Chinua Achebe's books are being read throughout the
English-speaking world. They have been translated into more than
fifty languages. His publishers estimate that more than eight
million copies of his first novel Things Fall Apart (1958) have
been sold. As a consequence, he is the best known and most widely
studied African author. His distinguished books of fiction and
nonfiction include No Longer at Ease, Arrow of God, Morning Yet on
Creation Day, Christmas in Biafra, and others. Achebe often has
been called the inventor of the African novel. Although he modestly
denies the title, it is true that modern African literature would
not have flowered so rapidly and spectacularly had he not led the
way by telling Africa's story from a distinctively African point of
view. Many other Africans have been inspired to write novels by his
example. The interviews collected here span more than thirty years
of Achebe's writing career. The earliest was recorded in 1962, the
latest in 1995. Together they offer a representative sample of what
he has said to interviewers for newspapers, journals, and books in
many different countries. Through his own statements we can see
Achebe as a man of letters, a man of ideas, a man of words. As
these interviews show, Achebe is an impressive speaker and gifted
conversationalist who expresses his ideas in language that is
simple yet pungent, moderate yet peppered with colorful images and
illustrations. It is this talent for deep and meaningful
communication, this intimate way with words, that makes his
interviews a delight to read. He has a facility for penetrating to
the essence of a question and framing a response that addresses the
concerns of the questioner andsometimes goes beyond those concerns
to matters of general interest. "People," he says, "are expecting
from literature serious comment on their lives. They are not
expecting frivolity. They are expecting literature to say something
important to help them in their struggle with life. This is what
literature, what art, is supposed to do: to give us a second handle
on reality so that when it becomes necessary to do so, we can turn
to art and find a way out. So it is a serious matter." Bernth
Lindfors, Professor of English and African Literatures at the
University of Texas at Austin, is the author of Folklore in
Nigerian Literature, Popular Literatures in Africa, and Comparative
Approaches to African Literatures and is the editor of Critical
Perspectives on Chinua Achebe, Approaches to Teaching Achebe's
"Things Fall Apart."
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