I don't know what Paa Kwesi Mintah is going to say about this piece since you've violated all his rules: academia, Professors, references to learned people... But there's no lady and Sonnet has not been mentioned. But you cou ... read full comment
I don't know what Paa Kwesi Mintah is going to say about this piece since you've violated all his rules: academia, Professors, references to learned people... But there's no lady and Sonnet has not been mentioned. But you couldn't yourself from telling us you were writing a novel when you could be lecturing at a university - somewhere in Tennessee...
But for me, I want to commend you for not writing about petty Ghanaian politics which is the only thing the likes of Bokor, Okoampa, Akadu, Kofi Atta, etc know. Life on ghanaweb can be far more meaningful than just talk about Akufo-Addo, Mahama, Rawlings, Asante, Ewe and more mahama, Akufo-Addo, Rawlings to be followed by still more of the same. I think those who regularly bring this fact home to us need a pat on their shoulders. You do.
AFREH MANU BERNARD 11 years ago
As I earlier posted on your facebook page, this tribute to Papa Achebe is well crafted and to immerse yourself into the setting is indeed ingenious. Just some years ago, I recall that two books that I read religiously were T ... read full comment
As I earlier posted on your facebook page, this tribute to Papa Achebe is well crafted and to immerse yourself into the setting is indeed ingenious. Just some years ago, I recall that two books that I read religiously were Things Fall Apart and a certain yellow-cover dictionary my dad bought for me.
To my mind, the condescending nature of this international media ought to be condemned. When a book has been translated in over 50 languages and said to have sold 80million copies (I don't think the numerous 'fake' copies sitting on people's shelves were factored into the computation), he should not be merely regarded as an African author.
BTW: The reading culture is fast dying. Well, you cannot blame those who argue that informative articles are in short supply. When one analyses how banal articles are given prominence in this academic forum, one is tempted to agree more...
NEMESIS, UK 11 years ago
" He was bigger than Africa; but he remained Nigerian because..." Tawiah-Benjamin, Kwesi
Bigger than Africa? Are you for real? Pls wake up from slumber of the gradeur and smell the coffee. Saying that Chinua Achebe is g ... read full comment
" He was bigger than Africa; but he remained Nigerian because..." Tawiah-Benjamin, Kwesi
Bigger than Africa? Are you for real? Pls wake up from slumber of the gradeur and smell the coffee. Saying that Chinua Achebe is greater than Africa, is not only absurd but also MADNESS.
Chinua Achebe is not in the same league of Africa LEGENDS like the great Dr.Osagefo Kwame Nkruman, of the blessed memory, living legend like ex-president Nelson Mandela, the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo, of the blessed memory and Kamara Laye, the author of 'African Child.'
Even all the people mentioned above are not bigger than Africa, talk less a literary giant Chinua Achebe.
The problem we some of African is that
we always allows our emotion takes over our senses sometimes. Can this author says Shakespears or Charles Dickens are bitter than their native Europe? Hell no! Not even Europeans sees them as bigger than their native country England, not to talk of bigger than their continent Europe.
But some African with their behind their anus, like the author above, would always get carried away with events and phenomenon event like earthquake is the end of the world.
LARYEAH 11 years ago
FOOL, ALL THAT THE WRITER MEANS IS THAT, CHINUA ACHEBE'S WRITINGS IS NOT CONFOUND TO THE BOARDERS OF AFRICA ALONE, BUT ALSO TO EUROPE, AMERICA, ASIA ETC. HENCE THE TERM " BIGGER THAN AFRICA".
FOOL, ALL THAT THE WRITER MEANS IS THAT, CHINUA ACHEBE'S WRITINGS IS NOT CONFOUND TO THE BOARDERS OF AFRICA ALONE, BUT ALSO TO EUROPE, AMERICA, ASIA ETC. HENCE THE TERM " BIGGER THAN AFRICA".
NEMESIS, UK 11 years ago
WHAT THE WRITER MEANS IN HIS WRITING WAS THAT 'CHINUA'S IMAGE' IS BIGGER THAN AFRICA. ANIMAL LIKE LIKE YOU SHOULD LEARN TO READ BETWEEN THE LINES, OKAY. YOU NEEDS WISDOM TO COMMENT ON CERTAIN ISSUES, IDIOT.
WHAT THE WRITER MEANS IN HIS WRITING WAS THAT 'CHINUA'S IMAGE' IS BIGGER THAN AFRICA. ANIMAL LIKE LIKE YOU SHOULD LEARN TO READ BETWEEN THE LINES, OKAY. YOU NEEDS WISDOM TO COMMENT ON CERTAIN ISSUES, IDIOT.
