No description available.

There are very few works not associated with the Western canon to have received as much attention as Chinua Achebe’s novel Things Fall Apart (Ogbaa 1). However, contrary to the many post-colonial interpretations of this novel, this essay employs a psychoanalytical literary approach to discuss the cause of the protagonist’s eventual demise, based on the premise that human behaviour is driven by an unconscious process. Consequently, this essay argues that following the ego’s inability to repress the infantile demands of the unconscious, the preconscious and the conscious self, ever more compulsive, repetitive and neurotic behaviours are displayed. Furthermore, this essay argues that Okonkwo’s relationship to his mother plays a significant role in explaining the tense relationship with his own father and sons. Subsequently, the protagonist’s self-confidence turns to pride and his masculinity develops into totalitarian rule leading to uncontrollable rage, Okonkwo’s world literally falls apart.

Thesis Ph. D.--University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1992. / Bibliogr. p. 197-207.

Bielefeld, Universiẗat, Diss., 2002.

No description available.

M.A. / The Nigeria-Biafra War has elicited a corpus of literature which thematises the hydra-headed problematic of nationhood that embodies ethnicity, politics and history. A recent contribution is Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s award-winning Half of a Yellow Sun (henceforth, Yellow Sun) which reveals interesting affinities between Adichie and Chinua Achebe, and suggests the influence of Achebe on her. The centrality of Biafra to these writers (both are of Igbo or ‘Biafran’ extraction) foregrounds concerns about the links between literary production, identity politics and the narrative of the nation. At a time marked by the resurgence of sub-nationalist notions in Nigeria, it becomes fitting to review the growing ‘Biafra discourse’ as enunciated in recent Nigerian fiction. It is argued that in Yellow Sun and Achebe's most recent novel Anthills of the Savannah (henceforth, Anthills) both writers espouse notions of nationhood which privilege the ethnic group mainly through a valorisation of the Igbo people of south-eastern Nigeria who constituted the defunct Biafra republic. This dissertation examines how both novels depict difference and deploy historical revision to fetishise ethnic identity in their enunciation of ethno-nationalism. It also explores the degree to which Yellow Sun may reflect the influence of Anthills, both ideologically and stylistically. In this regard, the study interrogates the peculiar narratological features of both novels. The predominant research method applied is close reading, and the theoretical framework incorporates theories of narratology, influence and intertextuality as well as postcolonial notions of nationalism, historicisation, difference and representation. The study draws significantly on the scholarship of Frederic Jameson, Mieke Bal, Harold Bloom and Imre Szeman among others. Keywords: narratology, nationalism, historicisation, representation, ethnicity, difference, other/otherness/othering, representation, intertextuality, Nigeria, Biafra, civil war.

Philosophiae Doctor - PhD / This study investigates the ideational metafunction in Achebe’s Things Fall Apart in order to explore the characterisation of Okonkwo, Unoka, Ezinma, Ekwefi and Mr. Brown. The study confines itself to the following objectives, namely, to identify process-types attributed to characters; identify the transitivity patterns embedded in process-types attributed to characters; establish the significance of transitivity patterns attributed in the characterisation; and establish the significance of process-type collocations in projecting the development of characters in the story. The present undertaking is drawn from the theoretical frontiers of Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) and the analytical lens of transitivity model, backed by the methodological locale of Corpus Linguistics (CL). The study reveals that although Okonkwo, Unoka, Ezinma, Ekwefi and Mr. Brown are attributed material processes (MaPs); mental processes (MePs); relational processes (RePs); and verbal processes (VePs), significant differences exist not only in how the allotted process-types are mapped per character but also on how they impact on characterisation. / 2023

Syftet med uppsatsen var att studera hur motivet mat används i samtliga fem romaner av den nigerianska författaren Chinua Achebe för att visa på det koloniala/postkoloniala tillståndet. Samtliga fem romaner av Achebe har studerats för denna uppsats. De olika verken har studerats utifrån hur mat som motiv utvecklar sig med tiden i hans romaner. Hur maten används i romanerna för att skildra landets utveckling och karaktärernas identitet i relation till den egna nationen och koloniallandet. Analysen visar att det går en skönja en utveckling genom romanerna. I de tidigaste romanerna används mat för att bekräfta identiteten inom igbo-kulturen. I senare böcker sker en konflikt i mötet med kolonialmakten och den mat som introduceras. De olika köken smälter med tiden samman och matens koppling till identitet försvagas.

