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Achebe’s "Things Fall Apart" Named In Bbc’s 100 Stories That Shaped The World - Literature - Nairaland

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Achebe’s "Things Fall Apart" Named In Bbc’s 100 Stories That Shaped The World by NwaforIgbo: 8:10am On Apr 24, 2019
Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart has been named in BBC’s 100 stories that shaped the world, making it into the top 5. BBC Culture asked writers around the globe to pick stories that have endured across generations and continents – and changed society. Other great African literary works on the list include Tsitsi Dangarembga’s Nervous Conditions, and Children of Gebelawi written by Egyptian novelist Naguib Mahfouz.

On Steve Biko: “A young man with a sharp intellect and flair for organisation and leadership”. Photo: Bookslive

One of Africa’s literary giants Albert Chinualumogu Achebe passed away in 2013 aged 82 but his works continue to make headlines, inspiring and influencing generations. Achebe’s first novel Things Fall Apart (1958), which is widely considered his magnum opus, and is the most widely read book in modern African literature has been named in BBC’s 100 stories that shaped the world, making it into the top 5.

In April, just months after the 60th anniversary of the publication of Things Fall Apart, the novel was named one of 12 novels considered “the Greatest Book Ever Written” in a list which was compiled by Encyclopaedia Brittanica. In the same month, Things Fall Apart was also named in the list of 100 Books to feature in ‘The Great American Read’ TV Series. The American series “celebrates the power of reading, told through the prism of America’s 100 best-loved novels (as chosen in a national survey)”.

Read: Things Fall Apart named one of 12 novels considered the “Greatest Book Ever Written”

Things Fall Apart is regarded as an important novel and one of the greatest classics of our time. The story chronicles the pre-colonial life in Nigeria and the arrival of the Europeans during the late nineteenth century. The novel interrogates the clash of cultures, traditional values and belief systems.

Other great African literary works on the BBC’s 100 list include Zimbabwean novelist Tsitsi Dangarembga’s Nervous Conditions, and Children of Gebelawi written by Egyptian novelist Naguib Mahfouz. Nervous Conditions, which comes in at number 66 on the BBC list won the African category of the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize in 1989 and is considered one of the 12 best African novels ever written. The novel illustrates and interrogates the dynamic themes of race, colonialism, and gender during the post-colonial conditions of present-day Zimbabwe.


Naguib Mahfouz (1911-2006) the first Arabic-language writer to win a Nobel Prize for literature. Photo: ANP
Children of Gebelawi written by Mahfouz is ranked 76 on the BBC list. Mahfouz won the 1988 Nobel Prize for literature for his works “rich in nuance”, which “formed an Arabian narrative art that applies to all mankind”. Mahfouz was the second African writer to win the Nobel Prize for Literature, after Nigerian author and poet, Wole Soyinka who received the Prize in 1986.

In April, BBC Culture says it asked writers around the globe to pick stories that have endured across generations and continents – and changed society. Experts around the world nominated up to five fictional stories they felt had shaped mindsets or influenced history. “We received answers from 108 authors, academics, journalists, critics and translators in 35 countries – their choices took in novels, poems, folk tales and dramas in 33 different languages,” BBC Culture said.

BBC Culture says the list is not definitive but its aim is “to spark a conversation about why some stories endure; how they continue to resonate centuries and millennia after they were created. And why sharing those stories is a fundamental human impulse: one that can overcome division, inspire change, and even spark revolutions”.

https://thisisafrica.me/things-fall-apart-bbcs-100-stories-shaped-world/?fbclid=IwAR3Pm5yHKUzKszvG6sqY-iykbHWM2XwInZG13U5VaY_GW-LoaIgPXj43K-k

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Re: Achebe’s "Things Fall Apart" Named In Bbc’s 100 Stories That Shaped The World by Jayslicky: 8:16am On Apr 24, 2019
CLICK like if u think chinua achebe was a better writer than wole soyinka.