NEMESIS, UK 11 years ago
NOW LET ME EDUCATE YOU MORE ILLITERATE GHANA BOY LARYEAH.
THE WORD I SUGGEST THE WRITER SHOULD HAVE USE TO DESCRIBE THE GREAT OF WORK OF ACHEBE SHOULD BE: (HIS WORKS/WRITING "TRANSCEND AFRICA" NOT BIGGER THAN AFRICA). DO ... read full comment
NOW LET ME EDUCATE YOU MORE ILLITERATE GHANA BOY LARYEAH.
THE WORD I SUGGEST THE WRITER SHOULD HAVE USE TO DESCRIBE THE GREAT OF WORK OF ACHEBE SHOULD BE: (HIS WORKS/WRITING "TRANSCEND AFRICA" NOT BIGGER THAN AFRICA). DO YOU GET THAT MR. MORON?
Ato 11 years ago
As for me the bottom line is, what is it about this Chinua Achebe chap that has improved the sordid lives of Africans?
I have attempted at various times in my life to read books by some of those so-called African literary ... read full comment
As for me the bottom line is, what is it about this Chinua Achebe chap that has improved the sordid lives of Africans?
I have attempted at various times in my life to read books by some of those so-called African literary writers including Chinua Achebe but I couldnt make it past the first few pages. They didnt seem to present anything that I felt could impact favorably on the unfortunate circumstances of Africa.
Without exception they are bland, aimless and insipid. They may very well admittedly serve as leisure material for rural or first generation educated Africans. But for me, at best, some of them appeared to be charting an unknown course of their own by mixing a curious cocktail of European and African literary forms to arrive at some nondescript intention.
For those I attempted to read, they all, without exception, lacked what it would take to create a unique African - whether it be a Ghanaian, Congolese, Nigerian, Malian or whatever literary style or form, to raise the political consciousness of the African and to elevate Africa from the mess we find ourselves in. Any wonder that the educated African is so bereft of vital and pertinent common sense that could have been applied to make us all better people?
On the other hand, the political writers of Africa are several aeons ahead of their time and the people of the world. Frantz Fanon, Kwame Nkrumah, Cheik Anta Diop to name a few, are yet to be reached and tapped by Africans and all other people of the world to make the world a better place. This is where our interest and concentration should be and not fanciful writings for writing sake which lead us nowhere but back to confusion.
The very fact that the prevailing neocolonial system we live in does not accept or encourage the powerful political writers in our educational curriculum or in the public domain but feels more comfortable with the likes of Chinua Achebe and Wole Soyinka, in itself speaks volumes.
Sani 11 years ago
The works of Frantz Fanon, Nkrumah, Diop are in a different category from the works of Achebe, Soyinka and co. It is unfair to compare them. They cannot win the same prizes because they are different and should be judged by d ... read full comment
The works of Frantz Fanon, Nkrumah, Diop are in a different category from the works of Achebe, Soyinka and co. It is unfair to compare them. They cannot win the same prizes because they are different and should be judged by different standards.
When you talk of "fanciful writings for writing sake" you are displaying a certain naivete that is common among even educated Africans. Many educated Africans do not read literary works because they describe them as "fanciful" and not about true things or something like that. But they miss the point completely. The purpose of these books is to approach the human condition through your so-called fanciful ways. Often, they turn out to be more "truthful" about this human condition than all those other straight forward historical or political writings. But then, you must know how to extract that truth out of them. That is what many (but not all) Africans cannot do.
ABC 11 years ago
U are very stupid. U could have choosen to comment on the blog and churned your views instead of being sarcastic. Idiot. And learn some grammer for heavens sake.
U are very stupid. U could have choosen to comment on the blog and churned your views instead of being sarcastic. Idiot. And learn some grammer for heavens sake.
mojingles 11 years ago
A welcome respite....Tawiah's ode to Achebe...from the daily dose of political mumbo-jumbo,drab,repetitive and monotonous themes by highly partisan scriveners...Achebe was a literary masterpiece comparable to the great Italia ... read full comment
A welcome respite....Tawiah's ode to Achebe...from the daily dose of political mumbo-jumbo,drab,repetitive and monotonous themes by highly partisan scriveners...Achebe was a literary masterpiece comparable to the great Italian Leonardo Di Vinci(he of the al-fresco marvel in the Vatican)....like Di Vinci, Achebe's works will live on long after we have all departed planet earth......
Sani 11 years ago
Hi, thanks for linking your comment to mine. I think we see eye to eye on this issue...
But is it not rather Leonardo da Vinci? Perhaps you were confused by Leonardo DiCaprio. But this other Leonardo comes nowhere near the ... read full comment
Hi, thanks for linking your comment to mine. I think we see eye to eye on this issue...
