Now showing
Chinua Achebe (1964-00-00)
About this film
As this program begins the viewer sees three men walking through one of the halls of the Nigerian National Museum in Lagos. They are: series host Lewis Nkosi, Wole Soyinka, and the featured guest, Chinua Achebe. The interview, which focuses on the craft of Achebe himself, begins as Soyinka and Achebe discuss a carving of Ikenga, a symbol of manhood in Ibo society. Soyinka likens the spirit of Achebe's character Okongkwo from the novel Things Fall Apart to that represented by the carving. Achebe says he poured the essence of the aggressiveness and showy masculinity, traditionally so admired by the Ibo society into Okongkwo, and had his character's ultimate downfall represent the shortcoming of a culture which places a premium on brute intransigence. Is one critical assessment of Achebe's work - that in his books he deliberately attempts to avoid passing moral judgment - a true one?, ask Nkosi. Not at all, replies the novelist. Achebe says that while he presents a balanced picture of the Ibo society in Things Fall Apart, including its many admirable attributes (its music and art,"...the poetry of life, the simplicity... the communal way of sharing in happiness and in sorrow..."), and…
Directors & creators
National Educational Television and Radio Center
Subjects
public broadcasting, AAPB, Chinua Achebe, Wole Soyinka, Lewis Nkosi, Nigerian National Museum, Lagos, Things Fall Apart, No Longer at Ease, Arrow of God, Ikenga, Ibo society, African literature, post-colonial literature, Joyce Cary, Mister Johnson, Nigerian culture
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