Stories of Nigeria

“Girls at War and Other Stories,” by Chinua Achebe, 1973

Achebe is in a group of older African novelists well known in the ‘West’ – Amos Tutuola, Ousmane Sembane, Nadine Gordimer, Ben Okri, Wole Soyinka and Ngugi wa Thiong’o.  Achebe is probably the most celebrated for his novel Things Fall Apart which details the effects of colonialism on Nigerians and traditional Ibo culture.  The stories in this collection were written over a period of time, some when he was only in secondary school. They show the conflict between ‘modern’ ways of doing things and the cultural reality of most Nigerians.  A few of the stories, including the title one, reflect the Biafran war for independence, where Achebe was Minister of Culture. 

 

For the modern urban reader, these somewhat dated stories smack of many prior and negative African stereotypes.  As such they are a bit sad to read but then they mirror events even in advanced capitalist societies.  These are stories of village and market town life, not of the big Nigerian cities.  People live in huts.  For the rich there are multiple wives.  Palm wine is the local intoxicant.  Two corrupt parties with almost identical acronyms vie for power. Buying votes is de riguer, as no one believes anything much anymore.  White Christian missionaries force their ideas on the locals and some locals take them up. Naked madmen walk the dirt roads.  Those who marry those their family do not like are outcast.  Herbalists, or ‘medicine men’ provide health care, including dumping patients in ‘the bad bush.’  Superstition, magic and terror reign in multiple ways, such as sleeping with ghosts.  One story involves an addiction to a rare substance - sugar.  Schooling is only for the rich.  The village priest is not to be crossed. 

The best stories are the war ones.  One is about a man who luckily gets his bicycle back and is able to make a living after the war.  He is assaulted by thieves who steal a stipend paid by the government, yet carries on because money is not everything.  Another is the title story about a young Biafran woman who joins the armed rebellion, then after a few years ends up as a consort to a rich powerful man just to survive.  It involves another government official who tries to take her under his wing, but also to steal her from the other man.  All ends tragically. 

Prior reviews on African literature and issues below, use blog search box, upper left:  “Famished Road,” “Black Panther,” “Searching for Sugar Man,” “Mandela, Obama, Castro & Kennedy,” “FGM,” “Monsters of the Market,” “American Exceptionalism,” “The Dream of the Celt,” “The Race for What’s Left,” “Last Train to Zona Verde.”

And I bought it a May Day’s excellent used and cut-out section!

The Cultural Marxist

January 3, 2020