Things Fall Apart (1 Viewer)

[Ninjerk]

I was planning to write a rough draft of an essay about Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart, but I made the deadly mistake of checking out two critical perspective books with the novel itself and I'm afraid I've opened the floodgates. I keep looking at the picket-fence-prompt (why Achebe insisted on writing in English, why the title comes from a Yeats poem, and to describe the influence of Western culture on the traditional Ibo culture/disconnect represented in the novel between European expectations and African realities) and seeing an electrified concertina-wire fence in front of a Berlin wall surrounded by a moat infested with sharks with frickin' laser beams attached to their heads... the first two questions are easy (because the books spell it out), but the third (and to a lesser extent) and the fourth contain a number of possibilities that are mind-numbing. I feel like I'm going to have to write a dissertation to justify this stupid thing.

Sometimes, I wish I were dumber...

 

[HenryChinaski]

not a fan of this book at all. I own it, got a little ways through it, then gave up. maybe I'll give it another try?

 

[Ninjerk]

Out of curiosity what made you give up on it? I read it in about 3 hours because of a feverish need to finish the paper by 1:30 today (I read it last night from 5-8 or so), and on the whole I've found that the background for the text is much more interesting than the text itself.

 

[jordan]

on the whole I've found that the background for the text is much more interesting than the text itself.

there's a book by sembene ousmane called "god's bits of wood" about which i feel exactly the same way. i had an african professor who wrote all his books in english until a certain point, when he decided he would only write in gikuyu from then onward. he had some interesting perspectives on the language issue in african lit.

 

[whatsayjew]

i had an african professor who wrote all his books in english until a certain point, when he decided he would only write in gikuyu from then onward. he had some interesting perspectives on the language issue in african lit.

Probably splitting hairs but was your professor ngugi wa thiongo by any chance? Recently read River Between and I'm sure said author underwent the same process.


(old topic I know)

 

[CoffinDodger]

i am glad i am not the only crazy person around, we all got shipped off to the lunatic farm, waiting on the next stop, i love ya babym , i am the prrofesser

 

[jordan]

boring and predictable is what you are, thanks.

yes, he was indeed ngugi wa thiongo. if you see him, ask him for my seminar paper from the fall 2003 semester back, if you don't mind.

 

[gbsupbowl]

I just read Things Fall Apart for a religious studies class. Not a huge fan, thought the story was kinda predictable. I wouldn't mention it but since the topic was brought back up...

 

[jordan]

you know what's funny? 5 years on, i have absolutely no recollection of "god's bits of wood" by sembene ousmane - no idea what it's about, ever having read it, or even what the book looks like. i guess i was more well-read and worldly as a 26-year old than i am now...

 

[the only good poet]

...soon all we'll have left to rely on is intuition. if intuition is informed by what is learned, let's hope we learned some...

o_0o