Things Fall Apart: A Novel

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Book Description

In THINGS FALL APART, there are two stories that are intertwined and overlap with one another. Both of these stories revolve around Okonkwo, a “strong man” who lives in an Ibo village in Nigeria. In the first of these tales, Okonkwo's fall from grace with the tribal world in which he lives is depicted. This tale, with its classical purity of line and economical beauty, offers us a potent story about the fight that has existed from the beginning of time between the individual and society. The second chapter, which is as contemporary as the first is ancient, and which raises the book to a tragic plane, is about the collision of civilizations and the collapse of Okonkwo's world as a result of the coming of aggressive European missionaries who are trying to convert people to their religion. An awareness that is able to embrace at the same time the life of nature, human history, and the mysterious compulsions of the soul is able to modulate these dual dramas because they are perfectly harmonized and they are modulated by this awareness. In terms of the modern African experience as perceived from within, THINGS FALL APART is the most enlightening and enduring monument that we have at our disposal.