Polka Dot Rock Posted June 15, 2007 Share Posted June 15, 2007 Chinua Achebe has won the Man Booker International prize! Which is both, for me, surprising and very pleasing as I love postcolonial literature. His fellow shortlisted writers were Britain's Doris Lessing, Ian McEwan and Salman Rushdie, Ireland's John Banville, the Americans Philip Roth and Don DeLillo, the Canadians Margaret Atwood, Alice Munro and Michael Ondaatje, and the dissident Israeli Amos Oz. Here's a news article about it - Guardian: Man Booker International judges honour Chinua Achebe. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Freewheeling Andy Posted June 15, 2007 Share Posted June 15, 2007 I've never read anything by him - something I must fix - but I'm delighted that the Booker International people have, for the second time, chosen an interesting novelist who won't be familiar to most people, rather than that "towering shortlist" that appears, well, just a bit safe and comfortable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Freewheeling Andy Posted June 15, 2007 Share Posted June 15, 2007 And on the subject of African writing, this is one of my favourite pieces on writing about Africa (and one, it seems, that Achebe might sympathise with), from Granta a few years back. http://www.granta.com/extracts/2615 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kenny_Shovel Posted June 15, 2007 Share Posted June 15, 2007 Chinua Achebe has won the Man Booker International prize! Which is both, for me, surprising and very pleasing It is indeed good news. I've read three books by Achebe, "Things Fall Apart", "No Longer at Ease" and "A Man of the People". All are wonderfully clear and concise novels conveying a balanced, honest and informative portrayal of the transition of a country from pre to post colonial times. He Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Polka Dot Rock Posted June 15, 2007 Author Share Posted June 15, 2007 I've read Things Fall Apart which is a great novel, obviously a very important one too with regards to African literature written in the English langauge. Andy - I'll check that article out, thanks for posting it Achebe also wrote a very in/famous essay (which title now escapes me ) about Conrad's Heart of Darkness: in very simplified terms, it suggested that it should no longer be considered as a canonical text because of it's overt racisim. Very controversial stuff, but all the more important in that it highlighted an issue that had been somewhat 'glossed over' 'til Achebe's polemic. It's really interesting, so keep your eyes peeled for it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JudyB Posted June 15, 2007 Share Posted June 15, 2007 Thank's for the link PDR - I've read Things Fall Apart - it's an incredible story. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Polka Dot Rock Posted June 15, 2007 Author Share Posted June 15, 2007 You're welcome, Judy With all this (much deserved) fan-fare, I feel quite inspired to read it again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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