Chinua Achebe (16. studenog 1930. kao Albert Chinụalụmọgụ Achebe - 22. ožujka 2013.) nigerijski je pisac, pjesnik, profesor na američkom Sveučilištu Brown i kritičar. Njegovo je najpoznatije djelo Svijet se raspada (Things Fall Apart) iz 1958. godine koje se smatra temeljnim djelom moderne afričke književnosti.[1]
Odrastao je u kršćanskoj obitelji u Igbo selu Ogidi na jugu Nigerije, te se uspjehom u školi izborio za sveučilišnu stipendiju. Postao je fasciniran svjetskim religijama i tradicionalnim afričkim kulturama, te je za studija počeo pisati. Nakon diplome radio je za nigerijsku radio-televizijsku kuću Nigerian Broadcasting Service te se preselio u Lagos. Stekao je svjetsku slavu romanom Things Fall Apart kasnih 1950-ih; slijedili su romani No Longer at Ease (1960.), Arrow of God (1964.), A Man of the People (1966.) i Anthills of the Savannah (1987.). Achebe je romane pisao na engleskom te branio njegovu upotrebu od onih koji su ga, kao jezik kolonizatora, smatrali neprimjerenim afričkoj književnosti. Godine 1975. izazvao je kontroverzu predavanjem An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad's "Heart of Darkness" u kome je pisca Josepha Conrada optužio za rasizam.
Kada se pokrajina Biafra godine 1967. odcijepila od Nigerije, Achebe je postao vatreni zagovornik nezavisnosti i ambasador nove države. Tada je u zapadnim državama molio za pomoć kako bi pomogao svom narodu napaćenom ratu i glađu. Nakon završetka rata i nigerijskog preuzimanja Biafre, Achebe se kraće vrijeme bavio lokalnom politikom, ali je od nje odustao zgađen elitizmom i korupcijom. Neko vrijeme živio je u SAD, a godine 1990. se, nakon što je paraliziran u prometnoj nesreći, vratio u Nigeriju.
Achebeovi romani se najviše bave tradicijama i običajima Igbo društva, efektima dolaska kršćanstva, kao i sukobom različitih vrijednosnih sustava za i poslije kolonizaciji. Stil mu se temelji na narodnim pričama Igboa i kombinira standardno pripovijedanje s poslovicama i govorima. Osim romana pisao je i novele, dječje knjige i eseje. Kasnije je predavao jezike i književnost na Bard Collegeu u Annandale-on-Hudsonu u američkoj državi New York.
Romani
- Things Fall Apart, (1958)
- No Longer at Ease, (1960)
- Arrow of God, (1964)
- A Man of the People, (1966)
- Anthills of the Savannah, (1987)
Novele
- "Marriage Is A Private Affair", (1952)
- "Dead Men's Path", (1953)
- The Sacrificial Egg and Other Stories, (1953)
- "Civil Peace", (1971)
- Girls at War and Other Stories, (1973)
- African Short Stories (editor, with C.L. Innes), (1985)
- Heinemann Book of Contemporary African Short Stories (urednik, zajedno s C.L. Innesom), (1992)
Poezija
- Beware, Soul-Brother, and Other Poems, (1971) (
- Don't let him die: An anthology of memorial poems for Christopher Okigbo (urednik, zajedno s Dubemom Okaforom), (1978)
- Another Africa, (1998)
- Collected Poems, (2004)
- Refugee Mother And Child
Eseji, kritike i politički komentari
- The Novelist as Teacher, (1965)
- An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad's "Heart of Darkness", (1975)
- Morning Yet on Creation Day, (1975)
- The Trouble With Nigeria, (1984)
- Hopes and Impediments, (1988)
- Home and Exile, (2000)
Dječje knjige
- Chike and the River, (1966)
- How the Leopard Got His Claws (with John Iroaganachi), (1972)
- The Flute, (1975)
- The Drum, (1978)
- Achebe, Chinua (1965). "English and the African Writer". Transition 18: 27-30. ISSN 0041-1191.
- Achebe, Chinua (1975). Morning Yet on Creation Day. London: Heinemann Educational. ISBN 0-435-18026-6.
- Achebe, Chinua (1989). Hopes and Impediments: Selected Essays. New York: Doubleday. ISBN 0-385-24730-3.
- Achebe, Chinua (1994). Things Fall Apart. New York: Anchor Books. ISBN 0-385-47454-7.
- Agetua, John (Ed.) (1977). Critics on Chinua Achebe, 1970-76. Benin City, Nigeria: Bendel Newspapers Corp.
- Azohu, Virginia (1996). "Culture and the Frontiers of Language". In Ihekweazu, Edith. Eagle on Iroko: Selected Papers from the Chinua Achebe International Symposium, 1990. Ibadan, Nigeria: Heinemann Educational Books (Nigeria) PLC. ISBN 978-129-379-9.
- Bicknell, Catherine (1996). "Achebe's Women: Mothers, Priestesses, And Young Urban Professionals". In Ihekweazu, Edith. Eagle on Iroko: Selected Papers from the Chinua Achebe International Symposium, 1990. Ibadan, Nigeria: Heinemann Educational Books (Nigeria) PLC. ISBN 978-129-379-9.
- Booker, M. Keith and Simon Gikandi (2003). The Chinua Achebe Encyclopedia. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press. ISBN 0-325-07063-6.
- Egar, Emmanuel Edame (2000). The Rhetorical Implications of Chinua Achebe's 'Things Fall Apart' Lanham, Maryland: University Press of America. ISBN 0-7618-1721-2.
