Will anyone dance on Achebe’s grave?

When Nigerian literary icon Chinua Achebe died a year ago in Boston, Massachusetts after a short illness, there was an outpouring of grief from all parts of the world.

African people appeared to feel the pain heaviest, piling tribute after tribute on news websites, newspapers and magazines, proof of the resonance and connection they felt to him.

As the literary world dusts itself up and moves on, Achebe’s presence still hovers about us, as if telling us that he is not fully finished with us, he still has new insights to instill.

It is thus worth exploring: Will any Nigerian writer rise above Achebe’s grave? Are we ever going to have another Achebe moment in Nigeria?

Unique flavour

Kitata Makau, a lecturer at the University of Nairobi, does not believe this will happen soon. He cites some of Achebe’s contemporaries such as Wole Soyinka, Flora Nwapa, and Cyprian Ekwensi, saying that a writer of Achebe’s calibre in terms of style, has not been seen to date.

“Achebe had a unique style, he took language seriously. He said what everyone else was saying but he put some art and a unique flavour in it. It was something he borrowed from Ibo folklore, the idea of saying something in the best way possible, of making conversation an art. If you compare Achebe’s The Trouble with Nigeria with some of the social political writing of Ngugi wa Thiong’o and Wole Soyinka, they don’t come close. It is his method that is unique.”

Achebe’s contemporaries J.P Clarke, Gabriel Okara, Christopher Okigbo and Elechi Amadi also dealt with cultural conflicts brought by Westernisation and colonialism in poetry and prose forms.

Younger writers

The younger generation of Nigerian authors, meanwhile, deal with issues such as race, gender, identity, globalisation, politics, religion and conflict. Some of the younger writers in their 30s and 40s who have stood out over time include Chimamanda Adichie, Chika Unigwe, Helon Habila, Toni Kan, Togu Ogunlesi, Chris Abani, Adaobi Nwaubani, Sade Adeniran, Helen Oyeyemi and Teju Cole, among others.

Khainga Okwembah, a literary critic and president of Pen Kenya, believes that this young cohort of Nigerian writers has been disadvantaged by the time setting in which they find themselves; Achebe’s destiny was set in part by his place and time.

“The fact that Achebe captured African traditions and history which have now died out, means that no one will ever get close to him. He painted traditional African life and the African village in a very vibrant and powerful way. It is likely we won’t see this kind of literature soon because it was people of his generation who grew up in the villages and it was part of their life.”

Okwembah, while not dismissing 21st century issues as valid, points to the gravity of what it meant for Achebe to capture and give dignity to a dying culture and world view that Europeans had disparaged.

Like Okwembah, Professor Simatei Tirop, a professor of literature at Moi University, also believes that by carefully tracing and bringing Igbo cultural life and folkloric traditions to life, Achebe elevated himself above his contemporaries and set the bar high for all time.

Tirop, in pointing out Achebe’s contributions to literary criticism and debate, shows another area where the younger writers trail as most concentrate on fiction. “He contributed to shaping how African literature and literature on Africa was read, such as the essay he wrote in response to Conrad’s Heart of Darkness.”

Tirop, however, believes that other writers are coming up in Nigeria who are just as good. “Looking at the horizons of the moment, I’d agree with those who say Chimamanda has a way with words. In terms of young Nigerian writers, Chimamanda is quite amazing at telling a story. There’s something to the idea that she is Achebe’s literary granddaughter.”

Big shoes

Professor Henry Indangasi of the University of Nairobi’s Department of Literature, however, disagrees with Simatei. “On this debate about Chimamanda having stepped into the shoes of Achebe, I don’t agree with it. I think she is inferior, she doesn’t compare.”

Indangasi points to the difference in their style: “Chimamanda doesn’t have that natural gift that Achebe has; that ability to see things with insights and irony. She gives the impression of straining for an effect and pushing some kind of ideology through her novels, which is not the same as Achebe whose writing is effortless.

In Purple Hibiscus, Adichie is straining to bring out patriarchy in Nigeria. Her description of the father is overdone and overdramatic; she gives us things that are improbable — the father punishing the daughter with hot water, on behalf of the church. I don’t believe her; that kind of father exists only in fiction.”

Poet Njeri Wangari also does not believe anyone can reach Achebe’s status, pointing to the uniqueness of the themes extant in his time.

“It is impossible for anyone to write so well about the period of colonialism because it doesn’t exist any more. The things that affected Nigeria then are different now. It would be unfair to try comparing Achebe with anyone because he gave his best during his time. Maybe what we can talk about is a writer from Nigeria who has learnt from him. Are there those who were able to heed the call and take up the mantle that he left for African writing ?”

Reflection

What was Achebe’s call? “The call was for us to not lose sight of the things that affect us. For a writer it calls for a lot more discernment than others.

Writers need to have a deeper reflection on things around them in society and to express them in a way that goes beyond stating the obvious like a journalist would. It is to get the rest of the world to understand exactly what is causing some of these things to happen,” Wangari says.

A big part of the reason Achebe will be revered in history can be traced to his own understanding of what his work as a writer entailed. Unlike Soyinka, who embodies the concept of the writer as an activist, Achebe played the role of the writer as a teacher, as he demonstrated to Africans that their traditional cosmologies had rhyme and reason and were valid in the global scheme of things.

Nobel Prize

This was in a context of racist narratives and interpretations about Africa. Achebe was also not afraid to speak truth to power, whether the power was hegemonic Western institutions or rogue political actors in Nigeria.

It is believed in certain circles that his biting attacks of the West are what led him to missing the Nobel Prize for Literature in his lifetime.

Will anyone rise above Achebe’s grave?

Likely not.

The mausoleum in which he was laid to rest had a rather high ceiling. And then, like his destiny, it only bears his name.