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A review by downby1
The Education of a British-Protected Child: Essays by Chinua Achebe
3.0
The limitations of this book are in its editing, not its content. Achebe is exceptional, thoughtful, and engaging, but the selection of essays is frequently haphazard and hideously organized. A warning should be the casual use of the word ‘oeuvre’ in the volume’s dust jacket, a word with implications and pretense it is best for even an academic publisher, much less Knopf to use sparingly or not at all. More could have been made by organizing Achebe’s essays and reflections based on topic or at least chronological so as to capture the evolution and maturation of his work. Instead the image of a crowded, repetitive mind is created, even if it is wholly false
Two essays stand out among the collection. ‘Africa’s Tarnished Name’, includes an exceptional condensed overview of Achebe’s highly valid critique and repudiation of Conrad’s Heart of Darkness as a liberalized exploration of the colonial experience. Achebe rightly notes the innate racism underpinning Conrad’s work and how the explanation of it being a product of his time is unacceptable. This is made all the more so by the example of David Livingston, whom Conrad idolize, who described Africans as good and evil-like all men throughout the world. By comparison, Conrad returns continually to the idea of the ‘tainted’ or ‘small’ soul of Africans, easily turned by Kurtz.
‘Politics and Politicians of Language in African Literature’ is a snapshot of Achebe on the role of native and colonial languages in the continent’s literature. Achebe remains a strong voice for both, unlike many of his contemporaries who took it as an either/or question.
Two essays stand out among the collection. ‘Africa’s Tarnished Name’, includes an exceptional condensed overview of Achebe’s highly valid critique and repudiation of Conrad’s Heart of Darkness as a liberalized exploration of the colonial experience. Achebe rightly notes the innate racism underpinning Conrad’s work and how the explanation of it being a product of his time is unacceptable. This is made all the more so by the example of David Livingston, whom Conrad idolize, who described Africans as good and evil-like all men throughout the world. By comparison, Conrad returns continually to the idea of the ‘tainted’ or ‘small’ soul of Africans, easily turned by Kurtz.
‘Politics and Politicians of Language in African Literature’ is a snapshot of Achebe on the role of native and colonial languages in the continent’s literature. Achebe remains a strong voice for both, unlike many of his contemporaries who took it as an either/or question.