But is it not rather Leonardo da Vinci? Perhaps you were confused by Leonardo DiCaprio. But this other Leonardo comes nowhere near the status of the more famous of his countryman. They are not in the same class kuraaa... lol.
mojingles, I hope you read my response to your comment to my comment to Daniel Pryce's article on Bawumia's accident - March 19th. If you have not, go back and read it. I think you left the building early that day.
mojingles 11 years ago
Thanks for the correction; yes, it is Da Vinci....of course, I was not by any stretch of the imagination drawing parallels between the world renown painter and the film buff...DiCaprio...I was instead referring to Achebe lite ... read full comment
Thanks for the correction; yes, it is Da Vinci....of course, I was not by any stretch of the imagination drawing parallels between the world renown painter and the film buff...DiCaprio...I was instead referring to Achebe literary prowess comparable in some sense to the drawing talents of Da Vinci....if you get my drift.....I left the building early to use your quote the other day, thus I did not read your comment on my comment.....will do so in due course.....
mojingles 11 years ago
Hi, young man, thanks a gazillion for the compliments....I am embarrassingly faltered by your glowing, would I say, praise...but gleaning from your comments, you also wield the pen remarkably well...those were the good old da ... read full comment
Hi, young man, thanks a gazillion for the compliments....I am embarrassingly faltered by your glowing, would I say, praise...but gleaning from your comments, you also wield the pen remarkably well...those were the good old days on Ghanaweb...the early 2000s...when intelligent writing was highly valued...not these days when half-baked pseudo writers have been unwittingly propelled to greater heights by Ghanaweb.......sad, if you ask me.....
Kojo T 11 years ago
You wet our appetite for the forecast. Let them churn them out. We will devour them
You wet our appetite for the forecast. Let them churn them out. We will devour them
Kk3 11 years ago
Achebe was great because the western media said so. I wonder what Africans who have read his works think. All he did, was feed into the slavish mentality of Africans. Just curious, did he produce any literature in Igbo?
Achebe was great because the western media said so. I wonder what Africans who have read his works think. All he did, was feed into the slavish mentality of Africans. Just curious, did he produce any literature in Igbo?
metoo 11 years ago
I don't get your point. Why would Achebe write in Igbo?
Was he writing for only those who can understand Igbo? Only his tribes people? How would the rest of Nigeria, let alone, Africa or the world have read this book you sa ... read full comment
I don't get your point. Why would Achebe write in Igbo?
Was he writing for only those who can understand Igbo? Only his tribes people? How would the rest of Nigeria, let alone, Africa or the world have read this book you say he should have written? Is it not by being FIRST translated into English? Or can you read Igbo? Is it because you think he has to prove his
"African-ness" to you? Lol, you have failed even before you have begun. In your arrogant assertion that he was not "black enough", you have asked for evidence that he was a tribalist.
Achebe was great because he was....simple as!
Akadu Mensema 11 years ago
Again another reductionist, conjectural, and counterfactual account! How did you come to the conclusion that "we have not read his other works?" Who aare the "we" - street kids, all educated Ghanaians, or only those who study ... read full comment
Again another reductionist, conjectural, and counterfactual account! How did you come to the conclusion that "we have not read his other works?" Who aare the "we" - street kids, all educated Ghanaians, or only those who study literature and the other Humanities and social science?
Kuuku 11 years ago
What's there to gain by such posturing as having read much Achebe whiles fallaciously assuming that other Ghanaians haven't read him, and then going on to 'lecture' us about how great he was...all because you want us to know ... read full comment
What's there to gain by such posturing as having read much Achebe whiles fallaciously assuming that other Ghanaians haven't read him, and then going on to 'lecture' us about how great he was...all because you want us to know that you read him a lot?The writer only succeeded in giving me the impression that he's academically arrogant!Duh!And at the expense of the passing away one of my most favourite African writers!
BILL, CANADA 11 years ago
Akadu, you are absolutely right. How can a person make such shallow and non-factual and baseless observation?
Akadu, you are absolutely right. How can a person make such shallow and non-factual and baseless observation?
AFREH MANU BERNARD 11 years ago
I wonder why Akadu came across as belligerent and sour. The author pointed out that " he has not read many other (Achebe's) works". In my estimation, Mr. Tawiah did not seek to insult the intelligence of anyone. He merely cra ... read full comment
I wonder why Akadu came across as belligerent and sour. The author pointed out that " he has not read many other (Achebe's) works". In my estimation, Mr. Tawiah did not seek to insult the intelligence of anyone. He merely crafted his ideas to highlight the fact that, nowadays, reading is fast descending into the abyss.
How many Ghanaians buy literary books? Does this amount to chest-thumping for Tawiah to state this obvious truth ?
