The Nigerian novelist, Chinua Achebe, is an outstanding figure in modern
African literature whose works can be taken as an early literary attempt to
move toward de-colonization. What distinguishes Achebe's novels is the way
he relies on notions of 'Otherness' and 'hybridity' in constructing his
alternative non-Eurocentric discourse. Achebe provides an alternative
discourse which depicts not only an authentic picture of native African life in
all of its complexity, but also develops dynamic native characters. These real-life
black characters grapple with existential conflicts; they also contemplate
and reflect on what has been affecting their pre-colonial African identity.
Through a study of four novels, Things Fall Apart, No Longer at Ease, Arrow
of God, and A Man of People, this work investigates how Achebe constructs
this alternative discourse; a discourse which successfully provides voices
through which the colonized can speak. This enables the reader to better
understand their world and what they have confronted because of
colonization. As each novel focuses on a different colonial or postcolonial
phase in Nigeria and as Achebe has made use of different discursive
strategies in each of them, characterizing them as a tetralogy and studying
them together provides a vivid and comprehensive analysis of Achebe's
discourse. This also reveals what his novels seek to mirror about the hybridity
of Nigerian identity and the struggles faced by the colonized in contending
with 'otherness' and difference.
