Professor Abiola Irele on Chinua Achebe's enduring legacy:
"It can of course be argued that it was the literatures in the colonial languages that have marked the advent of what we now designate as "African literature" – the corpus that serves as reference for a new literary tradition in the making on our continent and has come to be recognized as a durable testimony of African literary achievement. In the development of this corpus that I have referred to elsewhere as "modern African literature," Achebe's work has undoubtedly played a determining role. But it is important to situate this work in the broader perspective that gives it significance. The point is that, in the process that may be termed the advent of African literature as we now understand the term, Achebe's work was preceded by earlier developments; what is indisputable, however, is that his genius came to give to this new literature a definitive consecration."
Fascinating series of essays coming up... beginning with this...
"It can of course be argued that it was the literatures in the colonial languages that have marked the advent of what we now designate as "African literature" – the corpus that serves as reference for a new literary tradition in the making on our continent and has come to be recognized as a durable testimony of African literary achievement. In the development of this corpus that I have referred to elsewhere as "modern African literature," Achebe's work has undoubtedly played a determining role. But it is important to situate this work in the broader perspective that gives it significance. The point is that, in the process that may be termed the advent of African literature as we now understand the term, Achebe's work was preceded by earlier developments; what is indisputable, however, is that his genius came to give to this new literature a definitive consecration."
Fascinating series of essays coming up... beginning with this...
- Ikhide
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