Akwasi Mann 11 years ago
How can you denigrate Achebe? He, not Soyinka should have won the Nobel. Period. Even with that single seminal work.
How can you denigrate Achebe? He, not Soyinka should have won the Nobel. Period. Even with that single seminal work.
Amma 11 years ago
I haven't even read Things Fall Apart although I passed through second cycle education in Ghana and 'supposedly' read and took the then GCE O Level and did reasonably well. I however came across Ben Okri a year later when I d ... read full comment
I haven't even read Things Fall Apart although I passed through second cycle education in Ghana and 'supposedly' read and took the then GCE O Level and did reasonably well. I however came across Ben Okri a year later when I did remedial studies in the UK equivalent GCSE. Perhaps the proverbial
prophet not being valued in their community may hold some truth here. Out of interest I remember reading these two for my Ghana GCE O Levels, The Jewel and the Crown and Money Galore, did anybody else read them
rather than Things Fall Apart? I feel a bit lonely!
Nkrabea 11 years ago
What about "Weep not child"?--Ngugi?
great book, for my GCE O level.
What about "Weep not child"?--Ngugi?
great book, for my GCE O level.
Kwame Appiah 11 years ago
Tawiah,you're growing old,publish your NOVEL and stop beating about the bush.Chinua Achebe published his first novel when he was twenty eight years old.
Tawiah,you're growing old,publish your NOVEL and stop beating about the bush.Chinua Achebe published his first novel when he was twenty eight years old.
bex 11 years ago
I am with you. How can Tawiah be so presumptuous. What has made him so bold. "Ghanaians need not...." Who does he think he is. What an insufferable pretension.
I am with you. How can Tawiah be so presumptuous. What has made him so bold. "Ghanaians need not...." Who does he think he is. What an insufferable pretension.
Koo 11 years ago
Tawiah writes better english. Note to self!
Tawiah writes better english. Note to self!
Esi Atta 11 years ago
Tawiah, you are a nutcase!
Tawiah, you are a nutcase!
Town Council 11 years ago
You're assuming that the fact that many people are quoting from "Things Fall Apart" means that they have not read Achebe's other works. What a lousy assumption. That was where what you've written started to fall apart for me ... read full comment
You're assuming that the fact that many people are quoting from "Things Fall Apart" means that they have not read Achebe's other works. What a lousy assumption. That was where what you've written started to fall apart for me.
binA 11 years ago
You have help so many and we would always remember you as someone worth knowing.
You have help so many and we would always remember you as someone worth knowing.
AKUA MAMPROBI 11 years ago
MR WRITER I WOULD HAVE WISHED YOUR CONTRIBUTIONS HAD CENTERED ON AFRICANS CHERISHING THEIR OWN AND PROMOTING THEM, MORE THAN THEY HAVE DONE.BECOS THAT IS WHAT IT SHOULD BE.
ACHINUA ACHIBE WAS NOT ONLY A GREAT WRITER,BUT ALSO ... read full comment
MR WRITER I WOULD HAVE WISHED YOUR CONTRIBUTIONS HAD CENTERED ON AFRICANS CHERISHING THEIR OWN AND PROMOTING THEM, MORE THAN THEY HAVE DONE.BECOS THAT IS WHAT IT SHOULD BE.
ACHINUA ACHIBE WAS NOT ONLY A GREAT WRITER,BUT ALSO HE WAS A WHOLE INSTITUTION OF LITERATURE.WOLON SHOINKA IS ALSO GOOD BUT, NOT A MATCH TO CHIFE CHINUA ACHIBE
GHANAIANS TODAY MUST MORN CHINUA ACHIBE FOR THE GREAT LOST,SOME OF US CAN POINT TO OUR BITTER GRADES IN ENGLISH AND LITRATURE BECOS OF HIS WONDERFUL BOOKS THAT WE READ MORE OFFEN LIKE BIBLE. I REMEMBER ONE TEACHER WHO TAUGHT ME LITERATURE, WHO DID MEMORISED THE WHOLE BOOK OF THINGS FALL APART.IT WAS SO REFRESHING WATCHING HIM TEACH.SO I HAD NO CHOICE BUT TO LEARN.LOOKING BACK TODAY I AM GLAD I DID,SO TO ANY STUDENT MORNING CHINUA ACHIBE,I SAY, WEEP NOT CHILD.WITH POLITICS,THINGS FALL APART.THE CENTER CANNOT HOLD.TO THE CORRUPT POLITICIANS WE DIRECT TO THEM,THE ARROW OF GOD.WITH THESE WORDS,THEY WILL BE NO LONGER AT EASE.