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Re: Achebe’s "Things Fall Apart" Named In Bbc’s 100 Stories That Shaped The World by Nobody: 8:19am On Apr 24, 2019
Things fall apart...
Great novel!

Chinua achebe makes me remember the likes of "njeroge" weep not child by "Ngugi wa thiongo"

39 Likes 1 Share

Re: Achebe’s "Things Fall Apart" Named In Bbc’s 100 Stories That Shaped The World by NwaforIgbo: 8:53am On Apr 24, 2019
Jayslicky:
CLICK like if u think chinua achebe was a better writer than wole soyinka.
Don't cause tribal war please. Wole Soyinka is great in his own way.

112 Likes 1 Share

Re: Achebe’s "Things Fall Apart" Named In Bbc’s 100 Stories That Shaped The World by chesterlee(m): 8:54am On Apr 24, 2019
Greatest writer Africa has ever produced

49 Likes 2 Shares

Re: Achebe’s "Things Fall Apart" Named In Bbc’s 100 Stories That Shaped The World by VICTORCIZA(m): 9:25am On Apr 24, 2019
GREATEST OF THEM ALL

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Re: Achebe’s "Things Fall Apart" Named In Bbc’s 100 Stories That Shaped The World by czarina(f): 10:14am On Apr 24, 2019
Jayslicky:
CLICK like if u think chinua achebe was a better writer than wole soyinka.

Cc. Lalasticlala
Cc. Mynd44
Cc. Dominique.
You no well. Do you have to compare? Personally, I prefer Achebe because of his genre. That doesn't mean Soyinka is a lesser writer. I read his works too.

Will you perish if you appreciate both?

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Re: Achebe’s "Things Fall Apart" Named In Bbc’s 100 Stories That Shaped The World by PharoahIII: 10:53am On Apr 24, 2019
As a writer, I think I am in a better position to comment on this topic. Firstly you must appreciate that Achebe's mastery of the English language was second to none, although he did not have a flair for words as Soyinka does. In terms of scene depiction, Achebe was a genius. Achebe could describe a scene like none other. Achebe had total control of his audience, he knew how to keep them on their toes, wanting and practically begging for more. This is a feat Soyinka simply could not achieve. But in terms of consistency, I'll give it to Soyinka.
Soyinka's best work till date remains Death and the King's Horseman (The first time I opened this book I knew I was in literary heaven). If one were to take this work away from Soyinka, Soyinka will still be Soyinka. But if you take Things Fall Apart away from Achebe, Achebe will be a nobody. He'll be like a disrobed emperor. His other works were quite quotidian. Achebe was a master storyteller and writer, and Soyinka, more of a writer than a story teller.
If I had to choose between the two, I'd choose Soyinka, and that's only because storytelling in itself is a more difficult craft to master than writing.
Things fall apart is not a book, it is a bible.

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Re: Achebe’s "Things Fall Apart" Named In Bbc’s 100 Stories That Shaped The World by czarina(f): 11:01am On Apr 24, 2019
PharoahIII:
As a writer, I think I am in a better position to comment on this topic. Firstly you must appreciate that Achebe's mastery of the English language was second to none, although he did not have a flair for words as Soyinka does. In terms of scene depiction, Achebe was a genius. Achebe could describe a scene like none other. Achebe had total control of his audience, he knew how to keep them on their toes, wanting and practically begging for more. This is a feat Soyinka simply could not achieve. But in terms of consistency, I'll give it to Soyinka.
Soyinka's best work till date remains Death and the King's Horseman (The first time I opened this book I knew I was in literary heaven). If one were to take this work away from Soyinka, Soyinka will still be Soyinka. But if you take Things Fall Apart away from Achebe, Achebe will be a nobody. He'll be like a disrobed emperor. His other works were quite quotidian. Achebe was a master storyteller and writer, and Soyinka, more of a writer than a story teller.
If I had to choose between the two, I'd choose Soyinka, and that's only because storytelling in itself is a more difficult craft to master than writing.
Things fall apart is not a book, it is a bible.
As a writer, you're in a better position to speak, ba? What about the millions of readers who simply enjoy their works with zero knowledge of the plenty literature "jargons" you dropped. They should all shove their opinions into their asses?



