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A review by lynecia
The Education of a British-Protected Child: Essays by Chinua Achebe
4.0
Defines, Decodes and DEFIES the language, mythos and ethos of colonialism.
I've read so many of Achebe's non-fiction work in quick succession, and as a result, not only am I quite charmed (he seemed to be such a charismatic person), I've received an education that has sharpened my mind and further deepened my love and appreciation for Chinua Achebe's work, but for African/diasporic literature in general.
I never really understood what writing as resistance really meant - after all, I came up in a time where so many amazing writers had laid this wonderful foundation for me - a canon of our own, so to speak. However, to be of a generation of the "dispossessed" as Achebe calls it, who for generations had their stories co-opted, grossly defined and used as tools against them in their own oppression-- well, to write against that, against ones dispossessors (and ones own folk too. He spoke truth to power! It almost got him killed) and tell your story for yourself -- that is resistance. Literature indeed is revolutionary. We were lucky to have Chinua Achebe as one of its wielders, its upholders of the power of storytelling, a global treasure.
I've read so many of Achebe's non-fiction work in quick succession, and as a result, not only am I quite charmed (he seemed to be such a charismatic person), I've received an education that has sharpened my mind and further deepened my love and appreciation for Chinua Achebe's work, but for African/diasporic literature in general.
I never really understood what writing as resistance really meant - after all, I came up in a time where so many amazing writers had laid this wonderful foundation for me - a canon of our own, so to speak. However, to be of a generation of the "dispossessed" as Achebe calls it, who for generations had their stories co-opted, grossly defined and used as tools against them in their own oppression-- well, to write against that, against ones dispossessors (and ones own folk too. He spoke truth to power! It almost got him killed) and tell your story for yourself -- that is resistance. Literature indeed is revolutionary. We were lucky to have Chinua Achebe as one of its wielders, its upholders of the power of storytelling, a global treasure.