50 years of Things Fall Apart

Things Fall Apart, the locus classicus of Chinua Achebe’s literary works, has entered its 50th year. At the time of its publication in 1958, the novel was a classic. It has remained so 50 years after.
As a timely response to the colonial biases about the African continent as captured by the works of some Europeans, the novel provided a counterpoise that demolished foreign assumptions and presumptions about Africa. As a mirror of the culture conflict that was the order of the day in the early days of Europe’s discovery, invasion and partition of Africa, the novel explored a thematic concern that was at the heart of African Literature of the 20th century.

But what has marked Achebe’s effort out is the universality of his perspective. All over the world, accounts of foreign cultures and attitudes are usually distorted when the story is told from the point of view of an outsider. Under such a situation, it would normally take the penetrating insight of an informed native to present the facts of the matter.

Thus, if the Joyce Carys and Joseph Conrads of Europe who took more than a cursory interest in Africa painted a picture of a primitive African personality or entertained the reader with an outlandish story of a dark continent, it took a systematic deconstruction and reconstruction which Achebe explored in Things Fall Apart to see through the lies and know the truth about Africa.

Going by the fame and popularity that the novel has achieved over the years, it will not be out of place to say that the novel has even grown beyond Achebe’s imagination and expectation.

For instance, the book has come to be recognized as the most widely read novel by an African author and has sold millions of copies. It has been translated into 50 languages of the world, thus making it the most translated work by an African author. It is also remarkable that the book has continued to make every list of the most important books of the last 100 years. It has also been named one of the most remarkable books that have ever been written.

Across the universities of the world, the book is a staple in the study of humanities, which is why theses and dissertations that can form whole libraries have been written on it. In fact, the book is a timeless piece of literature whose appeal and penetration have continued to grow and increase with the passage of time.

Given the profundity of the book as well as the scope and depth of the author’s imagination, the book has remained an all-time classic. The issues it dwelt on 50 years ago have continued to resonate with freshness and greater appeal. They remain relevant today as they were when the novel was first written. In its 50th year therefore, the literary world is standing tall and proud to associate itself, one way or another, with a book that anybody that lays claim to liberal education ought to read.

Consequently, global acclaim and honour are being lavished on a book that is in a class of its own.
In the United States, a world class tribute hosted by a U.S book publisher, Anchor Books and PEN American Centre was held at the historic New York City Town Hall to mark the book’s 50th year publication anniversary. An anniversary edition of the book has also been published by Achor Books in recognition of “one of the first African novels written in English to receive global critical acclaim”. The publishers are also celebrating through the novel, the most illuminating and permanent moment in the pantheon of modern African experience as seen from within.

And in Nigeria, the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA) has lined up a series of activities in celebration of the 50th year of the book.

Beginning from next month, an international colloquium and symposia will be held and stage adaptation of the novel will be performed, among others. The entire package is a literary harvest which will not only celebrate Achebe’s creativity and imagination but serve as a springboard for the inspiration of younger elements to aspire to be like Achebe.

In fact, the profundity of Things Fall Apart should serve as a challenge to younger writers in Nigeria and the rest of Africa to live up to certain expectations. If Achebe’s seminal work has remained a book for all times, it was because of the author’s originality and creativity. And if modern African novelists have failed to attain this enviable height, it is largely because they have not sufficiently tasked their imagination to produce an original work whose appeal will outlive the fancies and idiosyncrasies of the moment.

Since Achebe has become a model to be aspired to, the time has come for relevant authorities and individuals to institute a Chinua Achebe chair in literature. And as more languages join in the translation binge of the novel, we see it as a significant omission that the novel has not been translated into Igbo, Achebe’s mother tongue. Experts in Igbo language and culture should see this as a challenge that must be tackled, before the world gathers again in the next decade to celebrate this universal text.