Calm down. It all boils down to who you enjoy most, not because "you know better as a writer".

Justsaying kiss



P.S

Mr Writer, learn to space out your words/use paragraphs adequately. They're not in short supply.

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Re: Achebe’s "Things Fall Apart" Named In Bbc’s 100 Stories That Shaped The World by Sarkin: 11:06am On Apr 24, 2019
Great man & great book.

2 Likes 1 Share

Re: Achebe’s "Things Fall Apart" Named In Bbc’s 100 Stories That Shaped The World by OkunrinOloro: 11:17am On Apr 24, 2019
Chinua Achebe was a writer of popular folk fiction. Wole Soyinka is a cerebral, philosopher whose writings can only be appreciated by men and women of deep intellect and proven academic credentials.

Comparing Achebe with Soyinka is like comparing the intellectual loftiness of Shakespearean literature with simple African folk tales. It's not a fair comparison because Achebe will always come out looking second best.

There's a reason why one of them won a Nobel Prize and the other was never even nominated.

Just pick up one of Soyinka's books like The Interpreter and compare it with Things Fall Apart. Read both of them and then come back to this forum and tell us which one showed a much deeper insight into the frailties of human nature and eternal struggle between individual freedom and societal norms.

I even rate someone like Cyprian Ekwensi as a better writer than Chinua Achebe.

Jayslicky:
CLICK like if u think chinua achebe was a better writer than wole soyinka.

Cc. Lalasticlala
Cc. Mynd44
Cc. Dominique.

23 Likes 1 Share

Re: Achebe’s "Things Fall Apart" Named In Bbc’s 100 Stories That Shaped The World by NwaforIgbo: 11:23am On Apr 24, 2019
PharoahIII:
As a writer, I think I am in a better position to comment on this topic. Firstly you must appreciate that Achebe's mastery of the English language was second to none, although he did not have a flair for words as Soyinka does. In terms of scene depiction, Achebe was a genius. Achebe could describe a scene like none other. Achebe had total control of his audience, he knew how to keep them on their toes, wanting and practically begging for more. This is a feat Soyinka simply could not achieve. But in terms of consistency, I'll give it to Soyinka.
Soyinka's best work till date remains Death and the King's Horseman (The first time I opened this book I knew I was in literary heaven). If one were to take this work away from Soyinka, Soyinka will still be Soyinka. But if you take Things Fall Apart away from Achebe, Achebe will be a nobody. He'll be like a disrobed emperor. His other works were quite quotidian. Achebe was a master storyteller and writer, and Soyinka, more of a writer than a story teller.
If I had to choose between the two, I'd choose Soyinka, and that's only because storytelling in itself is a more difficult craft to master than writing.
Things fall apart is not a book, it is a bible.

Nice one. Thumbs up

8 Likes 1 Share

Re: Achebe’s "Things Fall Apart" Named In Bbc’s 100 Stories That Shaped The World by Nbote(m): 12:15pm On Apr 24, 2019
PharoahIII:
As a writer, I think I am in a better position to comment on this topic. Firstly you must appreciate that Achebe's mastery of the English language was second to none, although he did not have a flair for words as Soyinka does. In terms of scene depiction, Achebe was a genius. Achebe could describe a scene like none other. Achebe had total control of his audience, he knew how to keep them on their toes, wanting and practically begging for more. This is a feat Soyinka simply could not achieve. But in terms of consistency, I'll give it to Soyinka.
Soyinka's best work till date remains Death and the King's Horseman (The first time I opened this book I knew I was in literary heaven). If one were to take this work away from Soyinka, Soyinka will still be Soyinka. But if you take Things Fall Apart away from Achebe, Achebe will be a nobody. He'll be like a disrobed emperor. His other works were quite quotidian. Achebe was a master storyteller and writer, and Soyinka, more of a writer than a story teller.
If I had to choose between the two, I'd choose Soyinka, and that's only because storytelling in itself is a more difficult craft to master than writing.
Things fall apart is not a book, it is a bible.