No exercício de comparativismo literário entre as obras Things fall apart, do escritor nigeriano Chinua Achebe (1958), e Terra morta, do angolano Castro Soromenho (1949), é possível estabelecer aproximações e distanciamentos que dialogam entre si e podem trazer reflexões relevantes para o estudo das literaturas africanas. Enquanto a primeira oferece uma visão inédita a respeito do funcionamento interno da sociedade Ibo na Nigéria diante da situação colonial, a segunda transparece as frágeis relações dos colonos portugueses nas instituições políticas, econômicas e sociais do império na região da Lunda em Angola. Já por esse aspecto, os romances convergem para um panorama em comum ao apresentarem tanto o colonizado em Things fall apart quanto o colonizador em Terra morta de maneira distante dos estereótipos retratados pelas figuras coloniais, justamente por problematizarem questões internas e clivagens sociais e históricas. Assim, ao evidenciaram as fraturas internas, contribuem com a crítica sobre o sistema colonial ao mesmo tempo em que ajudam a construir outras visões históricas sobre o tema. Desse modo, as duas obras distanciam-se abertamente quanto aos contextos coloniais, que exigem, diante de uma leitura comparativa, um arcabouço teórico-crítico múltiplo que abarque as diferenças existentes nas dinâmicas coloniais e em seus contextos africanos específicos. O fato de os dois romances trazerem à cena regiões específicas na Nigéria habitada pelo povo Ibo e em Angola determinada como o espaço Lunda - e apresentarem uma multiplicidade de questões étnicas, raciais, sociais e identitárias, acaba distanciando os dois livros em perspectiva comparatista. Em termos aproximativos, no entanto, a problematização dos espaços e personagens retratados nas narrativas e a figura do narrador que assume posições políticas que se aproximam da categoria do autor implícito (BOOTH, 1983), permitem também uma leitura analítico-comparativa entre os romances. Se, por um lado, os contextos sociais e históricos distanciam os escritores e seus produtos literários; os romances se aproximam não apenas pelas categorias narrativas de personagens e espaço, mas também pela posição político-ideológica assumida por seus narradores. A consciência histórica e o compromisso político diante dos fatos narrados estão presentes na representação literária como uma tentativa de entender o funcionamento e apresentar uma crítica aos diferentes processos coloniais. / In the exercise of literary comparison between the novels Things fall apart, of the nigerian writer Chinua Achebe (1958), and Terra Morta, of the Angolan writer Castro Soromenho (1949), its possible to establish similarities and differences that interact with each other and can evoke important reflections for the african literatures study. While the first novel offers an unprecedented vision concerning the inner functioning of the Ibo nigerian society on the colonial situation, the second exposes the fragility of Portuguese settlers in the political, economic and social institutions of the potuguese empire in the region of Luanda, Angola. About this last aspect, the novels converge into a common panorama when presenting an image of the settler that does not fall into a stereotypical perspective of that category, precisely by problematizing inner questions and social and historical cleavages. By exposing the inner fractures of the Angolan society, both novels contribute by criticizing the colonial system and, at the same time, helping to construct other historical visions about the issue. Therefore, both novels deviate from each other when presenting different colonial contexts that require, in terms of a comparative reading, a multiple theoretical and critical framework able to contemplate the differences observed in the colonial dynamics and in its african specific contexts. The fact that both novels bring into discussion two specific regions the Nigeria inhabited by the Igbo people and the Angola established as the Lunda space and present a multiplicity of social, racial and ethnic issues result in a detachment of the novels by comparative means. However, in approximate means, the problematization of spaces and characters portrayed in the narratives and the role of the narrator, who assumes political positions similar as the implied author category (Booth, 1983), also permit an analytical-comparative reading between the two novels. If, in one side, the social and historical contexts set apart the writers and its literary products, the novels are get closer not only by means of space and narrative categories, but also in terms of political and ideological positions assumed by its narrator. The historical conscience and the political commitment concerning the themes addressed in the novels are shown in the literal representation as an attempt to understand and present a critique to the different colonial processes.

