₦airaland Forum

Ola Johnson: As far as I'm concerned, as you know, if you've started reasoning, Things Fall Apart, is not rich in literary prowess; it is widely used in the United States as more of an anthropology/sociology piece than as a literary text.
Before Chinua Achebe published the novel, people were publishing novels. For example, we have "Ogboju Ode Ninu Igbo Irumale" published in 1938 by D. O. Fagunwa. It was translated into English by Wole Soyinka as "Forest of Thousand Daemons" in 1963. Fagunwa who was the first Nigerian to employ folk philosophy in telling stories had the title of Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) conferred on him in 1959 by Queen Elizabeth. I know the "Jews" will play on this title, calling it a European title like that of the Nobel Laureate.

Amos Tutuola was another great novelist that published before Chinua Achebe. He wrote his first novel, "The Palm-Wine Drinkard" in 1946 and published it in 1952. It was translated to French by Raymond Queneau as "L'Ivrogne dans la brousse" in 1953. Tutuola wrote two other novels before 1956.
Get that into your head and not a none existing title.

if not yoruba, it can't be anything else. Eyaaaa..., insecured bigots.

Ola Johnson: As far as I'm concerned, as you know, if you've started reasoning, Things Fall Apart, is not rich in literary prowess; it is widely used in the United States as more of an anthropology/sociology piece than as a literary text.
Before Chinua Achebe published the novel, people were publishing novels. For example, we have "Ogboju Ode Ninu Igbo Irumale" published in 1938 by D. O. Fagunwa. It was translated into English by Wole Soyinka as "Forest of Thousand Daemons" in 1963. Fagunwa who was the first Nigerian to employ folk philosophy in telling stories had the title of Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) conferred on him in 1959 by Queen Elizabeth. I know the "Jews" will play on this title, calling it a European title like that of the Nobel Laureate.

Amos Tutuola was another great novelist that published before Chinua Achebe. He wrote his first novel, "The Palm-Wine Drinkard" in 1946 and published it in 1952. It was translated to French by Raymond Queneau as "L'Ivrogne dans la brousse" in 1953. Tutuola wrote two other novels before 1956.
Get that into your head and not a none existing title.

if not yoruba, it can't be anything else. Eyaaaa..., insecured bigots.

percipi1: Good, i pray you get the laptop in time. Just remember that you are debating with someone who runs a private library. Be prepared. By the way, its nice chating with you. I have to go chill out now.

private library...so what? Is he supposed to get jittery over it? Private library indeed, or perhaps you mean a 2-column shelf in your oga's/daddy's office...

Ola Johnson: Okon, did you say an African oddity? You are wrong. If you don't understand Yoruba, whose culture WS uses a lot in his work ask for clarification. He may draw similarity between Yoruba and Greece, there is no problem. He has been a Professor of Comparative Literature for close to 50 years. On his being complex, that is his style, and as Professor Robert Fox points out in "From Tigritude To Transcendence: The Conscience And Conscientiousness of Wole Soyinka", 'an artist whose work is difficult need offer no appology.' His works are difficult just as the Yoruba Ifá literary corpus' Odu that is difficult because they are "oro ijinle" (deep words). Can you easily understand an onye ogwu or a dibia? Reason well.

an european wannabe, that is what soyinka is. Nobel prize has made him more european than the europeans. Serious inferiority complex. A godless, cult pioneering, nobelomaniac. God help his foolery. The bible says, ''a fool says in his heart that there is no God''. Oops! Have i said something disrespectful?

percipi1: You are a liar. The idea of the African Writers series came from Heinemann executive Alan Hill. Chinua Achebe was appointed its first advisory editor . Okigbo had nothing to do with it. Founded in 1962. The books were designed for classroom use, issuing works solely in paperback to make them affordable for African students. They were published by Heinemann Educational Books (HEB) in London and various African cities. Soyinka rejected the idea of the series because of such classification. Have you heard anything called the “European writers series” Why Africa?