BAGYINA 11 years ago
BECAUSE OF THE BURNING GRASS AND THE NARROW PATH,A MAN OF THE PEOPLE AND THE PEOPLE OF THE CITY ARE NO LONGER AT EASE, SO WEEEP NOT CHILD WHEN THINGS FALL APART. WHAT A LOSS.
BECAUSE OF THE BURNING GRASS AND THE NARROW PATH,A MAN OF THE PEOPLE AND THE PEOPLE OF THE CITY ARE NO LONGER AT EASE, SO WEEEP NOT CHILD WHEN THINGS FALL APART. WHAT A LOSS.
Justice 11 years ago
Eloquence. This is the most fitting comment to the man. If nothing, he proved he was the intellectual equal of any Western author. Yes he was an African great and to hear him mentioned on MSNBC means his impact transcended Af ... read full comment
Eloquence. This is the most fitting comment to the man. If nothing, he proved he was the intellectual equal of any Western author. Yes he was an African great and to hear him mentioned on MSNBC means his impact transcended African borders, therefore in my eyes he was a World great. May he rest peace and I gotta say...I love this short tribute.
Paa Kwesi Mintah 11 years ago
This is rather a self-serving obsequious, arrogantly informing us that ~
**Face Book is a recognized arena of literary review** FALSE
**The overwhemling visitors who posted on FB ignorantly quoted W.B. Yeats' "The Secon ... read full comment
This is rather a self-serving obsequious, arrogantly informing us that ~
**Face Book is a recognized arena of literary review** FALSE
**The overwhemling visitors who posted on FB ignorantly quoted W.B. Yeats' "The Second Coming" and therefore are ignorant of the origins of that poem, attributing it to Achebe** [FALSE]
**Kwesi Tawiah-Benjamin was compelled by academic curricula to read Things Fall Apart (TFA), thus Ghanaians outside of academic circles do not read and are ignorant of the numerous works of Chinua Achebe.** FALSE
**That Ghanaians are literary doofus with limited knowledge of Achibe's works** FALSE
**That you've read other Achebe novels and TFA shouldn't feature prominently among Achebe's works** FALSE
To your ignorant self, you could even state that Achebe's first novel TFA has been translated into over 50 languages and has sold over 80 million world wide. This fact alone should tell you the man is well known in literary circles around the world.
Your ignorant and arrogant assertion that he's not known around the world is plain silly, when you write:
"But frankly, beyond academic and scholarly circles, and in Nigeria, where he is a whole institution unto himself, who else in the world knows about Professor Chinua Achebe?"
You weren't even a sperm when Achebe penned TFA in his mid twenties in London. Yet in your matured age of almost forty, you have to disturbe our ears of your unfulfilled ambition of writing a novel. Please shelve that notion because no publisher will read your distorted attempt at telling a story with you featuring prominently in the center with professors and Shakespear wannabes twirling around you.
Can you ever write anything without a personal reference or false allusion to a phantom relative? Do you really want us to believe-
"Chiraa-born Nana Yaa Opoku-Sakyi, my friend’s daughter who at 14 is churning out material that may soon make creative sense."
Kwesi, here are some advice that'll help your imagined writing career about to take off in Canada-
**Plan your narratives and extricate all personal anecdotes and references to academia, professors, writers, Shakespeare etc.**
**Offer supporting facts to your statements and avoid generic and sweeping generalities**
**Establish a logical flow in your presentation and form a logical conclusion that supports the topic**
You didn't do Achebe any favors at all with this post.
Good luck in your writing endeavor.
AFREH MANU BERNARD 11 years ago
I strongly disagree with Tawiah's point that Papa Achebe is not known beyond the shores of Nigeria. Achebe lives in our hearts...For his book to be rated as the most translated African book of all time underscores his pedigre ... read full comment
I strongly disagree with Tawiah's point that Papa Achebe is not known beyond the shores of Nigeria. Achebe lives in our hearts...For his book to be rated as the most translated African book of all time underscores his pedigree.
In all this, I still have a soft spot for Tawiah's articles; though I may not always agree with him.
kwesi gboro 11 years ago
yeah Kwesi you are right,the reading of african writers series should be introduced from the upper primary level.The first series i read was things fall apart by our departed 'african shakespeare'.I have read all his books st ... read full comment
yeah Kwesi you are right,the reading of african writers series should be introduced from the upper primary level.The first series i read was things fall apart by our departed 'african shakespeare'.I have read all his books starting when i was in class 4.He made me to fall in love with AWS.I encourage most of my students i have taught and still teaching to read them to enrich their vocabulary and spoken their spoken english.May he resy in peace.
