H.

Rider Haggard 1856-1925

He was a late Victorian writer of African frontier adventure novels. He was born in
Norfolk, England in 1856. He was the eight of ten children. His father was a lawyer
while his mother was a poet and daughter of a merchant in the East India Trading
Company. Unlike his brothers, Haggard did not graduate from private schools but
attended a state grammar school. His father did not think he would succeed in life. He
failed the exam to enter in army and that caused a totally disappointment on his
father. After, with the help from his father he managed to enter in army and he got the
job. He did a lot of experiences in South Africa, that appear in his works. Here is
presented the real South Africa, and not the imaginary.
He felt in love with Mary Elisabeth “Lilly” Jackson, but he had to marry another
woman, Marianna Louisa Margitson, because Mary felt in love with another man.
Moreover, he did a lot of experiences of political relationships.
His first book was a denunciation of British policy in South Africa. It was not
received very well. His second book was quite better received, while his third book
was a semi autobiography. But, his masterpiece is “King Salomon’s Mines”,
published in 1885. He wrote this book in only 6 weeks because he was really
inspired. Another important novel is called “She”, where is presented a very strange,
fantastic, feminine character called Ayesha.
The plot of his masterpiece tells about 3 white men who found a map of a treasure of
diamonds. During the journey everything happened. It is a tragic-romantic story. It is
a novel of fantasy but there are also realistic descriptions of Africa (rituals,
superstitions). The three white men symbolize colonialism. In this book is presented a
celebration of colonialism and not a criticism of it. It is an ideological choice linked
to the propaganda.
Haggard’s hero is Allan Quatermain, who appears many times in his works.
His stories and characters reflect some strong preconceptions of British colonialism.
In his books are presents exotic adventures, themes of spiritualism and antiquity. His
aim, of course, was attract the imperial audience, who liked these things.
Moreover, with these themes, he started a new narrative genre full of exotic
adventures, spiritualism (phantom, witches), etc.
His protagonists are usually Europeans, through many of his heroes are African, such
as Ignosi, the rightful King in King Salomon’s Mines.
He was a master storyteller, with a supreme ability to draw the reader attention into
the tale.
In his story there is an evident combination of realism and romance, overall with the
realistic description and romantic stories.
Romance: a prose narrative treating imaginary characters involved in events remote
in time or place and usually heroic, adventurous or mysterious.
He came also to be fascinated with the supernatural.

All stories have the same protagonist, Allan Quatermain. He is the protagonist of 80
texts.
STRUCTURE OF TEXT: it is a frame story that includes a painting on work. It is the
story inside the story. There are two stories and two different narrators: the first who
we don’t know and the second, Quatermain himself.
The structure is very interesting.

1. Hunter Quatermain’s story

 With the citation, with King Salomon the author tries to promote his work. The
author gives to the story a sort of realism. With intratextual references are
created suspense and curiosity.
 Hunter Quatermain description is very peculiar and interesting. He was the best
shot in Africa. He is aging, he is a little man. There are some contradictions,
always present in Haggard: ex. grizzled hair vs gentle eyes.
 The hero is a perplex and weak hero, unsatisfied like an explorer. He starts to
use stereotypes and challenge them through some elements. He is not a perfect
hero, in fact he has bad and good qualities at the same time.
 Time and space: South Africa.
 Quatermain vs Zulu: rational man vs superstitious man that believes in ghosts.
 The lion: esthetical element vs moral or ethical element. The lion is black like
Africans, magnificent as them vs Quatermain who is short and weak.
 Theme of cannibalism: a ritual to gave a power to other people, a way to
honour enemy. It is a paradox, a sort of respect paradoxically. In the Victorian
age, especially white people used to practice cannibalism.

The protagonist of the story is Allan Quatermain, a hunter who used to expose hunted
animals as trophies. In that story, he has to tell about one of his adventure, that is
when he killed a buffalo and took him his horns. But, he tells it only at the end of the
story, that begins with a sort of proclamation of the hero who was returning from his
journey in South Africa, where he went with Sr. Henry Curtis and Captain Good in
order to search the treasure of diamonds. In fact, at the beginning of the story, there is
a reference to the novel “King Solomon’s mines”. Before telling about the buffalo’s
death, he tells to his audience about his adventures with the lion, which introduce the
theme of cannibalism. The story ends with the death of the Zulu, partner of
Quatermain in the adventure.

2. Long Odds (poche probabilità)

 It is shorter than the others.

 Structure: another frame story.
 Protagonist: Allan Quatermain
 Two narrators: 1. Unknown 2. Quatermain himself
 We don’t know who the narrator is but we know that he is a friend and he went
to South Africa himself, he could be a colonizer too.
  The title is interesting because implies that are a few chances.
 Common elements with the first story like same characters such as Sir Curtis
or Captain Good.
 Intratextual reference to the novel “She”.
 It is a very risky adventure or exploration, linked to the title.
 Quatermain is teetotaller (astemio) and he does not drink because of the
negative effects on low class colonists. Description p.43.
 Time and space: march 69 / sikukini’s country.
 Personification or metaphor Nature-Man: nature (something feminine) is
violated by a man. If a white man colonized, it could be seen as an act of
sexual aggression on nature that could be changed and abandoned. Idea of an
isolate nature.
 Figure of lion, linked with the lion of the first story. It is a sort of
personification. He is personifying, he inspires fear. He is magnificent but also
cruel. The lion eats the ox. Quatermain wants a revenge. He starts a foolish
struggle with the lion, and he has long odds. In this case the lion is seen as the
antagonist of the story. To find the lion, he decides to light a fire. It is violation
of nature.
 Native Tom is more trustable than the native of the first story. He is more
rational than Quatermain, the white man, who is irrational and mad. He wants
to take revenge because the lions killed oxen.
 This story is a self critical description.
 Lions represent the colonies. Violation of the colonies by the white man. So,
lions = colonies, white man = colonizer.