You are the real liar. The publishing outfit banked on achebe's vision, success, and editorial prowness to establish AWS. There was AWS because there was achebe. Recently at achebe's funeral, heinemann publishers in its tribute to achebe, highlighted why. Find that out for yourself if you are unbiasedly serious.

Ola Johnson: Your dream of being like the Israeli Jews who have things come to them easily, hence your calling yourselves 'Jews', is a mirage. Until you realize this you will remain where you are even in the politics of Nigeria. It was that same mirage that made you feel Things Fall Apart which is not rich in literary skills could fetch CA the Nobel Prize. For me, its being used in the United States is more of an anthropology/sociology for people to see the culture of the Igbo. All his books put together could not fetch him anything. Nadine Gordimer only compensated him with a mere verbal statement.

you wish. You really wish.

Ola Johnson: So, Wole Soyinka won the prize because he is a "European", and Chinua Achebe not? If u no know wetin u go talk make u dey wistle.

God, is this guy teachable or is he just being stubborn? Okay, let me try this instance. WS likes similarizing african (yoruba) myths to european (greek) myth which on the surface, is not bad. However, his pursuit in desperately wanting to sound, feel, and think european in african shades has made him a nobel sweetheart, but an african oddity. As an atheist, he thinks he is enlightened, very unafrican.

CAMEROONPRIDE: I don't engage fool ^^ Senghor playing in a lower grade, are u all right? Someone who has been inducted in the French academy?


You are funny dude go read about senghor and his negritude movement , you are either too young or simply poorly educated

junk, junk, junk. Junk words from a junkie.

CAMEROONPRIDE: I don't engage fool ^^ Senghor playing in a lower grade, are u all right? Someone who has been inducted in the French academy?


You are funny dude go read about senghor and his negritude movement , you are either too young or simply poorly educated

negritude is like begging to be appreciated. Achebe's works were unapologetic. He made the world see africa in an unbiased and transparent. Africans were organised and sophiscated in their culture and goverment. They had strengths, values, and flaws. In other words, they were like their white counterparts- progressively HUMAN. Senghor owes much of his african dignity to Achebe's works, take it or leave it.

CAMEROONPRIDE: what does sonyinka have to do with this? Gordimer is the only one who called the dude ****** ....and why in the hell I will b jealous of CA? , refrain to quote me if you don't want to use your brain or are going to waste my time with bigotry, I asked several questions here that you and your crew are yet to answer

...which is.....

CAMEROONPRIDE: Leopold sedar Senghor need I say more?

Please we live in a free world, we are free to disagree..if tomorrow someone says yakubu is the best African footballer I guess you will disagree..so man up and learn how to take critics...also only one person called him this way and we know how it happened

i can't help but laugh. Is soyinka more 'nobel' than gordimer? Mr man you smell of putrid jealousy.

Ola Johnson: If being advanced in literary prowess is imperialism, then you can continue to wallow in your ignorance, and should have asked Chinua Achebe not to have written in the imperialist language, English. Igbo would have been better.

o boy think for once. Being english or european does not necessarily make one imperialist, however, we know how politically twisted the nobel club is, imperialism reigns supreme in european politics. I hope you've learnt something.

CAMEROONPRIDE: but his "fame/success" came from his novel.
Eat which words?

his essay on conrad which enjoys relevance globally made him a literary force to reckon with. He made africa and africans stand tall and proud. He is to the white imperialists, a nightmare, a threat or something of that sort. I sense uneasiness in your post.

CAMEROONPRIDE: you are not making any sense, I'm asking her definition because I don't want to show people who started writing before achebe and achieved more for her to come and say they are not into modern literature, also let's not forget that literature is not only about novels ...I rest my case.

Ps: if you are an achebe defender, can you answer the questions I posted ,thank u

...and let's also not forget that CA was not only a writer of novels, but also of poems, essays, non-fiction books, and children's books...his essays and other works has remained relevant till today, he is also a recipient of the prestigious commonwealth poetry prize. My friend, you have to eat your words.