- Egejuru, Phanuel (1996). "Orethory Okwu Oka: A Neglected Technique In Achebe's Literary Artistry". In Ihekweazu, Edith. Eagle on Iroko: Selected Papers from the Chinua Achebe International Symposium, 1990. Ibadan, Nigeria: Heinemann Educational Books (Nigeria) PLC. ISBN 978-129-379-9.
- Egejuru, Phanuel Akubueze (2001). Chinua Achebe: Pure and Simple, an Oral Biography. Stoke-on-Trent: Malthouse Press. ISBN 978-023-148-X.
- Ekwe-Ekwe, Herbert (2001). African Literature in Defence of History: An Essay on Chinua Achebe. Dakar: African Renaissance. ISBN 1-903625-10-6.
- Emenyonu, Ernest N. (1991). "Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart: A Classic Study in Colonial Diplomatic Tactlessness". In Peterson, Kirsten Holst and Anna Rutherford, eds. Chinua Achebe: A Celebration. Oxford, England: Dangeroo Press. ISBN 0-435-08060-1.
- Emenyonu, Ernest N. (1996). "Foreword: For Whom The Honour Is Due". In Ihekweazu, Edith. Eagle on Iroko: Selected Papers from the Chinua Achebe International Symposium, 1990. Ibadan, Nigeria: Heinemann Educational Books (Nigeria) PLC. ISBN 978-129-379-9.
- Emenyonu, Ernest N. (Ed.) (2004). Emerging Perspectives on Chinua Achebe Trenton, New Jersey: Africa World Press. ISBN 0-86543-876-5 (v. 1), ISBN 0-86543-878-1 (v. 2).
- Ezenwa-Ohaeto (1997). Chinua Achebe: A Biography. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. ISBN 0-253-33342-3.
- Gera, Anjali (2001). Three Great African Novelists. New Delhi: Creative Books. ISBN 81-86318-79-8.
- Gikandi, Simon (1991). Reading Chinua Achebe: Language and Ideology in Fiction London: J. Currey. ISBN 0-85255-527-X.
- Innes, Catherine Lynette (1990). Chinua Achebe. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.
- Innes, C. L. and Bernth Lindfors (Eds.) (1978). Critical Perspectives on Chinua Achebe. Washington: Three Continents Press. ISBN 0-914478-45-1.
- Jaya Lakshmi, Rao V (2003). Culture and Anarchy in the Novels of Chinua Achebe Bareilly: Prakash Book Depot.
- July, Robert W (1987). An African Voice. Durham (NC): Duke University Press. ISBN 0-8223-0769-3.
- Killam, G. D. (1977). The Writings of Chinua Achebe London: Heinemann Educational. ISBN 0-435-91665-3.
- Laurence, Margaret (2001). Long Drums and Cannons: Nigerian Dramatists and Novelists, 1952-1966. Alberta: University of Alberta Press. ISBN 0-88864-332-2.
- Lindfors, Bernth (1982). Early Nigerian Literature. New York: Holmes & Meier Publishers, Ltd. ISBN 0-8419-0740-4.
- Mezu, Rose Ure (2006). Chinua Achebe: The Man and His Works. London: Adonis & Abbey Publishers Ltd. ISBN 1-905068-21-2.
- Niven, Alistair (1991). "Chinua Achebe and the Possibility of Modern Tragedy". In Peterson, Kirsten Holst and Anna Rutherford, eds. Chinua Achebe: A Celebration. Oxford, England: Dangeroo Press. ISBN 0-435-08060-1.
- Njoku, Benedict Chiaka (1984). The Four Novels of Chinua Achebe: A Critical Study New York: P. Lang. ISBN 0-8204-0154-4.
- Nnolim, Charles (1996). "The Artist in Search of The Right Leadership: Achebe As A Social Critic". In Ihekweazu, Edith. Eagle on Iroko: Selected Papers from the Chinua Achebe International Symposium, 1990. Ibadan, Nigeria: Heinemann Educational Books (Nigeria) PLC. ISBN 978-129-379-9.
- Ogbaa, Kalu (1999). Understanding Things Fall Apart. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press. ISBN 0-313-30294-4.
- Ogede, Ode (2001). Achebe and the Politics of Representation: Form Against Itself, From Colonial Conquest and Occupation to Post-Independence Disillusionment Trenton, New Jersey: Africa World Press. ISBN 0-86543-774-2.
- Ojinmah, Umelo (1991). Chinua Achebe: New Perspectives Ibadan: Spectrum Books Limited. ISBN 978-2461-16-4.
- Okpewho, Isidore, (Ed.) (2003). Chinua Achebe's 'Things Fall Apart': A Casebook Oxford, England: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-514763-4.
- Sallah, Tijan M. and Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala (2003). Chinua Achebe, Teacher of Light: A Biography Trenton, New Jersey: Africa World Press. ISBN 1-59221-031-7.
- Tredell, Nicolas (2000). Joseph Conrad: Heart of Darkness. New York: Columbia University Press. ISBN 0-231-11923-2.
- Yankson, Kofi E. (1990). Chinua Achebe's Novels: A Sociolinguistic Perspective. Uruowulu-Obosi, Nigeria: Pacific Publishers. ISBN 978-2347-79-5.
- Yousaf, Nahem (2003). Chinua Achebe. Tavistock : Northcote House in Association with the British Council. ISBN 0-7463-0885-X.
