Achebe and the Negation of Independence
Chinua Achebe's contribution to the emergence and survival of the Nigerian novel has been crucial and formidable. By the Nigerian novel we simply mean any novel written by Nigerians, and whose matter and manner reveal an understanding that life has a peculiar meaning for the inhabitants of the geographical location and political entity we call Nigeria. Formulated within the framework of the referential function of literary production, this study is animated by the conviction that a work of art establishes a distance from lived experience, transfixing it so that we can see its apparatus at work. This study, therefore, has endeavored to il-