Ola Johnson: That is WS' style, it can't be understood by the ordinary mind.

if i hear. That is wole soyinka trying hard to impress and please the imperialist europeans, anyway the nobel paid off...european way of saying, ''that's our boy, keep it up negro(nigger).''

Ola Johnson: What sense would you say you are trying to make here? Put on your thinking cap and be reasonable for once. I should have known that you are one of the children given birth to by Haruna of the University of Ibadan. You are indeed like your father.

you really think you've made a statement right? Go back to school, you are a disgrace.

Ola Johnson: There was nothing unique about his style. At a point in time, Wole Soyinka described him as unrelieved competent. For a writer to be exceptional, there must be something special about him. For example, I respect Ayi Kwei Armah a lot for his descriptive prowess. He can use pages in describing a needle.

WS makes simple issues seem complex and ambigous, while CA does the opposite- simplifying complex issues.

percipi1: Agreed its Eurocentric, its the most coveted Prize. If its not the ultimate, which one is? By the way what contradiction are you talking about? Satre's decline of the Award was consistent with his principle not to accept any award whatsoever.

that's my point. There is no ultimate prize. Truth be told, it's coveted because of its history and monetary value. However, it's reputation worldwide is eroding, because of its political leanings.

percipi1: Son-of-El, why don’t you advise your “ I love Achebe more than Achebe “ wannabes to do something to promote the image of the world acclaimed literary giant instead of fighting hard to award him a title he considered inappropriate when he was alive. Even his Protégé Chimanda Adichie questioned the rationale behind the title when she said, “I don’t know who invented it, its one of those convenient things people just say, Africans had been writing for centuries,”
It will be nice if they can work together and seek a sponsor to support a Chinua Achebe award for literature in Africa just like we have Wole Soyinka Award for Literature in Africa . established by The Lumina Foundation in 2005 in honour of Africa's first Nobel Laureate in literature. The prize is awarded every other year, and the winner receives $20,000. Entries must be written in English or French
Past winners of the Wole Soyinka Award for Literature in Africa include Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani, Nnedi Okorafor, Wale Okediran, Sisifo Mzobe, Sefi Atta and Kopano Matlwa.

so achebe must be honoured the way soyinka was? Please keep your advice. Achebe was only being gracious in refusing the honour, that dosent mean he wasn't deserving of it noting his germinal role in mordern african literature. The cultural richness, sophistication, relevance, and originality of his works since 1958, coupled with his pioneering role in projecting and mentoring other notable african writers, has brought the honour to him.

Ola Johnson: I've known the "Jews" to be tribal, but never knew it has gotten to this stage that it now blocks their sense of reasoning. They've teamed up deceiving themselves by endorsing their comments, whether they are right or not on this thread. But on this topic, I'll personally debate it with you just as I've right from when it was posted about two weeks ago. I will do this till the thread is closed.

ola, you are a dissappointment to common sense. You are the proverbial ant standing on an elephant to challenge a leopard. Spineless opportunist. Achebe's honour must not be LIKE soyinka's. Pls leave his honorific alone and be content with your kinsman's achievements.

percipi1: My friend, there is politics in every human endeavour. Jean Satre did not reject the Nobel Prize for political reasons. In a public announcement, printed in Le Figaro of October 23, 1964, Mr. Sartre “expressed his regret that his refusal of the prize had given rise to scandal, and wished it to be known that, unaware of the irrevocability of the Swedish Academy's decisions, he had sought by letter to prevent their choice falling upon him. In this letter, he specified that his refusal was not meant to slight the Swedish Academy but was rather based on personal and objective reasons of his own.

