قصة الكتاب :
Things Fall Apart is a novel by African author Chinua Achebe that was written and published in 1958. It was his debut novel and is credited with creating a Nigerian literary renaissance in the ’60s. Regarded as a modern African novel and having received considerable global acclaim, the book is a staple in the curriculum at most African schools. It provides an account of life in Nigeria in the pre-colonial days and the events that unfolded as the Europeans arrived in the late 19th century. At the time of publication, the colonial era was seeing its final days. This story is set in the period when that era began and the colonial powers made their way into the African continent, taking over their states.

\r\nAlthough various books had been written about Africa, they were all by external voices. This was the first novel that presented African village life from the perspective and understanding of an African himself. It was a sort of literary reclamation of African history from generations of colonial writers. The story details the life of Okonkwo, an Igbo man and a wrestling champion in a village in Nigeria. It is split into three parts with the first detailing Okonkwo’s personal life, history and his clan’s traditions. The next two parts are a description of the events and changes that occurred in the lives of Okonkwo and the Igbo people as European colonialism and Christian missionaries took over their land. The novel was praised for its intelligent and reflective depiction of tribal beliefs and practices. In the story, Okonkwo gets banished from his community for seven years as punishment for accidentally killing one of the clansman. The novel deals with the particular problem that Africa experienced at the time with the intrusion of the white missionaries and the colonial government. It saw the unravelling of tribal life and communal unity. The psychological disintegration of tribal Africa is depicted in sensitive detail in the novel and is its highlight. Okonkwo sees himself as a character that gets caught up in a tragedy. He speaks of the missionaries as people who unleashed a new weapon in the form of the Bible. As more and more of his people converted to Christianity, they began to have shifting priorities and could no longer act as one with the clans they once belonged to – a process that eventually led to their disintegration.

\r\nThings Fall Apart was the first novel in a trilogy and remains one of the finest books written about the colonial era. Through his book, Achebe was able to portray a compelling picture of what was clearly a tragedy of loss of the old world and the endless possibilities that the new situation created. He paved the way for many such authentic voices to tell their stories and be heard on the global stage.\r\n