Book Description
Taken together, Chinua Achebe's five novels--Things Fall Apart (1958), No Longer at Ease (1960), A Man of the People (1966), Arrow of God (1967), and Anthills of the Savannah (1988)--encompass the entire social, historical, and political experiences of Nigeria, from precolonial times to the close of the 20th century. Central to these experiences is the clash of Igbo culture with the ways of the West. This book analyzes Achebe's use of oratory and rhetorical devices to educate his readers about the African colonial encounter and its aftermath and to delineate his characters. By examining the relationship of rhetoric and literature in Achebe's works, this volume sheds light on his use of the novel genre to persuade.
About the Author
CHINWE CHRISTIANA OKECHUKWU is a Professor in the Department of Reading and English as a Second Language, Foreign Languages, and Philosophy at the Rockville campus of Montgomery College.
Achebe the Orator: The Art of Persuasion in Chinua Achebe's Novels, Vol. 202 FROM THE PUBLISHER
Taken together, Chinua Achebe's five novels--Things Fall Apart (1958), No Longer at Ease (1960), A Man of the People (1966), Arrow of God (1967), and Anthills of the Savannah (1988)--encompass the entire social, historical, and political experiences of Nigeria, from precolonial times to the close of the 20th century. Central to these experiences is the clash of Igbo culture with the ways of the West. This book analyzes Achebe's use of oratory and rhetorical devices to educate his readers about the African colonial encounter and its aftermath and to delineate his characters. By examining the relationship of rhetoric and literature in Achebe's works, this volume sheds light on his use of the novel genre to persuade.
SYNOPSIS
Analyzes Achebe's use of rhetorical devices to advance the themes of his novels and delineate his characters.
FROM THE CRITICS
Booknews
As an Ogidi woman from the same traditional Igbo village as Achebe, Okechukwu (English, Montgomery College, Rockville, Maryland) has special insights into the world portrayed in Achebe's novels. Okechukwu's oratorical analysis of Achebe's writings fills a gap in the criticism of his works. She considers the use of oratory in his novels for delineating homogeneity, transition, and flux of Igbo/African society in its encounters with the West. Specific aspects are examined within five novels: audience and oratory in ; oratory and social responsibility in ; locale and argumentation in ; the rhetoric of governance in ; and the rhetoric of military intervention in politics in . Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)