Things Fall Apart

The Western canon of "great literature" frequently focuses on North American or European writers while ignoring accomplished writers and amazing works of literature from other parts of the world. Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, published in 1958, is one such work of African literature that had to overcome the bias of some literary circles and has gained worldwide recognition despite it.

The novel follows Okonkwo, an Igbo man who describes his family, his village in Nigeria, and the effects of British colonialism on his homeland. The novel is an example of African postcolonial literature, a genre that has grown in size and recognition since the mid-nineteenth century as Africans have been able to share their often unheard stories of imperialism from the perspective of the colonized. The novel is frequently assigned reading in world literature and African studies courses.

Link to read: goodreads.com/book/show/37781.Things_Fall_Apart