International Journal of English Literature and Culture
 

International Journal of English Literature and Culture

Vol. 2(10), pp. 230-232, October, 2014

 ISSN: 2360-7831

DOI: 10.14662/IJELC2014.067

Review

REVISITING AND RETELLING THE HISTORY: ACHEBE’S NOVELS AND THE STORY OF NIGERIA

Anand .P

Guest Lecturer, M.E.S Keveeyam College, Calicut University. Email:anand.p1991@gmail.com,  Ph: 9567147724.

Accepted 24 October 2014

It was part of the colonial project to highlight an image of the colonized as a mass without proper cultural roots and history. This was a means to justify Euro-centrism. It is after long years of anti-colonial struggle, political independence ‘emerged’. As a result post-colonial novels of the 1950’s were essentially case studies of these struggles, in other words they were about history. Colonizer’s version of history was a mere distorted version of reality suppressing the facts related to orient culture and life. But these novels are experiments in history challenging the ‘so called’ authentic version. This narration of native history utilizes the resources in native forms of history-recording such as the folk songs, folk tales, stories etc. Chinua Achebe’s novels Things Fall Apart and Arrow of God set in early colonial days is actually a work in historical revisionism concentrating the spread of Christianity, the decline of native religions, and also the colonial measures of tactful and “effective” governance.

Keywords: History, Revisionist Reading, African Trilogy, Nigeria, Chinua Achebe, Post Colonialism

Cite This Article As: Anand P (2014). REVISITING AND RETELLING THE HISTORY: ACHEBE’S NOVELS AND THE STORY OF NIGERIA. Inter. J. Eng. Lit. Cult. 2(10): 230-232

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