He was 82.
An author of more than 20 books, his honors included the 2007 Man Booker International Prize for Fiction.
He was also accorded his country's highest award for intellectual achievement, the Nigerian National Merit Award.
Achebe is a major part of
African literature, and is popular all over the continent for his
novels, especially "Anthills of the Savannah," which was itself
shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 1987, and "Things Fall Apart."
The latter was required
reading in countless high schools and colleges in the continent, and has
been translated into dozens of languages.
Set in precolonial
Nigeria, "Things Fall Apart" portrays the
story of a farmer, Okonkwo,
who struggles to preserve his customs despite pressure from British
colonizers. The story resonated in post-independent Africa, and the
character became a household name in the continent.
Achebe's stories included
proverbs and tackled complex issues of African identity, nationalism
and decolonization, adding to his books' popularity.
A critic of Conrad, poor governance
He once wrote an essay
criticizing Joseph Conrad, author of "Heart of Darkness," as a racist
for his depiction of Africans as savages. Conrad's popularity took a hit
after the accusation -- a testament to Achebe's credibility.
He also criticized
corruption and poor governance in Africa, and had been known to reject
accolades by the Nigerian government to protest political problems.
Penguin Books' Twitter
feed said: "Chinua Achebe: a brilliant writer, and a giant of African
literature. Nelson Mandela said he 'brought Africa to the rest of the
world'. RIP."
Nigerian President
Goodluck Jonathan issued a statement paying tribute to Achebe as
"Nigeria's globally acclaimed writer, scholar, tutor, cultural icon,
nationalist and artist of the very first rank."
While Achebe will be
greatly missed, Jonathan said, he will live on in the minds of present
and future generations through his great works.
He added that Achebe's
"frank, truthful and fearless interventions in national affairs will be
greatly missed at home ... because while others may have disagreed with
his views, most Nigerians never doubted his immense patriotism and
sincere commitment to the building of a greater, more united and
prosperous nation that all Africans and the entire black race could be
proud of."
South African President
Jacob Zuma said he was saddened by the loss of a "colossus of African
writing" who had helped many define themselves.
"It was in his famous
novel "Things Fall Apart" that many Africans saw themselves in
literature and arts at the time when most of the writing was about
Africans but not by Africans," said Zuma in a written statement.
Biafran War
Born in Nigeria in 1930,
Achebe was raised in the large village of Ogidi, one of the first
centers of Anglican missionary work in Eastern Nigeria, according to a
biography posted by Penguin.
He was an early graduate
of the respected University of Ibadan, established in Nigeria before
the end of British colonial rule in 1960.
He worked in radio but
in 1966 left his post during the national upheaval that led to the
bloody Biafran War, in which Nigeria's southeastern provinces attempted
to secede.
Achebe joined the
Biafran Ministry of Information and represented Biafra on diplomatic and
fund-raising missions before the civil war came to an end after two and
a half years.
His 2012 memoir, "There
Was a Country: A Personal History of Biafra," draws on his recollections
of that painful period in Nigeria's past.
A review by Adam Nossiter for the New York Times
talks of how the book gives "glimpses of this immense human tragedy in
Achebe's characteristically plain-spoken narrative" but is also "tinged
with odd nostalgia for the ephemeral moment when Biafra seemed to birth a
national culture."
Fellow Nigerian writer
Ben Okri, whose own novel "The Famished Road" won the 1991 Booker Prize,
first met Achebe in the 1980s, when they did a radio interview
together.
Achebe was "a senior
figure of African literature" at the time, he said, and it was
"startling" how kind he was, and how "generous towards a younger,
somewhat angrier writer."
"He was one of the most
important writers to deal with the issue of the historical clash of
civilizations, and the sometimes disastrous and sometimes benevolent
consequences," .
"He was without any
doubt a very important figure, not only as a writer but as a guiding
presence. He combined humility with forcefulness. He wrote clearly and
truthfully, and was a touchstone for many African writers and many
writers around the world."
'Generosity of spirit'
In the course of a long
academic career, Achebe took up university posts in Nigeria and
overseas, including teaching at Brown University in Rhode Island, where he was professor of Africana Studies, and Bard College in New York.
Leon Botstein, president
of Bard College, paid tribute to Achebe as "a brilliant novelist,
story-teller, and eloquent voice from the opposite side of Joseph
Conrad, with respect to the relationship of the West to Africa."
He also highlighted
Achebe's "extraordinary generosity of time and spirit" during more than
20 years as a member of the Bard College community, adding that he will
be deeply missed.
"For many, he was
considered the father of African literature, and for many of his
students, he introduced them to an extraordinary literary tradition,"
Botstein said. "His importance to literature, and to those he taught and
knew personally, will never be forgotten."
Corey D. B. Walker, an
associate professor and chair of the department of Africana Studies at
Brown University, said Achebe's loss was a great one.
"He was more than just a colleague, faculty member, and teacher at Brown. He was a gift to the world," he said.
"At a time like this we
could draw many words of wisdom and comfort from the deep wells of
various African cultures and traditions to honor him. The most fitting
is the simple and elegant phrase, 'A great tree has fallen.' "
In an interview for the
Paris Review of Books in 1994, Achebe spoke of how his early love of
stories led him to realize that they reflected only the point of view of
the white man. That spurred him to write himself.
"There is that great
proverb -- that until the lions have their own historians, the history
of the hunt will always glorify the hunter. ... Once I realized that, I
had to be a writer. I had to be that historian," he said.
"It's not one man's job.
It's not one person's job. But it is something we have to do, so that
the story of the hunt will also reflect the agony, the travail -- the
bravery, even, of the lions."
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