Promotions - Choice's Outstanding Academic Titles 2022 -

Kortenaar (Univ. of Toronto, Scarborough) uses writings of the renowned Nigerian African writer Chinua Achebe (1930-2013), especially Things Fall Apart (1958), to elucidate the connection between debt, law, and realism in African writing. The author points out that Okonkwo, the protagonist of Things Fall Apart, is not a citizen of the modern state, but Achebe would be (once Nigeria gained statehood), and so he invents a realist character to test ideas of trust and moral judgment. Kortenaar divides the book into 10 chapters, plus an introduction and conclusion. Chapters of particular importance are "Crediting African Literature," "Sovereign Debt," "Women and the Cowrie Zone," "Modern Debt and the Civil Service," "Corruption," and "Discipline." Other chapters focus on reciprocity, with the illustration of the "bride price" as the primary example. In Things Fall Apart this significantly takes two chapters. In "Sovereign Debt," the author states that Okonkwo stands at the origins of West African literature and discusses the theme of debt peonage. Kortenaar concludes that in contributing to the literary tradition, Achebe was fulfilling a duty to the state and wrote for his fellow citizens, even though he was often published in the US.Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates and above.