Ishmael Mzwandile Soqaga's tribute to the peerless Achebe
Sincerely, sorrow and poignant lamentations has visited Africa, men and women, young and great are urged to observe a moment of silence. Africa is mourning because of the falling of its pioneering literary ‘god’. Chinua Achebe, the great Nigerian writer is no more. Africa and the world, is appalled by the sudden death of literary icon.
Throughout his life, his extraordinary literary work has reached a great degree of world recognition. Utterly brilliant was one of the remarkable writers of Africa who wrote immensely to entertain, educate and propagate literature firstly in Africa and the world.
Essentially, the great Achebe wrote the most thrilling books and for the fact that he began to write many decades ago his books are constantly read and enjoyed by many people. He was an influential writer when
the west controlled Africa, and he wrote during that time when it was so difficult to be recognized by white colonizers.
Significantly, like his peers and those who were before him, fundamentally he embarked on the most dramatic activity of writing. In 1958 he remarkably wrote his first classic novel, Things Fall Apart and the entry was successfully followed by other world class books; eg Arrow of God, A man of the people, Anthills of the savannah etc.
Achebe has proudly defined himself as a cultural nationalist with the revolutionary mission “to help his society regain belief in itself and put away the complexes of the years of denigration and self-abasement.”
However, he never stopped criticizing postcolonial African leaders who have largely pillaged economies.
The great lesson which we should learn from Achebe is that no matter how complicated the situation may be, one must take pride in himself, and believe in himself. Achebe is a symbol of African pride, and piously he instilled hope and courage for Africa. He wrote when books were not so popular in Africa and when the white man could hardly imagine Blacks producing imaginative works! However apparently nothing so much has changed in postcolonial African schools and libraries. One can hardly hear about African writers being part of English syllabus in schools, and most African libraries are also poorly organised.
While the world mourns and laments the sudden loss of the great Achebe, our African leaders, leaders of society must take into honest cognisance the serious and wonderful work Chinua Achebe churned out in his lifetime. We must constantly remember him and encourage what he invariably considered substantial.
To be honest, even as a young black South African, I am deeply proud of the colossal, mammoth, phenomenal and imperative literary contributions of the great Achebe!
• Mr Soqaga, an author, essayist and Pan-Africanist, lives in Bloemfontein city, South Africa.
THE LITERARY WORKS OF ACHEBE
Novels
Things Fall Apart (1958) No longer at ease (1960) Arrow of God (1964)
A Man of the People (1966) Anthills of the Savannah (1987)
Short Stories
The Sacrificial Egg and Other Stories (1953) Girls at War and Other
Stories (1973) African Short Stories (editor, with C.L. Innes) (1985)
Heinemann Book of Contemporary African Short Stories (editor, with
C.L. Innes) (1992) The Voter
Poetry
Beware, Soul-Brother, and Other Poems (1971) (published in the US as
Christmas at Biafra, and Other Poems, 1973) Don’t let him die: An
anthology of memorial poems for Christopher Okigbo (editor, with Dubem
Okafor) (1978) Another Africa (1998) Collected Poems (2005) Refugee
Mother And Child
Essays, Criticism and Political Commentary
The Novelist as Teacher (1965) An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad’s
“Heart of Darkness” (1975) Morning Yet on Creation Day (1975) The
Trouble With Nigeria (1984) Hopes and Impediments (1988) Home and
Exile (2000) Education of a British protected Child (2009)
Children’s Books
Chike and the River (1966) How the Leopard Got His Claws (with John
Iroaganachi) (1972) The Flute (1975) The Drum (1978)
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