Things Fall Apart
Book0 list appearances
Things Fall Apart is the 1958 debut novel by Nigerian author Chinua Achebe, written in English and credited with helping launch the Nigerian literary renaissance of the 1960s. It chronicles the rise, seven-year exile, and tragic fall of Okonkwo, an Igbo clan leader in 1890s southeastern Nigeria, coinciding with the arrival of white missionaries and British colonial administration. It is the first volume of Achebe's African Trilogy, followed by No Longer at Ease (1960) and Arrow of God (1964). Published in London in 1958, Things Fall Apart challenged Eurocentric colonial depictions of Africa by presenting Igbo society with internal complexity and realist psychological depth. The first American edition followed in 1959 under McDowell, Obolensky in New York. Structured in three parts tracing Okonkwo's pre-colonial prominence in Umuofia, his seven-year banishment for an accidental killing, and the colonial disruption upon his return.
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Structured Facts & Specifications
Verified highlightsAuthor
Chinua Achebe
Canonical Name
Things Fall Apart
Open Library ID
OL7508980M
First Publication
1958 (William Heinemann Ltd, London)
First U.s. Edition
1959 (McDowell, Obolensky, New York)
Node Type / Subclass
Book / Novel (Postcolonial & Historical Fiction)
Entity ID / Batch Slot
33 (Batch D)
Schema.org / Domain Tags
schema:Book, schema:CreativeWork, AfricanTrilogy, PostcolonialLiterature
Print / Translation Scale
8 million copies in print; 50 languages
Appears in 0 lists
No published list appearances yet.
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