No exercício de comparativismo literário entre as obras Things fall apart, do escritor nigeriano Chinua Achebe (1958), e Terra morta, do angolano Castro Soromenho (1949), é possível estabelecer aproximações e distanciamentos que dialogam entre si e podem trazer reflexões relevantes para o estudo das literaturas africanas. Enquanto a primeira oferece uma visão inédita a respeito do funcionamento interno da sociedade Ibo na Nigéria diante da situação colonial, a segunda transparece as frágeis relações dos colonos portugueses nas instituições políticas, econômicas e sociais do império na região da Lunda em Angola. Já por esse aspecto, os romances convergem para um panorama em comum ao apresentarem tanto o colonizado em Things fall apart quanto o colonizador em Terra morta de maneira distante dos estereótipos retratados pelas figuras coloniais, justamente por problematizarem questões internas e clivagens sociais e históricas. Assim, ao evidenciaram as fraturas internas, contribuem com a crítica sobre o sistema colonial ao mesmo tempo em que ajudam a construir outras visões históricas sobre o tema. Desse modo, as duas obras distanciam-se abertamente quanto aos contextos coloniais, que exigem, diante de uma leitura comparativa, um arcabouço teórico-crítico múltiplo que abarque as diferenças existentes nas dinâmicas coloniais e em seus contextos africanos específicos. O fato de os dois romances trazerem à cena regiões específicas na Nigéria habitada pelo povo Ibo e em Angola determinada como o espaço Lunda - e apresentarem uma multiplicidade de questões étnicas, raciais, sociais e identitárias, acaba distanciando os dois livros em perspectiva comparatista. Em termos aproximativos, no entanto, a problematização dos espaços e personagens retratados nas narrativas e a figura do narrador que assume posições políticas que se aproximam da categoria do autor implícito (BOOTH, 1983), permitem também uma leitura analítico-comparativa entre os romances. Se, por um lado, os contextos sociais e históricos distanciam os escritores e seus produtos literários; os romances se aproximam não apenas pelas categorias narrativas de personagens e espaço, mas também pela posição político-ideológica assumida por seus narradores. A consciência histórica e o compromisso político diante dos fatos narrados estão presentes na representação literária como uma tentativa de entender o funcionamento e apresentar uma crítica aos diferentes processos coloniais. / In the exercise of literary comparison between the novels Things fall apart, of the nigerian writer Chinua Achebe (1958), and Terra Morta, of the Angolan writer Castro Soromenho (1949), its possible to establish similarities and differences that interact with each other and can evoke important reflections for the african literatures study. While the first novel offers an unprecedented vision concerning the inner functioning of the Ibo nigerian society on the colonial situation, the second exposes the fragility of Portuguese settlers in the political, economic and social institutions of the potuguese empire in the region of Luanda, Angola. About this last aspect, the novels converge into a common panorama when presenting an image of the settler that does not fall into a stereotypical perspective of that category, precisely by problematizing inner questions and social and historical cleavages. By exposing the inner fractures of the Angolan society, both novels contribute by criticizing the colonial system and, at the same time, helping to construct other historical visions about the issue. Therefore, both novels deviate from each other when presenting different colonial contexts that require, in terms of a comparative reading, a multiple theoretical and critical framework able to contemplate the differences observed in the colonial dynamics and in its african specific contexts. The fact that both novels bring into discussion two specific regions the Nigeria inhabited by the Igbo people and the Angola established as the Lunda space and present a multiplicity of social, racial and ethnic issues result in a detachment of the novels by comparative means. However, in approximate means, the problematization of spaces and characters portrayed in the narratives and the role of the narrator, who assumes political positions similar as the implied author category (Booth, 1983), also permit an analytical-comparative reading between the two novels. If, in one side, the social and historical contexts set apart the writers and its literary products, the novels are get closer not only by means of space and narrative categories, but also in terms of political and ideological positions assumed by its narrator. The historical conscience and the political commitment concerning the themes addressed in the novels are shown in the literal representation as an attempt to understand and present a critique to the different colonial processes.