U are not in any position to comment... D ppl who are best placed to comment on d topic have spoken and chosen d best 100 works ever written... All U jus typed were ur opinion which in dis case doesn't matter

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Re: Achebe’s "Things Fall Apart" Named In Bbc’s 100 Stories That Shaped The World by TANID(m): 2:43pm On Apr 24, 2019
That Guy Above Me

2 Likes

Re: Achebe’s "Things Fall Apart" Named In Bbc’s 100 Stories That Shaped The World by lonelydora: 7:26am On Apr 25, 2019
Igbo amaka!

I learnt a lot of proverbs in that book. Okonkwo, the strong man

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Re: Achebe’s "Things Fall Apart" Named In Bbc’s 100 Stories That Shaped The World by Ayoswit(f): 7:26am On Apr 25, 2019
I need to read this book again. Igbo Amaka cool

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Re: Achebe’s "Things Fall Apart" Named In Bbc’s 100 Stories That Shaped The World by koolaid87: 7:26am On Apr 25, 2019
Too bad tribal sentiments wont even let me pick his books up but would rather go ahead and read about foreign affairs.


That has to stop cos I'm buying his book first thing tomorrow morning


So help me God

16 Likes 1 Share

Re: Achebe’s "Things Fall Apart" Named In Bbc’s 100 Stories That Shaped The World by BabaCommander: 7:26am On Apr 25, 2019
Things Fall Apart is a timeless classic

23 Likes 2 Shares

Re: Achebe’s "Things Fall Apart" Named In Bbc’s 100 Stories That Shaped The World by Uyi168: 7:27am On Apr 25, 2019
I've read that book b4..
Currently reading it again...

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Re: Achebe’s "Things Fall Apart" Named In Bbc’s 100 Stories That Shaped The World by SoNature(m): 7:28am On Apr 25, 2019
Even in death, the world still talks about his works!
God bless Chinualumogu Achebe.

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Re: Achebe’s "Things Fall Apart" Named In Bbc’s 100 Stories That Shaped The World by Jokerman(m): 7:30am On Apr 25, 2019
Nigeria has great writers in the persons of Chinua Achebe and Prof. Wole Soyinka... God bless them for putting smiles on peoples faces

11 Likes

Re: Achebe’s "Things Fall Apart" Named In Bbc’s 100 Stories That Shaped The World by odaniel1(m): 7:30am On Apr 25, 2019
PharoahIII:
As a writer, I think I am in a better position to comment on this topic. Firstly you must appreciate that Achebe's mastery of the English language was second to none, although he did not have a flair for words as Soyinka does. In terms of scene depiction, Achebe was a genius. Achebe could describe a scene like none other. Achebe had total control of his audience, he knew how to keep them on their toes, wanting and practically begging for more. This is a feat Soyinka simply could not achieve. But in terms of consistency, I'll give it to Soyinka.
Soyinka's best work till date remains Death and the King's Horseman (The first time I opened this book I knew I was in literary heaven). If one were to take this work away from Soyinka, Soyinka will still be Soyinka. But if you take Things Fall Apart away from Achebe, Achebe will be a nobody. He'll be like a disrobed emperor. His other works were quite quotidian. Achebe was a master storyteller and writer, and Soyinka, more of a writer than a story teller.
If I had to choose between the two, I'd choose Soyinka, and that's only because storytelling in itself is a more difficult craft to master than writing.
Things fall apart is not a book, it is a bible.
As a literary student back in school. I discovered Wole Soyinka was a better 'Playwright' than Chinua Achebe who faired better at 'Prose' as a Novelist...

13 Likes 1 Share

Re: Achebe’s "Things Fall Apart" Named In Bbc’s 100 Stories That Shaped The World by gratiaeo(m): 7:31am On Apr 25, 2019
Achebe is a masquerade

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