Reading Advice from Redszone

[WMR]

Another AWESOME book, and one that turned me onto African literature--literature that I'd never really experienced before--is "Things Fall Apart," by Chinua Achebe. I've read a couple other books by Achebe since, namely "A Man of the People," and "Things Fall Apart" is an excellent way to experience literary ideas/themes that are uniquely African.

[WMR]

Amazon.com Editorial Review of "Things Fall Apart":

One of Chinua Achebe's many achievements in his acclaimed first novel, Things Fall Apart, is his relentlessly unsentimental rendering of Nigerian tribal life before and after the coming of colonialism. First published in 1958, just two years before Nigeria declared independence from Great Britain, the book eschews the obvious temptation of depicting pre-colonial life as a kind of Eden. Instead, Achebe sketches a world in which violence, war, and suffering exist, but are balanced by a strong sense of tradition, ritual, and social coherence. His Ibo protagonist, Okonkwo, is a self-made man. The son of a charming ne'er-do-well, he has worked all his life to overcome his father's weakness and has arrived, finally, at great prosperity and even greater reputation among his fellows in the village of Umuofia. Okonkwo is a champion wrestler, a prosperous farmer, husband to three wives and father to several children. He is also a man who exhibits flaws well-known in Greek tragedy:

Okonkwo ruled his household with a heavy hand. His wives, especially the youngest, lived in perpetual fear of his fiery temper, and so did his little children. Perhaps down in his heart Okonkwo was not a cruel man. But his whole life was dominated by fear, the fear of failure and of weakness. It was deeper and more intimate than the fear of evil and capricious gods and of magic, the fear of the forest, and of the forces of nature, malevolent, red in tooth and claw. Okonkwo's fear was greater than these. It was not external but lay deep within himself. It was the fear of himself, lest he should be found to resemble his father.

And yet Achebe manages to make this cruel man deeply sympathetic. He is fond of his eldest daughter, and also of Ikemefuna, a young boy sent from another village as compensation for the wrongful death of a young woman from Umuofia. He even begins to feel pride in his eldest son, in whom he has too often seen his own father. Unfortunately, a series of tragic events tests the mettle of this strong man, and it is his fear of weakness that ultimately undoes him.

Achebe does not introduce the theme of colonialism until the last 50 pages or so. By then, Okonkwo has lost everything and been driven into exile. And yet, within the traditions of his culture, he still has hope of redemption. The arrival of missionaries in Umuofia, however, followed by representatives of the colonial government, completely disrupts Ibo culture, and in the chasm between old ways and new, Okonkwo is lost forever. Deceptively simple in its prose, Things Fall Apart packs a powerful punch as Achebe holds up the ruin of one proud man to stand for the destruction of an entire culture. --Alix Wilber

Amazon Link: http://www.amazon.com/Things-Fall-Ap...9446104&sr=1-2

[Chip R]

Originally Posted by WilyMoROCKS

1. Field of Dreams - I love the movie but I think I might enjoy the book even more.

Actually, the book is called "Shoeless Joe".

[WMR]

Oh shoot I feel dumb, thanks Chip.

[vaticanplum]

Originally Posted by Falls City Beer

I like the O'Neill selection too btw. I think Moon for the Misbegotten is one of the most underheralded of his works--it's masterful. (Hey, vaticanplum. Ever done any O'Neill?)

Nope. his best work is not really much for the young 'uns (except Ah, Wilderness!, which I thankfully escaped doing scenes from in school, which many students don't). It's too bad, because I worship O'Neill. I saw Cherry Jones in A Moon for the Misbegotten on Broadway when I was in college and I cried for about four days. And I had been skeptical, because my idol growing up was Colleen Dewhurst and that's pretty much the role she was known for.

I've been incredibly fortunate in my O'Neill watching, actually. Saw Kevin Spacey in the Iceman Cometh (it was about four hours long, I think) and Jessica Lange and the hott Paul Rudd in Long Day's Journey into Night. I agree with you, though, A Moon for the Misbegotten is probably my favorite, both in writing and on stage.