Saturday, January 26, 2013

February 22 -- Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe

Meeting Information:
Date: Friday, February 22, 2013
Time: 7:00 p.m.
Location: Plaza Branch Library, Small Meeting Room
Address: 4801 Main Street, Kansas City, Mo

We will meet to discuss the book, Things Fall Apart, a novel by Nigerian author Chinua Achebe published in 1958. It is seen as the archetypal modern African novel in English, and one of the first African novels written in English to receive global critical acclaim. It is a staple book in schools throughout Africa and widely read and studied in English-speaking countries around the world. The title of the novel comes from William Butler Yeats' poem "The Second Coming".

The novel depicts the life of Okonkwo, a leader and local wrestling champion in Umuofia—one of a fictional group of nine villages in Nigeria, inhabited by the Igbo people (archaically, and in the novel, "Ibo"). It focuses on his family and personal history, the customs and society of the Igbo, and the influence of British colonialism and Christian missionaries on the Igbo community during the late nineteenth century.