As to personal reasons, Mr. Sartre pointed out that due to his conception of the writer's task he had always declined official honours and thus his present act was not unprecedented. He had similarly refused membership in the Legion of Honour and had not desired to enter the Collège de France, and he would refuse the Lenin Prize if it were offered to him. He stated that a writer's accepting such an honour would be to associate his personal commitments with the awarding institution, and that, above all, a writer should not allow himself to be turned into an institution.

Among his objective reasons, Mr. Sartre listed his belief that interchange between East and West must take place between men and between cultures without the intervention of institutions. Furthermore, since the conferment of past prizes did not, in his opinion, represent equally writers of all ideologies and nations, he felt that his acceptance might be undesirably and unjustly interpreted.

Mr. Sartre closed his remarks with a message of affection for the Swedish public.”

When ye know the truth, ye shall be free.

your response with regards to satre's quotes is contradictory. The issue between the east and the west as every pundit knows, is POLITICAL. Also, he noted that the prize does not represent writers of ALL ideologies and nations. The prize is undoubtedly EUROCENTRIC. Its a prestigious prize, but never the ultimate.

Ola Johnson: The "Jews" here have really shown how tribal they could be. If you don't understand the interview of Wole Soyinka why don't you, as Percipi1 has said, ask for clarification. Because Chinua Achebe is dead Wole Soyinka must not speak; because Odumegwu Ojukwu is dead Olusegun Obasanjo must not speak, right? This can't be possible. All of a sudden the Nobel Laureate for Literature has become political because Chinua Achebe never won it and can never win it posthumously.

ola, for real, your reasoning needs miraculous recovery. Nobel prize has always been political before achebe. Jean satre (if i spelt his name right) noted this and turned down his nobel prize. Check up on political victims of the prize e.g tolstoy, twain, ghandi, etc. They didn't get the prize for political reasons as this finding was proven decades later. Recently, a spokesman for the nobel committee made remarks as to the prize having political factors. Google it if you think i am making this up. Let me advise, before you write any word, think DEEPLY.

percipi1: Only intelligent people who are well nurtured in civilised cultures are welcome to this debate. I understand that you have serious ethnic issues, you are ,therefore, excused.

You wish. You really wish.

percipi1: My friend, I do not hold brief for Wole Soyinka nor am I here to dispute Achebe’s honor. I am simply here to appraise the fact in issue- that is, whether or not the honor “Father of modern African literature” can be awarded to a single individual.

If you have issues with Wole Soyinka’s position, it is most appropriate if you address him directly, but if you want to discuss the fact in issue, then you will need to shelf your ethnic toga and approach the matter from the perspective of an analyst.

If you are interested in a serious debate, let’s start with this question” Citing relevant literary authorities, what is the definition of Modern African Literature?

Once we can scale this hurdle, we will now move to the contentious phrase” father of Modern African Literature”

I belong to the Socratic school and I can assure you that a difficult question can only be solved when we do not assume any position but approach the issue from a question and answer position. We call it the dialectical method.

Lets have it from you first:” Citing relevant literary authorities, what is the definition of Modern African Literature?

my friend keep quiet. Do you think you are with novices? Follow WS for all i care, the world resonates what a nobel laurette has said in honour of CA. DEAL WITH IT!

percipi1: My friend, I do not hold brief for Wole Soyinka nor am I here to dispute Achebe’s honor. I am simply here to appraise the fact in issue- that is, whether or not the honor “Father of modern African literature” can be awarded to a single individual.

If you have issues with Wole Soyinka’s position, it is most appropriate if you address him directly, but if you want to discuss the fact in issue, then you will need to shelf your ethnic toga and approach the matter from the perspective of an analyst.

If you are interested in a serious debate, let’s start with this question” Citing relevant literary authorities, what is the definition of Modern African Literature?

Once we can scale this hurdle, we will now move to the contentious phrase” father of Modern African Literature”

I belong to the Socratic school and I can assure you that a difficult question can only be solved when we do not assume any position but approach the issue from a question and answer position. We call it the dialectical method.

