Critical Insights: Things Fall Apart

Introductory essays reflect on Achebe's pioneering achievement and evaluate the enduring, international popularity of Things Fall Apart. A brief biography follows, and a quartet of new essays provide a framework for in-depth study. The essays survey major trends in criticism of the novel and discuss Achebe's masterful use of language. Also included is a comparison of Things Fall Apart to major literary works within the Western canon, such as the Odyssey and the Iliad. Other essays discuss the depiction of gender, the presentation of cultural violence, and the portrayal of colonization within the novel.