Ato 11 years ago
Kwesi Gboro, you have students? With this kind of written English? You are an example of why I would dare to suggest to others to avoid these African writers. One cannot even learn any linguistic skills from reading African w ... read full comment
Kwesi Gboro, you have students? With this kind of written English? You are an example of why I would dare to suggest to others to avoid these African writers. One cannot even learn any linguistic skills from reading African writers. As unfortunate as this sounds, it is a fact.
Justice 11 years ago
You mean you read Things Fall Apart and you did not understand it? Could you not comprehend the mastery with which Achebe wrote? Are you kidding me? Are his linguistic skills any less than that of an English or American write ... read full comment
You mean you read Things Fall Apart and you did not understand it? Could you not comprehend the mastery with which Achebe wrote? Are you kidding me? Are his linguistic skills any less than that of an English or American writer? Please read Things Fall Apart and come back and apologize. Mcheeeew.
Takyi 11 years ago
Linguistic skills indeed!Who is this arrogant brat professing to be an English scholar?Cut Kwesi some slack,after all English is not his first language.
Linguistic skills indeed!Who is this arrogant brat professing to be an English scholar?Cut Kwesi some slack,after all English is not his first language.
' and Jesus wept ' 11 years ago
But for our politicians,the African continent and its citizenry would be heaven on earth. While some build, teach, produce, farm, nurse and heal, our politicians just blatantly steal and consume. Yes Chief Achebe, you were ri ... read full comment
But for our politicians,the African continent and its citizenry would be heaven on earth. While some build, teach, produce, farm, nurse and heal, our politicians just blatantly steal and consume. Yes Chief Achebe, you were right. Things have really fallen apart in our continent. May you rest in peace.
KOFI ABDULAI 11 years ago
Big bro Kwesi Tawiah, you are big bro not because your fanther passed over my mother. They never met in iife. But big bro because you are an African and much so Ghanaian by your name. Huu, you raised some pertinent issues her ... read full comment
Big bro Kwesi Tawiah, you are big bro not because your fanther passed over my mother. They never met in iife. But big bro because you are an African and much so Ghanaian by your name. Huu, you raised some pertinent issues here which need to be given much attention. The Ghanaian does not simply read. Apparently our literature teachers are also part of that crop so many did not have the skills themselves to make literature endearing. The worst can be found in our university campuses where many of them handle literature whether in French or in English so mechanically that you just don't as a student have any likeness for it beyond academic exercise.They teach it like mathematics, no other view of the student is tolerated.So right from the campus, the student develop an anti-reading culture except what perhaps would be relevant to pass his or her exams. Just go to our offices and watch our executives behind their desks; they look at the headlines, read the front page then the next thing is the sport page.Once on campus I asked my students if they had seen a certain news item, and to my surprise, nobody saw the said document. I decided to go further so I asked what news papers they read, majority of the youngmen told me they read either Kotoko Express of Phobia sports newspapers. The young women said they read Mirror (especially the women's column) and one of the tabloids. How can we have a reading culture out of that? We need to figure out something.
Ateabisa 11 years ago
Extensive reading,if we,as a community,are content with a 'prescribed'and limited vocabularly introduced by half-baked journalists and social commentators, who control our airwaves?
For those of us who had the benefit of bet ... read full comment
Extensive reading,if we,as a community,are content with a 'prescribed'and limited vocabularly introduced by half-baked journalists and social commentators, who control our airwaves?
For those of us who had the benefit of better learning(spanning different subjects),reading Newapaper articles or stories has become a tortious and trying exercise. So can blame the students of today?
Blaque Marque 11 years ago
"And yet each man kills the thing he loves. By each, let this be heard! Some do it with a bitter look, Some with a flattering word! The Coward does it with a kiss, and the brave man, with the sword".
As fitting as the grea ... read full comment
"And yet each man kills the thing he loves. By each, let this be heard! Some do it with a bitter look, Some with a flattering word! The Coward does it with a kiss, and the brave man, with the sword".
As fitting as the great Professor Achebe found it worthy to quote and Irish great (WB Yeats) for the title of his most famous work, so find I the pleasure of quoting yet another Irish great (Oscar Wilde) to honour him...for this great son of Africa has put Africa on the map and yet it is from his own people that the resentment emerged, and by so doing we all did what Oscar Wilde wrote about.
I specifically chose this Oscar Wilde quote due to the paradoxical nature of the man and therefore the significance I wanted to achieve with it.
To KWESI TAWIAH-BENJAMIN, I say KUDOS for such a beauty of an ode (if it so is)
W.A.Boateng jr esq 11 years ago
A re-emergence of the African writer series on the secondary school curricullum and a classification thereof as compulsory would do well to improve the reading habits and literary appreciation of the young minds.
