Why Chinua Achebe never won the Nobel Prize in Literature

Рет қаралды 16,946

Күн бұрын

Nigeria’s Chinua Achebe is considered by many critics and experts alike to be one of the most influential African writers of his generation.
His books, including the novel Things Fall Apart, have exposed the world's readers to the imaginative uses of language and form, as well as to the realistic accounts of modern African life and history.
Not only through his literary contributions, but also through his promotion of ambitious agendas for Nigeria and Africa, Achebe helped to reshape the understanding of African history, culture, and place in world affairs.
Although he won many prizes and awards, Chinua Achebe never won the Nobel Prize in Literature. Why is this so? We shall find out in the course of this video. #HistoryVille #ChinuaAchebe
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TIMESTAMPS
00:00 Intro
00:55 Early Life and Education
02:55 Chinua Achebe’s Writings
05:25 Military Coups and Civil War
06:27 Professorship and Literary Career
08:00 The Nobel Prize in Literature Conundrum
10:02 Marriage, Family, and Death
10:44 Next Video

Пікірлер: 74

@BamideleAdegoroye 3 жыл бұрын

Chinua was much more an African philosophical writer. A passionate and patient teacher. The politics of the Nobel prize is something else. But does not diminish his standing in history.

@Zero-hl2zy 3 жыл бұрын

He will always be remembered as one of the most powerful writers in Africa 👍⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐🇬🇭

@sokshakshikse6583 3 жыл бұрын

"It's difficult to understand why Achebe's literary fate is linked to a prize named after Alfred Nobel.." "It is not an african prize, but a european prize". The above sums it all.

@the_word2063 3 жыл бұрын

Your wisdom is beyond measure 😭

@oladipoolokunola8029 3 жыл бұрын

Top notch comment!

@socialjusticeinitiatives3082 2 жыл бұрын

But wole Soyinka won the noble peace prize

@kulbir18 2 жыл бұрын

agree with you...a person like Naipaul wins Nobel prize but not Achebe. This should show the nature of awards.

@9mod9 2 жыл бұрын

This is just a consolation comment. His glory did not come from Africa but rather forom Europe. He wrote in English not Igbo. The fact is, the Nobel prize is the highest in his field and he deserves to win it. It is believed that his criticism of Joseph Contad which I considered too harsh myself killed those chances, but who knows. Politics is always involved.

@raphaelm7397 3 жыл бұрын

Time is, time was and time has past but the legacy remains. Rest in power

@kennygee5958 3 жыл бұрын

Achebe is a son of black Africa , not just Nigeria. We value him highly and the lack of some European trophy will not change that.

@waskyhenry3132 3 жыл бұрын

Thanks to the presenter. I wouldn't have known this fact. Achebe was very "Afrocentric" in his literature. Who will blame him for loving himself first? That's the natural thing to do. I don't blame the European organization for not recognizing that. It's what it is.

@egbeyonwuren1427 3 жыл бұрын

Prof.Chinua Achebe is still one of the greatest writers to come out of Africa ....I can never forget Things Fall Apart Novel which I read as a Secondary School student at Edo College Benin city Ni geria in the mid sixtees

@aegisltd2018 3 жыл бұрын

You be omo Iwere? Hail me if so, omere.

@tolanirahman8361 2 жыл бұрын

Our Great Icon. May his Soul Rest in the Heavens.

@ehisasibor8038 3 жыл бұрын

I really appreciate your efforts, many Nigerians are unaware of their history. Please don't stop spreading knowledge.❤

@HistoryVille 3 жыл бұрын

Thank you. We won't.

@Shiley007 3 жыл бұрын

I will never unsubscribe from this channel

@chukwuebukagosioha8353 Жыл бұрын

No doubts Achebe was the greatest of all african writer

@florencenwafor8595 3 жыл бұрын

The Nobel prize seems only to matter because Wole Soyinka won it, but it really doesn't matter because they both put Nigerian and African literature on the world map. We must resist that innate tendency of the African man to trivialize his or his brothers achievements because such feats haven't been approved by the white man. Despite Soyinka's seeming superior success of winning the aforementioned prize, Achebe is still considered the Father of African Literature; let's not forget that Cyprian Ekwensi & Elechi Amadi had already done awesome work prior to his emergence - they all did greatly in the grand scheme of things & each played their part in the development of the Nigerian intellectual space.

@raphaelx1441 3 жыл бұрын

He's not the father of African literature. Literature is more than writing stories

@florencenwafor8595 3 жыл бұрын

@@raphaelx1441 , take note of the word considered and you'd observe that I gave each writer his honour.

