seeing the fellow who lives in the next room. There is this complexity which seems to me to be part of the meaning of existence and everything we value.

Works

Things Fall Apart (1958, novel)

No Longer at Ease (1960, novel)

Arrow of God (1964, novel)

Man of the People (1966, novel)

Beware, Soul Brother (1971, poetry)

Christmas in Biafra (1973, poetry)

Morning Yet on Creation Day (1975, essays)

Home and Exile (2000, memoir)