A re-emergence of the African writer series on the secondary school curricullum and a classification thereof as compulsory would do well to improve the reading habits and literary appreciation of the young minds.
Town Council 11 years ago
You're suggesting that many people are quoting from "Things Fall Apart" because they have not read Achebe's other works. What a lousy assumption. That was where what you've written started to fall apart for me.
You're suggesting that many people are quoting from "Things Fall Apart" because they have not read Achebe's other works. What a lousy assumption. That was where what you've written started to fall apart for me.
Koo Nimo 11 years ago
The Nigerians were great in everything. Those of us who read science are what we are today thanks to Science books written by Nigeria-Straight forward and easy to understand. Nigerians must channelled their talents into good ... read full comment
The Nigerians were great in everything. Those of us who read science are what we are today thanks to Science books written by Nigeria-Straight forward and easy to understand. Nigerians must channelled their talents into good things and stop messing up. We need each other to achieve better Africa for our children.
I don't know what Paa Kwesi Mintah is going to say about this piece since you've violated all his rules: academia, Professors, references to learned people... But there's no lady and Sonnet has not been mentioned. But you cou ...
read full comment
As I earlier posted on your facebook page, this tribute to Papa Achebe is well crafted and to immerse yourself into the setting is indeed ingenious. Just some years ago, I recall that two books that I read religiously were T ...
read full comment
" He was bigger than Africa; but he remained Nigerian because..." Tawiah-Benjamin, Kwesi
Bigger than Africa? Are you for real? Pls wake up from slumber of the gradeur and smell the coffee. Saying that Chinua Achebe is g ...
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FOOL, ALL THAT THE WRITER MEANS IS THAT, CHINUA ACHEBE'S WRITINGS IS NOT CONFOUND TO THE BOARDERS OF AFRICA ALONE, BUT ALSO TO EUROPE, AMERICA, ASIA ETC. HENCE THE TERM " BIGGER THAN AFRICA".
WHAT THE WRITER MEANS IN HIS WRITING WAS THAT 'CHINUA'S IMAGE' IS BIGGER THAN AFRICA. ANIMAL LIKE LIKE YOU SHOULD LEARN TO READ BETWEEN THE LINES, OKAY. YOU NEEDS WISDOM TO COMMENT ON CERTAIN ISSUES, IDIOT.
NOW LET ME EDUCATE YOU MORE ILLITERATE GHANA BOY LARYEAH.
THE WORD I SUGGEST THE WRITER SHOULD HAVE USE TO DESCRIBE THE GREAT OF WORK OF ACHEBE SHOULD BE: (HIS WORKS/WRITING "TRANSCEND AFRICA" NOT BIGGER THAN AFRICA). DO ...
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As for me the bottom line is, what is it about this Chinua Achebe chap that has improved the sordid lives of Africans?
I have attempted at various times in my life to read books by some of those so-called African literary ...
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The works of Frantz Fanon, Nkrumah, Diop are in a different category from the works of Achebe, Soyinka and co. It is unfair to compare them. They cannot win the same prizes because they are different and should be judged by d ...
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U are very stupid. U could have choosen to comment on the blog and churned your views instead of being sarcastic. Idiot. And learn some grammer for heavens sake.
A welcome respite....Tawiah's ode to Achebe...from the daily dose of political mumbo-jumbo,drab,repetitive and monotonous themes by highly partisan scriveners...Achebe was a literary masterpiece comparable to the great Italia ...
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Hi, thanks for linking your comment to mine. I think we see eye to eye on this issue...
But is it not rather Leonardo da Vinci? Perhaps you were confused by Leonardo DiCaprio. But this other Leonardo comes nowhere near the ...
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Thanks for the correction; yes, it is Da Vinci....of course, I was not by any stretch of the imagination drawing parallels between the world renown painter and the film buff...DiCaprio...I was instead referring to Achebe lite ...
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Hi, young man, thanks a gazillion for the compliments....I am embarrassingly faltered by your glowing, would I say, praise...but gleaning from your comments, you also wield the pen remarkably well...those were the good old da ...
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You wet our appetite for the forecast. Let them churn them out. We will devour them
Achebe was great because the western media said so. I wonder what Africans who have read his works think. All he did, was feed into the slavish mentality of Africans. Just curious, did he produce any literature in Igbo?
I don't get your point. Why would Achebe write in Igbo?
Was he writing for only those who can understand Igbo? Only his tribes people? How would the rest of Nigeria, let alone, Africa or the world have read this book you sa ...
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Again another reductionist, conjectural, and counterfactual account! How did you come to the conclusion that "we have not read his other works?" Who aare the "we" - street kids, all educated Ghanaians, or only those who study ...