Lets have it from you first:” Citing relevant literary authorities, what is the definition of Modern African Literature?

my friend keep quiet. Do you think you are with novices? Follow WS for all i care, the world resonates what a nobel laurette has said in honour of CA. DEAL WITH IT!

Ola Johnson: I'll do exactly what one of the few sensible people here, Percipi1, has told me: to ignore some people. I just have to start that.

ola, face it, you've been spanked black and blue.

Ola Johnson: This thread won't close until you realize that there is nothing like father of African literature. It doesn't exist.

in your world it dosen't. In the real world it does.

Ola Johnson: "Major-General Johnson Thompson Umunnakwe Aguiyi Ironsi was the General Officer Commanding the Nigerian Army. A hard-drinking, slow-speaking introvert who had risen from the ranks, and had been trained at Eaton Hall and Camberley Staff College, he was however considered both inept and inefficient-hardly the calibre of officer to command an army. In fact, the coup planners considered him unfit to command even a funeral detail". Those were the words Ben Gbulie in his book, Nigeria's Five Majors, used to describe your "excellent soldier".

who is gbulie? Where was he when ironsi was queen elizabeth's special security aide, macpherson's adc, UN Commander in the congo war, WW2 west africa frontier force commanding officer. He was west africa's foremost general and no even his 6-month tenure as head of state of nigeria (awolowo's dream ambition) can erase that. Ola your envy of igbos is a disease that will bury you one day.

Aigbofa: Please educate me since you have volunteered to do so. All I need to learn at this initial stage is whether or not he made Nigeria a unitary state. Oya fire on, my teacher. I am hungry for knowledge.
I will also like to thank Ironsi that Nigeria today no longer have regional and ethnic fault lines. He must have been a genius.

the british actually made their government in nigeria unitary until when the wave for independence for african states began. By the way, ironsi was credited for making nigerian foreign affairs and embassies one, not before when there was (particularly) western nigeria embassies abroad alongside other regions. By the way, relating these to this thread's topic, the igbos have always been one-nigerian, even more than the northern and western nigeria. Achebe brought literary reputation to nigeria and africa. His germinal role in modern african literature is indisputable. Why are you people so envious of a people who are helping in making nigeria and africa a better place? Particularly achebe.

Aigbofa: The Nigerian federation was negotiated before independence, not like the current pseudo federal system we have. If I can go a step further, I will call him the father of mediocrity in Nigeria.

every avid historian knew that the nigerian federation before independence had ethnic cracks and regional fault lines. Apparently you are a JJC in nigeria's political history. Let me educate you a bit. The first major civil unrest politically motivated took place in the western region. What do you think instigated and justified the first coup by the 5 majors? Mr. Aigbofa, you have a lot of learning to do to save you the embarassment of making stupid comments here.

Ola Johnson: Ngozievergreen, you've mentioned this severally. We need explicable facts. It is rather unfortunate for you to call WS a local champion. But be that as it may I will let it slide as our discourse is centered, to a large extent, around CA.

o boy, i thought you wanted this thread closed earlier. Now the thread is at it's 36th page and you are still spewing your junk. You are truly spineless.

Aigbofa: This is one of the problems most people have with you guys. The idea that only Igbo are competent enough to run everything is patently false. If this were true, it should reflect on the current state of development in Igbo dominated states.
There's nothing to support the notion that Igbo heads of state would have done any better than their Hausa or Yoruba counterparts.
Aguiyi Ironsi made Nigeria a unitary state. He is the father of the current situation where everybody looks to the Federal government for what they can do for themselves. Is that competence of mediocrity?

aigbofa, now you have really gone bananas. You claim ironsi is father of nigeria's unitary woes? I thought your hausa/fulani masters had 'fixed' that already. Ironsi undoubtedly was an excellent soldier but a terrible politician. However, your pretencious ogas-at-the-top have given nigeria a 'model' for true federalism after the civil war. They never knew better. OLODOs.