Hello Everyone,
Continuing on the Progenitors and Proteges Art Series (See 1 and 2) Today’s feature is on the Literary Arts and spotlights the late Professor Chinua Achebe as the Progenitor and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, the protege.
pro·gen·i·tor(prō-jĕn′ĭ-tər) an originator or founder of a future development; precursor . a person or thing that originates something or serves as a model; precursor.pro·té·géˈprōtəˌZHā,ˌprōtəˈZHā/noun : a person who is guided and supported by an older and more experienced or influential person.
Chinua Achebe born 16 November 1930 – 21 March 2013 was a Nigerian novelist, poet, professor, and critic. He was best known for his first novel and magnum opus,Things Fall Apart (1958), which is the most widely read book in modern African literature. Source-Wiki More on Chinua Achebe here.
Hear him speak
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (born 15 September 1977) is a writer from Nigeria.She has been called “the most prominent” of a “procession of critically acclaimed young anglophone authors [that] is succeeding in attracting a new generation of readers to African literature. Source – Wiki
Although they only met three times, Chimamanda clearly extols Chinua Achebe as an inspiration. Interestingly, on the campus of the University of Nigeria, Nsuka where her parents were staff, the Adichies moved in to the house the Achebes lived in. What a significant coincidence.
Nigerian best-selling author, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie said, Professor Chinua Achebe gave her the permission to write. She made the comment in an interview with SaharaTV’s Fungai Maboreke after her book presentation in New York City last Monday.“ Chinua Achebe meant permission to write, if one needed a push to write ones’ own story, Chinua Achebe gave me that push.” Describing his example as significant for creative people, to see others who looked like them doing similar things as them and doing them well. “His presence for me was nurturing and he was important to my work and I think for the generation…he was iconic,” she said in a Sahara TV interview
Here is an interview with Channels TV, where Chiamanda speaks about Achebe’s influence
Both Progenitor and Protege have served/are serving as authentic African voices telling ‘our own stories’.. and the legacy lives on through her and other young African writers taking their places on the global literary scene..
Beautifully Dreaming.. Positively Doing…
xoxo
Tosinger
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