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Cover of Hopes and Impediments by Chinua Achebe

Hopes and Impediments

Chinua Achebe

  • 158 pages · about 3 hours
  • First published 1988
  • 8 editions
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1 About this book

Hopes and Impediments: Selected Essays, 1965–1987 is collection of essays by Chinua Achebe, published in 1988.

Several of the essays caution against generalizing all African people into a monolithic culture, or using Africa as a facile metaphor. The opening essay, "An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad's Heart of Darkness", challenged the prevailing opinions in the west about Joseph Conrad's depiction of African people. He also discusses several notable authors and shares his opinion on the role of writers and writing in cultures. In a contemporary review, Chris Dunton wrote: "The essays in his new book remind us also how tough-minded, how properly insistent, he can be in exposing false and demeaning ideas about Africa and its culture." The book is dedicated to Professor Michael Thelwell.

Summary adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)

  • Africa
  • Essays
  • Civilization
  • Literature and society
  • Blacks
  • Race identity
  • Modern Literature
  • Imperialism

2 About Chinua Achebe

1930–2013

Chinua Achebe ( ; born Albert Chinụalụmọgụ Achebe; 16 November 1930 – 21 March 2013) was a Nigerian novelist, poet, and critic who is regarded as a central figure of modern African literature. His first novel and magnum opus, Things Fall Apart (1958), occupies a pivotal place in African literature and remains the most widely studied, translated, and read African novel.

Bio adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)

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