THE AUTHOR, THE TEXT AND THE QUESTION OF THEORIES: AN EXONERATIST’S APPROACH TO ACHEBE’S THERE WAS A COUNTRY by Onyeji Nnaji
A part from Things Fall Apart, There Was a Country outweighs all of Achebe’s novels in the number of attention it creates among readers. The emergence of Things Fall Apart in 1958, stirred up certain criticism that Achebe’s predecessors did not receive internationally and within. Perhaps because it emerges as a novel from Africa that chooses to tell the story of the author’s world in a way contrary to readers’ preconceived image of Africa. But Achebe’s personal view may not correspond to some of these criticisms. In an interview, Achebe relates that the reason for which he endeavours to tell the story of Okonkwo and Umuofia’s destruction is because, ‘the European invasion resulted in Africans losing their “grip over history”. It also led to their losing “their memory of Africa”, a massive loss since “the past” is all we have’ (Speech, 63). For him, “the story of the people’s strengths and weaknesses must be told as effectively as possible if the people of Nigeria were to achiev