ABSTRACT
Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart is now so firmly established as part of the African literary canon taught in schools, colleges and universities around the world that one might be tempted to think that its status has always been assured and indisputable. In fact, that could not be further from the truth, as a careful study of the early critical work on the novel reveals some deeply held antipathy towards it. It is notable that writing in 1959 and while lauding the authenticity of the novel, Ben Obumselu criticized it for its failure to capture the spirit of the African village, arguing that: ‘I am in particular disappointed that there is in Things Fall Apart so little of the lyricism which marks our village life.’1 Obumselu also accuses Achebe of merely imitating a European artistic form rather than imaginatively transforming it, imbuing it with an African flavour, arguing that:
The form of the novel ought to have shown some awareness of the art of the culture. We do not have the novel form, of course, but there are implications in our music, sculpture and folklore which the West African novelist cannot neglect if he wishes to do more than merely imitate a European fashion.2
