The Imagery of War in Chinua Achebe’s There was a Country
Abstract
Achebe‟s war memoir, There was a country, a personal history of Biafra, has elicited different reactions from the public. Some critics have condemned the memoir for creating the impression that Biafra once existed, others for re-opening the old wounds of the Nigerian Civil War. The memoir‟s noble objective of protecting the territorial integrity of Nigeria and preventing it from relapsing into yet another avoidable season of anomie is often ignored. This paper, therefore, using postmodernism as a theoretical tool, examines Achebe‟s portrayal of the war, its causes and impact on Nigeria. The memoir blames the Nigerian civil war on poor leadership. There was a country is not a justification of Biafra but rather a re-evaluation of the human mistakes that led to it .As a cautionary note, it is one of Achebe‟s finest contributions to our understanding of the political sociology of contemporary Nigeria. We may disagree with Achebe, but we cannot deny the monumental threats facing the corporate existence of Nigeria. Since independence, Nigeria‟s social landscape has been characterised by war/peace. The unity of the country is like a sieve leaking from every angle.References
Abdurrahman, Mora. (ed) Abubaka Imam memoirs. Zaria: Gaskiya corporation.1989 print Zik: A selection from the speeches of Nnamdi Azikiwe. Cambridge: UP. 1961. Print.
Achebe, Chinua. There was a country: personal history of Biafra. London: Penguin, 2012. Print.
……….. The Education of British – protected child. America: Borzoi 2009. Print.
Awolowo, Obafemi. “Obafemi Awolowo Quotations”. Obafemi Awolowo
Foundation. Retrieved March 31, 2017, from http://www.obafemiawolowofoundation.org/awo_quotations.php. Electronic.
Bello, Ahmadu. Selected Speeches and Quotes. Minna: Halygraph. 2009 print.
Campbell, John. Nigeria: Dancing on the brink. Ibadan: Bookcraft. 2010. Print
Childs, P. and Fowler,R, (ed)The Routledge Dictionary of literary terms. London : Taylor and Francis, 2006. Print.
Danjuma, Theophilus. North in the middle of civil war. Nigerian World News. Retrieved March 31, 2017, from http://www.nigeria-newsworld.com/2013/03/north-in-middle-of-civil-war-danjuma.html?m=1.
Electronic.
Dowden, Richard. Africa: Altered States, ordinary miracles. London: Portobello, 2009 print.
Emecheta, Buchi. Destination Biafra. Oxford: Heinemann. 1994. Print.
Ezeani, Emefiena. In Biafra Africa died: the diplomatic plot. London: Veritas Lumen, 2013.print.
Emenyonu N, Ernest (ed). Africa Literature Today. London: 26 (2008):
Machiko, Oike. Becoming a feminist writer: representation of the subaltern in Buchi Emecheta‟s Destination Biafra. Emenyonu N, Ernest. (ed) War in Africa Literature today. London: Heinemann, 2008. Print.
Meredith, Martin. The State of Africa. London: Simon and Schuster, 2011 print.
Nwapa, Flora. (1975) Never again. Trenton: Africa world, 1975. Print.
Uko, I. Iniobog. “Of war & madness: A Symbolic Transmutation of the Nigeria– Biafra War in Select Stories from The Insider: Stories of War and Peace from Nigeria”. Africa Literature Today 26. (2008): 49-59 print.
Obasanjo, Olusegun. Nzeogwu. Ibadan: Spectrum, 1987. Print.
Obiechina, Emmanuel. Poetry as Therapy: Reflections on Achebe’s Christmas in
Biafra and other poems. Callaloo, Vol. 25 No. 2 (Spring) 527 -558. 2002.
Ojukwu, Emeka Odumegwu. Because I am involved. Ibadan: Spectrum, 1989.
Print.
Onumah, Chido. Ojukwu, Goodbye Nigeria. Sahara Reporters. Retrieved March 31, 2017, from http://saharareporters.com/2013/09/05/goobye-nigeriachido-onumah. Electronic.
Okafor, A. Clement. “Sacrifice & the Contestation of Identity in Chukwuemeka Ike‟s Sunset at dawn”. Africa Literature today. London: Africa Literature today 26 (2008): 33-48. Print.
Soyinka, Wole .The open sore of a continent: a personal narrative of the Nigerian Crises. Oxford: UP, 1996. Print.
Warren, Austin and Wellek, Rene. A Theory of Literature. London: Penguin, 1956. Print.
