NIGERIA: Nigerians express pain over the death of Chinua Achebe, widely seen as the grandfather of modern African literature

Record ID: 236013

  • Title: NIGERIA: Nigerians express pain over the death of Chinua Achebe, widely seen as the grandfather of modern African literature
  • Date: 23rd March 2013
  • Summary: ABUJA, NIGERIA (MARCH 22, 2013) (REUTERS) STREET IN ABUJA (SOUNDBITE) (English) OGUNSOYE AYODELE, FEDERAL CIVIL SERVANT, SAYING: "And this is a man that loved the people, he is a man of integrity, that he doesn't want to even receive anything from the government except they did the will of the people so hearing the news that the man is dead is a great loss to our great country Nigeria." (SOUNDBITE) (English) NATUKO OLORUNKE, RESIDENT IN ABUJA, SAYING: "Chinua Achebe was an icon, one of the best and his death is a great loss to Nigerians. He wrote one of the best sellers literature books I have ever read, that is the "Things fall apart." (SOUNDBITE) (English) NYIKWAGH FELIX, THEATRE ARTS GRADUATE AND WRITER, SAYING: "I feel very sad, it's a great loss to the literary world, he is someone who's had great influence on African literature whose impact will be greatly missed by everyone. He was able to define African literature and today African literature thrives on a sound footing primarily because of his efforts." STREET IN ABUJA
  • Embargoed: 7th April 2013 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Nigeria
  • Country: Nigeria
  • Topics: Arts,People
  • Reuters ID: LVAERIFEVXAHH92BPL1WWMYLCLL
  • Story Text: Nigerians expressed their grief on Friday (March 22) as news of novelist Chinua Achebe's death spread across the country.
    Chinua Achebe, widely seen as the grandfather of modern African literature, died at the age of 82.
    From the publication of his first novel, "Things Fall Apart", over 50 years ago, Achebe shaped an understanding of Africa from an African perspective more than any other author.
    As a novelist, poet, broadcaster and lecturer, Achebe was a yardstick against which generations of African writers have been judged.
    For children across Africa, his books have for decades been an eye-opening introduction to the power of literature.
    Ogunsoye Ayodele, civil servant said Chinua Achebe would be greatly missed for the role he played in Nigeria.
    "And this is a man that loved the people, he is a man of integrity, that he doesn't want to even receive anything from the government except they did the will of the people so hearing the news that the man is dead is a great loss to our great country Nigeria," Ogunsoye said.
    "Chinua Achebe was an icon, one of the best and his death is a great loss to Nigerians. He wrote one of the best sellers literature books I have ever read; that is the "Things fall apart," Natuko Olorunke, resident in Abuja said while explaining how the novelist had impacted her life.
    Nyikwagh Felix, writer based in Nigeria's capital, Abuja also said to be saddened at the news of Chinua Achebe's death.
    "I feel very sad, it's a great loss to the literary world, he is someone who's had great influence on African literature whose impact will be greatly missed by everyone. He was able to define African literature and today African literature thrives on a sound footing primarily because of his efforts," the writer said.
    Describing Achebe as a "colossus of African writing", South African President Jacob Zuma expressed sadness at his death.
    Nelson Mandela, who read Achebe's work in jail, has called him a writer "in whose company the prison walls fell down."
    Achebe's "Things Fall Apart", published in 1958, told of his Igbo ethnic group's fatal brush with British colonisers in the 1800s - the first time the story of European colonialism had been told from an African viewpoint to an international audience.
    The book was translated into 50 languages and has sold more than 10 million copies worldwide.
    He later turned his sights on the devastation wrought to Nigeria and Africa by military coups and entrenched dictatorship.
    "Anthills of the Savannah," published in 1987, is set after a coup in a fictional African country, where power has corrupted and state brutality silenced all but the most courageous.
    The pain at Achebe's death was felt across Nigeria, and particularly in the southeast homeland of the Igbos.
    His last, "There Was a Country" was a deeply personal account, in prose and poetry, of the horrors of the 1967-70 Biafra war, lifting decades of silence on the loss of friends, family and countrymen that forever shaped his life.
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