@annefranciselizabeth3840 2 жыл бұрын

@@raphaelx1441 I give it to the Biafrans. A Biafran is the father of African literature (Olaudah Equaino) A Biafran is the father of MODERN African literature (Achebe) A Biafran is the mother of African literature (Flora Nwapa) A Biafran is Africa's number one sculptor (Enwonwu) A Biafran is Africa's number one poet (Okigbo) A Biafran has sold more books than any other African or Black since the world began (Achebe) Historically, Biafra represents the ONE and ONLY black African people to have created their own ancient alphabet (known as NSIBIDI).

@raphaelx1441 2 жыл бұрын

@@annefranciselizabeth3840 you just concocted a load of counterfactual bollocks there. Stop all these undeserving self praise, it makes you look like some dumbo.

@annefranciselizabeth3840 2 жыл бұрын

@@raphaelx1441 Give alternative information or shut your trap. I even forgot to add that a Biafran is the world's most successful young writer today (Chimamanda).

@Abravado 3 жыл бұрын

Things Fall Apart was part of my School Litrature texts and it was great, however, after reading Man of The People it woke something inside of me as a teen...something that still drives me today decades later.

@odellhannahzimmermann3121 2 жыл бұрын

A man we will never forget as far as literature, especially African literature is concerned . Thanks for your nice work you doing with your channel

@michaelese 3 жыл бұрын

Always very Educative listening to you. Well researched. Very informative. Thank you.

@HistoryVille 3 жыл бұрын

Thank you. 😊

@driziiD Жыл бұрын

European prize, not an African one. Full stop, brilliant.

@charleschibuike6803 3 жыл бұрын

Great achebe

@AbdulJalil-mq2px 3 жыл бұрын

Is great manInAfricaInTheWold

@kulbir18 2 жыл бұрын

Naipaul wins Nobel prize but not Achebe. This should show the nature of these awards. Awards are given to support a viewpoint (mostly western), not for talent or representation.

@listenup2882 3 жыл бұрын

Why is there no African prize on par with the Nobel prize?

@kmoses2814 2 жыл бұрын

Apart from things fall apart, I haven’t read any of his books.

@m.b.nagaraj7666 3 жыл бұрын

In the eyes of Noble Committee European languages only great They not giving importance to Asian and African languages. India produced great writers in Kannada language. At least five writers loose the Noble Award in Literature Ten years abolish Noble Award to European languages. Concentrate on Asian and African languages

@aigbokhanairewele3994 21 күн бұрын

The Noble Prize is subjective and must not been seen as deserved or undeserved. Writers do not produce works in order to win a prize. The prime motive is the pressure within a writer to express ideas that cannot be internally stored. He/she must write true to a conviction and according to an intrinsic endowment whose reward is that mere expression. If one wrote for a prize, the goal is renumeration. Chinua Achebe's works are monuments of the artistic gifting bestowed by the Almighty creator. Maya Angelou or Octavia Butler are not lesser that Toni Morrison because they did not win the Noble Prize. Naguib Mahfouz the Egyptian was a writer before either Soyinka or Achebe, yet he got his prize after Wole Soyinka. Chinua Achebe is not diminished by not winning the Prize just as Morris West, the Australian is not diminished by not winning the prize. Among Africans, we hold both Achebe and Soyinka high on the literary totem pole.

@olurominiyiibitayo5473 3 жыл бұрын

Should he?

@chesterphiri7523 2 жыл бұрын

Is Historyville & New Africa the same????

@HistoryVille 2 жыл бұрын

No.

@chesterphiri7523 2 жыл бұрын

@@HistoryVille ok great. This is one of the best that one can get historical facts. Keep it up

@HistoryVille 2 жыл бұрын

Thank you.

@cbbcbb6803 4 ай бұрын

He should have written in Igbo first, then, rewrote in English. Isaac Bashevis Singer wrote his books and stories, first in Yiddish, then he rewrote them in English.

@kestereleke3286 3 жыл бұрын

Where is the WHY? This is essentially a biography of Chinua Achebe. Very misleading title

@harryfizzy 3 жыл бұрын

Did you watch till the end? Please watch again from 9:44.

@bobby-joeogadu2533 2 жыл бұрын

You obviously didn't watch till the end. One single sentence towards the end summed the why.

@greyphil5323 3 жыл бұрын

The too much ..."vthe" & "vava" in ur video description is distracting me from watching ur video

@jideoguntoba9354 3 жыл бұрын

My opinion- there has not been anyone who got the prize that is greater than Chinua Achebe. So what about the prize?

@cosmasobiadazie3079 8 ай бұрын

It's a European prize not a biafran prize

@listenup2882 3 жыл бұрын

All Africans should abandon those European names. Respect to Chinua Achebe!

@chijiokeezeudu6312 2 жыл бұрын

Thank you for the well researched work on Achebe. Like the late Nelson Mandela said: "the walls of the prison collapsed after reading things fall apart " while he was incarcerated. For me Achebe remains the father of modern day African literature.