koolkas

A collection of great essays by Chinua Achebe.

What is Nigeria to Me: Criticism on postcolonial Nigeria on how unfit it is to be anybody's motherland because it is a "child". The state is unable to fulfill its primary obligations, and thus much work needs to be done to make Nigeria a proper country.

Travelling White: An essay about travelling around Africa. I found this one a little schadenfreude with its Rosa Parks moment. It was enlightening seeing the differences between different African countries, I confess I was unaware of this prior.

Africa's Tarnished Name: Chinua Achebe highlights the reputation Africa has, perpetuated by writers such as Joseph Conrad. He mentions the dehumanisation of Africans are on purpose to justify pro-slavery takes. I think he forecasted the future need for sensitivity readings when representing other races.

Africa is People: An OECD meeting shows how so-called expert economists fail to consider Africa as people and instead, a testing space for their theories. He admits he, as a writer, has limitations on what he could do, but criticises the approach of other attendants who dehumanise his people.

Overall, I liked this collection of essays; Chinua Achebe is an engaging writer and the criticisms he made is still relevant today. His points about mass media and representing Africa is still relevant today. (He also really hated Joseph Conrad.)

"If the philosophical dictum of Descartes 'I think, therefore I am' represents a European individualistic ideal, the Bantu declaration 'Umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu' represents an African communal aspiration. 'A human is human because of other humans'

Crom Cruach had a lot of potential, but it didn't deliver. I liked the themes in the book: Conflict between the Garda and local paramilitary, heaven and an angel being the main antagonist instead of hell and devils, and Nazis being the surprise villain.

However, I didn't find the prose as "lyrical" as expected, instead I found it somewhat disjointed and lacking rhythm? The diction was like that of a modern novel and didn't read like a folk story at all. I just expected something else, I think.