Of course,it is a work of fiction.
It might be historical in that it is based on an effort to give flesh through imaginative narration,including fictional characters and plot, to an actual historical experience,but that does not make it true in the sense of being an accurate reflection of all particulars of the society it dealt with.Realist literary works are based on reconstructions of society at particular points in history.That does not mean,however,that Tolstoy's War and Peace,or Honore de Balzac's Splendeurs et Miseres des Courtisanes trans. as A Harlot High and Low or Achebe's Things Fall Apart,for example, are efforts to present literal truth.Whatever truth they demonstrate is more imaginative than literal because, the writer uses the historical context as a framework,whether the Napoleonic Wars as used by Tolstoy,the financial and legal worlds and underworld of Paris as adapted by Balac or the African colonial experience by Achebe, as a guide to creating a fictive narrative,with characters partly or wholly fictional.
I understand even history is described as demonstrative of personal attitudes and imaginative reconstruction on the part of the historian on account of the necessary selectivity of the human mind and the effort to bring alive an experience of some degree of remoteness from the writer and reader.
Even while acknowledging the imaginative and personalistic element in history writing,however,its goals are different from those of imaginative literature.The historian is more likely to aspire to an approximation of actual events while the novelist,as Jeyifo,describes literature,is more likely to aspire to the 'truthful lie' in which reality is processed through the imagination of the writer,to create something related to but not identical with reality.On those grounds,there might be no character in the novel who corresponds to any actual person.No specific incident in the novel might ever have taken place.Achebe's treatment of his characters, in his freedom as a writer,might not correspond in all particulars,or even in the general image they project, to observable characters in Igbo society at any point in time.
On Achebe's treatment of his female characters I expect criticism on that subject should demonstrate the validity of the students perspective.The essays on that subject in Things Fall Apart:A Casebook ed by Isidore Okpewho could prove helpful.
If the student is to make a decisive case,they could do well to read up on and reflect on discussions of relationships between literature and factuality. Aristotle has an intriguing discussion on that in the Poetics,section 9, in relation to distinctions between probability and actuality,between history and poetry, which are relevant for literature as a whole.Aristotle presents literature in terms of the concept of mimesis,imitation,a concept explored further by M.H Abrams in relation to conceptions of reflection in The Mirror and the Lamp.A famous work that explores the concept of mimesis in terms of how reality is depicted in Western literature is Eric Auerbach's Mimesis.
One could also compare the novel with historical and sociological treatments of similar subjects as those it deals with.
thanks
-- toyin
On 22 July 2010 15:08, Oluwatoyin Ade-Odutola <kole2@yahoo.com> wrote:
Dear Professor Ken and Scientist Ikhide and others
Please is it true that Things Fall Apart is a historical novel? Is it based on history and can the representation of women in the novel be said to represent how Igbo women were in the 1800s?
A student sent me this message in regard to her position on how Achebe chose to represent women in TFA.
[The way Chinua Achebe chose to represent women in his novels, especially Things Fall Apart, has been one of the subjects of discussion in literary circles. Such scholars include; Biodun Jeyifo, Abiola Irele, Rhonda Cobham, and Kimberly Hiatt. Some are of the view that the writer does great textual injustice to whom and what Igbo women are in reality]
When she got her paper back this is the comment from the Professor:
[He [the Professor] pretty much accused me of calling Achebe a liar. He says[TFA] its a historical novel that was set in 100 years before it was written and as such was true at that time.] Meaning TFA has rings of truth in it?
This was the student's conclusion:
[Having said this much, one can conclusively say that Things Fall Apart, though a work of fiction, Achebe has narrated the story so vividly that it comes close to reality. In my opinion, it has strongly conveyed the message that Okonkwo is representative of the Igbo man and everyone else as a weakling. This is not exactly 'true' from my experience as an Igbo woman, having lived in Nigeria for the first 33 years of my life. The way Achebe has represented womanhood in the novel and the way I see it may be at odds but it allows for a healthy debate on the role of women in traditional societies. The structure of the novel and its plot bring to the fore one of the functions of literature; that of recreating reality in different ways]
--- On Wed, 7/21/10, Kemi Seriki <ajokotade@hotmail.com> wrote:I couldn't help it but to share this passage from Chinua Achebe's new book titled The Education of a British-Protected Child. In this passage, Achebe described the sense of pride an average Nigerian possessed in the 60's. As he stated "Traveling as a Nigeria was exciting. People listen to us. Our money worth more than the dollar". He goes on to say, "When the driver of a bus in the British colony of Northern Rhodesia in 1961 asked what I was doing sitting in front of the bus, I told him nonchalantly that I was going to Victoria Falls". He continues,
--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the "USA-Africa Dialogue Series" moderated by Toyin Falola, University of Texas at Austin.
For current archives, visit http://groups.google.com/group/USAAfricaDialogue
For previous archives, visit http://www.utexas.edu/conferences/africa/ads/index.html
To post to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue@googlegroups.com
To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue-
unsubscribe@googlegroups.com
You received this message because you are subscribed to the "USA-Africa Dialogue Series" moderated by Toyin Falola, University of Texas at Austin.
For current archives, visit http://groups.google.com/group/USAAfricaDialogue
For previous archives, visit http://www.utexas.edu/conferences/africa/ads/index.html
To post to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue@googlegroups.com
To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue-
unsubscribe@googlegroups.com
No comments:
Post a Comment