Home and exile
By: Chinua Achebe.
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Published: 2000
Place of publication: Oxford; New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 115
Subjects: Achebe, Chinua; Authors, Nigerian -- 20th century -- Biography; Nigerians -- United States -- Biography; Exiles -- Nigeria -- Biography; Africa -- Civilization -- Western influences; Nigeria -- Intellectual life
Genres: Biography.
Description: "Here is an extended exploration of the European impact on African culture, viewed through the most vivid experience available to the author - his own life. It is an evocative snapshot of a major writer's childhood, illuminating his roots as an artist. Achebe discusses his English education and the relationship between colonial writers and the European literary tradition.

He argues that if colonial writers try to imitate and, indeed, go one better than the Empire, they run the danger of undervaluing their homeland and their own people. Achebe contends that to redress the inequities of global oppression, writers must focus on where they come from, insisting that their value systems are as legitimate as any other. Stories are a real source of power in the world, he concludes, and to imitate the literature of another culture is to give that power away."--BOOK JACKET.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 107-109) and index.
Based on the 1998 McMillan-Stewart Lectures at Harvard University.