One is tempted to say that One Hundred Years has a certain claim to be called the Great Latin American Novel. At any rate, for ali its concentration on the sufferings, madnesses, delusions, incestuous loves, and outsize passions of a single family, it seems to evoke the tragic real life and dream life of a whole continent.
C.F.
133
CHINUA ACHEBE
1930-
Things Fali Apart
Just as the inclusion of Garcia Marquez [132] in earlier edi- tions of the Lifetime Reading Plan acknowledged the growing importance of Latin American writers in modern world literature, so also it is fitting that the final work in the New Lifetime Reading Plan be the masterpiece of Chinua Achebe, in recog- nition not only that Things Fali Apart has already entered the worldwide modern canon, but that henceforth African literature will claim its due as part of the literary heritage of readers everywhere. Achebe in this sense also stands here as a surro- gate for Senghor, Soyinka (for both of whom see Going Further, below), Diop, and many other African writers whose works transcend merely regional significance.
Chinua Achebe was born and educated in Nigйria, a mem- ber of that country's Ibo ethnic group. After graduation from University College, Ibadan, he pursued a career in the public radio Corporation, but resigned abruptly in 1966 during the turmoil surrounding the attempted secession from Nigйria of the Ibo ethnic province of Biafra. Thereafter he has spent much of his time abroad, primarily in the United States, where he now lives and pursues a career as a college professor.
Although Achebe has been a prolific writer of novйis, short stories, plays, and other works, his international reputation rests overwhelmingly on his first novel, Things Fali Apart, pub- lished in 1958. Achebe himself was raised in a Nigerian village in the midst of a difficult transition from traditional society to life under British missionary and colonial government influence. His novel, drawn from his childhood experiences, tells the story of a traditional village "big man" whose life is destroyed by changes he can neither understand nor halt.
Okonkwo is a man of wealth and power in the village of
Umuofia. His gardens yield heavy crops of yams, his com- pound is large and comfortable, his wives desirable and his children satisfactory; most importantly he enjoys the respect of his fellow villagers, and his words are listened to as those of a man to be reckoned with. He is not immune to difficulties and troubles; when, for example, he accidentally kills a fellow clansman, he must endure the obligatory seven years' exile in his mothers native village. But he understands troubles in a traditional context, and knows how to cope with them. What is completely beyond his grasp is the appeal of the newly built missionary church, which seduces even some of his clansmen with its bizarre new doctrines, and the authority of the British District Commissioner and his hated retinue of constables recruited from outside the village. What is tragic about Okonkwo's downfall in the face of these new circumstances is that, in terms of the traditional world that he understands, he makes ali of the right moves, says the right things, asserts his power in strategically effective ways; the only problem is that things have changed, things have in fact fallen apart, and every move he makes to assert his authority makes his downfall more certain.
Achebe, in other words, has created a figure who would be recognized by Sophocles [6] or by Shakespeare [39], an African Oedipus or Lear brought down not only by fate but by his own stubborn pursuit of inappropriate goals and his blindness to circumstances. This, I think, is what accounts for the extraordi- nary appeal of Things Fali Apart, and why it has become estab- lished as a modern classic in dozens of translated versions around the world.
J.S.M.
GOING FURTHER
Below we list, with brief comments, one hundred twentieth-century authors—primarily novelists, but also poets, playwrights, and writers of nonfiction—whose works we think will be of interest to readers of The New Lifetime Reading Plan. Like any such list, this one is subjective, idiosyncratic, and open to challenge. We expect that both critics and lay readers will quarrel with our selections. (Where is C. S. Lewis? Where is Lawrence Durrell? The list could be expanded indefinitely.) So be it: Readers should feel free to augment our suggestions as they wish.
The authors discussed below fali into at least three subgroups. First are acknowledged modern masters: Musil, Rilke, Greene, and others. Second are writers whom we believe are of the first rank but who so far have not had the widespread recognition they deserve; among these would be Pym, Lodge, and Davies. Third, and perhaps most controver- sially, are writers of the post-war period whose books—for many of them, only one key book—helped to define the literary and intellectual terrain of our time; among them are Kerouac, Salinger, and Irving. There is no way to know how many of these authors will still be read in fifty or one hundred years; "some, but not ali," is the best one can do. Meanwhile we regard them as "temporary classics," a deliberate oxy- moron intended to emphasize that these books have been important in our own time, if not forever.
The authors are listed below in alphabetical order; we have no rec- ommendations for the order in which they should be read. For most we mention only a book or two; some of these writers, though, have been very prolific, and readers who enjoy their work will want to explore it further.
J.S.M.
Richard Adams (1920- ) served with the British armed forces in World War II, took a degree at Oxford, and became a civil servant, writing children's books on the side. He won widespread notice with Watership Down (1972), written as a children's book but widely read by adults as well. It is a gripping and beautifully written alle- gorical tale of rabbits driven from their native warren and forced to find a new home elsewhere; it deserves its enduring popularity. Try also his The Girl in a Swing (1980), a beautiful and shocking love story written for a decidedly adult audience.
Kingsley Amis (1922-1995) is regarded as one of the foremost of the "Angry Young Men," iconoclastic British writers of the post- WWII period (he denied the affiliation). He cultivated a supercil- ious and curmudgeonly persona that resonates strongly in the general tenor of his books. Lucky Jimy his best-known novel, portrays the unruly life of a loutish but engaging provincial professor; it is a savagely funny book.
Sherwood Anderson (1876-1941) was a prolific and influential writer of novйis and short stories, but he is deservedly best known for his first novel, Winesburgy Ohio (1919). It is a loosely linked series of stories and sketches about the emotionally shrunken lives of the citizens of a small Ohio town, seen through the eyes of a bril- liantly realized narrator persona, a callow local newspaperman.
Margaret Atwood (1939- ) shares with Robertson Davies the reputation of being modern Canadas foremost writer. An articulate and persuasive feminist, she is a prolific and versatile writer, the author of poetry, short stories, and essays as well as novйis. Start by reading The Handmaid's Tale, her best-known work; you will find yourself wanting to devour the rest of her books as well.
Louis Auchincloss (1917- ), like Edith Wharton a descendant of the old New York WASP aristocracy, portrays the manners, customs, and moral conflicts of his tribe with a deft pen and an insiders eye. He is a lawyer, and the leading characters of many of his novйis inhabit the upper reaches of the legal and corporate worlds. Most people regard The Rector of Justin (1964) as his finest novel; try also his wonderfully focused short stories (Collected Stories, 1994).