Things Fall Apart: A NovelThe most widely read book in modern African literature, presented here in stunning hardcover, tells two overlapping, intertwining stories, both of which center around a fearless Igbo warrior in Nigeria in the late 1800s, before and after the European colonization of the continent. “African literature is incomplete and unthinkable without the works of Chinua Achebe.” —Toni Morrison Nominated as one of America’s best-loved novels by PBS’s The Great American Read. The first of these stories traces Okonkwo's fall from grace with the tribal world in which he lives, and in its classical purity of line and economical beauty it provides us with a powerful fable about the immemorial conflict between the individual and society. The second story, which is as modern as the first is ancient, and which elevates the book to a tragic plane, concerns the clash of cultures and the destruction of Okonkwo's world through the arrival of aggressive, proselytizing European missionaries. These twin dramas are perfectly harmonized, and they are modulated by an awareness capable of encompassing at once the life of nature, human history, and the mysterious compulsions of the soul. THINGS FALL APART is the most illuminating and permanent monument we have to the modern African experience as seen from within. Everyman's Library pursues the highest production standards, printing on acid-free cream-colored paper, with full-cloth cases with two-color foil stamping, decorative endpapers, silk ribbon markers, European-style half-round spines, and a full-color illustrated jacket. Everyman’s Library Classics include an introduction, a select bibliography, and a chronology of the author's life and times. |
Contents
Section 1 | 3 |
Section 2 | 9 |
Section 3 | 26 |
Section 4 | 63 |
Section 5 | 75 |
Section 6 | 87 |
Section 7 | 95 |
Section 8 | 129 |
Section 9 | 136 |
Section 10 | 143 |
Section 11 | 148 |
Section 12 | 171 |
Section 13 | 192 |
Section 14 | 198 |
Section 15 | 213 |
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Common terms and phrases
Abame Agbala Aneto asked Okonkwo beat began broke brothers brought buried called cam wood cassava Chielo child Chinua Achebe Chukwu church clan cooking court messengers cowries crowd danced darkness daughter drums earth egwugwu Ekwefi elders Evil Forest Ezeudu Ezinma farm father fear feast fire foo-foo goat goatskin gods hand happened harmattan harvest head heard Ikemefuna in-laws iyi-uwa Kiaga killed king of crops kinsmen knew kola nut looked machete Mbaino Mbanta medicine missionaries morning neighbors night nine villages Nwakibie Nwoye Nwoye's mother Obiageli Obierika ogbanje Ogbuefi Okagbue Okonkwo's compound Oracle palm pots of palm-wine priestess rain replied returned rose round salute season silk-cotton tree soon soup spirit stood story talking tell things thought told took Tortoise tree turned Uchendu Umuofia kwenu Unoka Uzowulu voice walked wife wine wives woman women yams young