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What's there to gain by such posturing as having read much Achebe whiles fallaciously assuming that other Ghanaians haven't read him, and then going on to 'lecture' us about how great he was...all because you want us to know ...
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Akadu, you are absolutely right. How can a person make such shallow and non-factual and baseless observation?
I wonder why Akadu came across as belligerent and sour. The author pointed out that " he has not read many other (Achebe's) works". In my estimation, Mr. Tawiah did not seek to insult the intelligence of anyone. He merely cra ...
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How can you denigrate Achebe? He, not Soyinka should have won the Nobel. Period. Even with that single seminal work.
I haven't even read Things Fall Apart although I passed through second cycle education in Ghana and 'supposedly' read and took the then GCE O Level and did reasonably well. I however came across Ben Okri a year later when I d ...
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What about "Weep not child"?--Ngugi?
great book, for my GCE O level.
Tawiah,you're growing old,publish your NOVEL and stop beating about the bush.Chinua Achebe published his first novel when he was twenty eight years old.
I am with you. How can Tawiah be so presumptuous. What has made him so bold. "Ghanaians need not...." Who does he think he is. What an insufferable pretension.
Tawiah writes better english. Note to self!
Tawiah, you are a nutcase!
You're assuming that the fact that many people are quoting from "Things Fall Apart" means that they have not read Achebe's other works. What a lousy assumption. That was where what you've written started to fall apart for me ...
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You have help so many and we would always remember you as someone worth knowing.
MR WRITER I WOULD HAVE WISHED YOUR CONTRIBUTIONS HAD CENTERED ON AFRICANS CHERISHING THEIR OWN AND PROMOTING THEM, MORE THAN THEY HAVE DONE.BECOS THAT IS WHAT IT SHOULD BE.
ACHINUA ACHIBE WAS NOT ONLY A GREAT WRITER,BUT ALSO ...
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BECAUSE OF THE BURNING GRASS AND THE NARROW PATH,A MAN OF THE PEOPLE AND THE PEOPLE OF THE CITY ARE NO LONGER AT EASE, SO WEEEP NOT CHILD WHEN THINGS FALL APART. WHAT A LOSS.
Eloquence. This is the most fitting comment to the man. If nothing, he proved he was the intellectual equal of any Western author. Yes he was an African great and to hear him mentioned on MSNBC means his impact transcended Af ...
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This is rather a self-serving obsequious, arrogantly informing us that ~
**Face Book is a recognized arena of literary review** FALSE
**The overwhemling visitors who posted on FB ignorantly quoted W.B. Yeats' "The Secon ...
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I strongly disagree with Tawiah's point that Papa Achebe is not known beyond the shores of Nigeria. Achebe lives in our hearts...For his book to be rated as the most translated African book of all time underscores his pedigre ...
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yeah Kwesi you are right,the reading of african writers series should be introduced from the upper primary level.The first series i read was things fall apart by our departed 'african shakespeare'.I have read all his books st ...
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Kwesi Gboro, you have students? With this kind of written English? You are an example of why I would dare to suggest to others to avoid these African writers. One cannot even learn any linguistic skills from reading African w ...
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You mean you read Things Fall Apart and you did not understand it? Could you not comprehend the mastery with which Achebe wrote? Are you kidding me? Are his linguistic skills any less than that of an English or American write ...
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Linguistic skills indeed!Who is this arrogant brat professing to be an English scholar?Cut Kwesi some slack,after all English is not his first language.
But for our politicians,the African continent and its citizenry would be heaven on earth. While some build, teach, produce, farm, nurse and heal, our politicians just blatantly steal and consume. Yes Chief Achebe, you were ri ...
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Big bro Kwesi Tawiah, you are big bro not because your fanther passed over my mother. They never met in iife. But big bro because you are an African and much so Ghanaian by your name. Huu, you raised some pertinent issues her ...
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Extensive reading,if we,as a community,are content with a 'prescribed'and limited vocabularly introduced by half-baked journalists and social commentators, who control our airwaves?
For those of us who had the benefit of bet ...
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"And yet each man kills the thing he loves. By each, let this be heard! Some do it with a bitter look, Some with a flattering word! The Coward does it with a kiss, and the brave man, with the sword".
As fitting as the grea ...
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A re-emergence of the African writer series on the secondary school curricullum and a classification thereof as compulsory would do well to improve the reading habits and literary appreciation of the young minds.
You're suggesting that many people are quoting from "Things Fall Apart" because they have not read Achebe's other works. What a lousy assumption. That was where what you've written started to fall apart for me.
The Nigerians were great in everything. Those of us who read science are what we are today thanks to Science books written by Nigeria-Straight forward and easy to understand. Nigerians must channelled their talents into good ...
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