Things Fall Apart (Norton Critical Editions) - Softcover

Achebe, Chinua

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0393932192 ISBN 13: 9780393932195

Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company, 2008

Synopsis

Chinua Achebe’s tragic novel of pre-colonial Igbo society was a major literary and cultural event when it was published in 1958.

Written during a period of nationalist assertion and an emerging modern culture in Africa, Things Fall Apart’s influence quickly spread from Nigeria throughout Africa and beyond. In its fifty years, this unforgettable novel has been translated into fifty languages and has been read by millions.

A Chronology of Achebe’s life and work and a Selected Bibliography are also included.

2 maps

About this title

Review:

One of the most widely read novels from Nigeria's most famous novelist. Things Fall Apart is a gripping study of the problem of European colonialism in Africa. The story relates the cultural collision that occurs when Christian English missionaries arrive among the Ibos of Nigeria, bringing along their European ways of life and religion. In the novel, the Nigerian Okonkwo recognizes the cultural imperialism of the white men and tries to show his own people how their own society will fall apart if they exchange their own cultural core for that of the English.

From the Publisher:

This is Chinua Achebe's classic novel, with more than two million copies sold since its first U.S. publication in 1969. Combining a richly African story with the author's keen awareness of the qualities common to all humanity, Achebe here shows that he is "gloriously gifted, with the magic of an ebullient, generous, great talent." -- Nadine Gordimer

About this edition

• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 0393932192
• ISBN 13: 9780393932195
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 624
• Editor: Irele Francis Abiola