being a writer

Chinua Achebe, the author of Things Fall Apart, is often referred to as the father of African literature. Achebe grew up in Nigeria, and is of the Igbo tribe. I watched some interviews with him, and discovered some very interesting things about his experiences with literature as a child, his view on his culture and its representation in literature, and what he thinks of himself as a writer. If you're interested in watching the videos, here they are (there are 3, so bear with me!):

According to his interviews, Achebe considers it his responsibility and ambition to correctly represent his people. He read a lot of English literature as a child, but found that he ended up liking the European characters more than the African ones because the Africans were represented as savages, and the Anglo people were the heroes.He didn't like how this fed the misconceptions about his culture, which, though very different from ours, is indeed civilized and developed. In his books and poetry he aims to clear up these misconceptions by representing his people in a way that is completely true to their culture. He does not try to make you think that all the characters are heroes or good people, which I really liked. Even the main character is very flawed. He is overbearing, strict, and sometimes bordering on abusive. His father was lazy and unreliable. I love how Achebe does not try to change people's perceptions of tribal Africa by making them sound like saints, but simply tells the truth, and that is that in every culture there are people, and some of those people are more bad than good. Some or more good than bad. Everyone has a bit of both in them, and Achebe makes that clear in his writing.

Achebe was one of the first people to correctly represent African culture in literature, which is why he is considered the father of African literature. Achebe's work is world-famous and award-winning because it explains to the rest of the world how his tribe works, and brings light to the reality of African culture.

Thats all for now!

GlamingoGirl