The protagonist of the story is Quatermain again who, after the frame story, starts to
tell about his adventure. He doesn’t like telling his experiences but, in this case, he is
more communicative because of the wine. He tells about his adventure with a
magnificent lion that ate his oxen. So, Quatermain decides to attack the lion, to
reclaim the oxen. But, he has long odds to achieve it. At the end, the lion dies but he
managed to hurt Quatermain, who will be saved by his Zulu friend, Tom.

3. Black heart and white heart

 It is not a short story but rather than a “novella”, because it is a quite large.
 A “novella” is shorter than a novel and it is usually divided into 2 parts,
without chapters.
 Story full of metaphors like heart = metaphor of love.
 Dichotomies like black and white. There is also chromatism.
 Black heart = bad, associated with devil Moral
 White heart = good, associated with purity and innocence metaphor
 Not frame structure!
 Narrator is omniscient
 The text is divided into 6 sections.
 Protagonist is physically beautiful. He is a man with dark secrets, a strange
man, from the upper class. He studied in a private school. He has a bad past,
even if narrator does not tell us his past. He is a very lovely person but
something is wrong morally. Behind him there is a doubtful reputation. So, the
protagonist is a man of middle class origins with a wrong and strange past.
 Theme of colonization is marked with racial elements (Zulu King).
 Other characters: Zulu King who is an aggressive man that uses a very strong
words; Nahoon; Zulu who is a savage gentleman (oxymoron) > gentleman
inside, savage outside. He is also honest a gentle. Qualities are mixed to
demonstrate that black heart is not only savage and white heart is not only
gentle.
Nanea: female protagonist. She appears to Philip as the greatest woman but
really she is not so beautiful. Philip is attracted by her and for it he saw Nanua
in that way. The fact that a white man fell in love with a Zulu woman always
happens in Haggard’s stories.
 Theme Nature vs man presented by the woods. Forest is a savage place, full of
animals, the place of danger and spirits where the man meet another world.
Here comes out also the theme of superstitions.
 Religious theme: Africans are animists than converted to Christianity. Animists
believes in a different perception of time, unlike us (past, present, future). For
animists, spirits don’t are only in the past but also in the present or in the
future, with negative or positive aspects.
 Figure of snake: personification of devil in the Bible. In China is related with a
dragon that is powerful and a good luck element.
 Prophecy linked to Bee.
 There are a lot of strange or uncommon things with Victorian Age like the
death of a white man or the fact that a woman kills a man. Rules are changed
or reversed. A woman kills a white man. This is very strange and uncommon,
but also very interesting to a different point of view. It is a really challenge to
Victorian stories and conclusions.
 Conclusion: Nahoon today works for English. The Bee is got the ring,the
prophesy is completely.
 There are many unconventional elements of subversion like black heroine, out
of typical domestic life. When Nahoon becomes a servant of the English,
relations are destroyed and natural rules are re-established. That happens in the
final part, where transgression disappeared.
 Subversion is a technique utilised in the story. It is based on change
conventions and rules. It is also used to demonstrate that transgression is
possible.
 Heart of Darkness

The original title was “The Heart of Darkness” but than Conrad himself decided to
change the title, eliminating the article. He changes his mind. The first reference of
the title is a geographical metaphor. The title of the novel is very important: we can
divide it in two words, heart and darkness. With the word HEART, Conrad talks
about the heart of Africa, that is Congo, where the novel is settled; with the word
DARKNESS he wants to talk about the mysteries that surrounded Africa and he
wants to talk about the skin of Africans. However, the word Darkness has many
different meanings like blackness. It connotes the death of the individual or of the
human race, dark ages between periods of civilization, the abominable, the
primordial. It has a negative connotation and it is linked also to the human soul and
usually connected with the evil. To conclude, he eliminated the article to give a more
general meaning, to indicate that heart of Africa, that specific part.
It is a novel but the perfect definition is a novella. Its meaning is very complex. It is
the most obscure text in literature. It means that it is a very difficult text, especially
because of his modernist style. The meaning, however, could be linked with the idea
to explore the dark side of everybody. The idea of Dark heart is an isotopy because it
is repeated many times.
Haggard thought that a white heart could be in a black man and in a white man could
be a black heart. He did the first step but he stopped here. Conrad, who is a
modernist, follows this thought and goes beyond (va oltre).
The structure of the novella is based on frame story divided in story one and story
two, in which story one is included in story two. Moreover, there are two different
narrators: the first is anonymous presented in the frame story or story one while the
second is Marlow, the protagonist, presented in the framed story, divided into 3 parts.
In the story one there is an unknown narrator. In the story two, the narrator is the
main character Marlow. Furthermore, the story one is settled in London on the River
Thames, while the story two is settled in Congo. All the adventures are settled there.
At the end of the novel, the characters return to London. For this, the structure of the
stories is circular. Function to lead in London, symbol of light and civilization, the
idea of obscurity. Here, Conrad plays a lot with geographical locations.
As regards geographical and historical aspects linked to his biography we can say a
lot about Congo. It was colonized by Belgians, by King Leopold II, a very cruel man.
In fact, in Congo there was a terrible situation: genocide and mutilation (hands and
feet as a sort of punishment). Conrad himself went to Bordeaux in 1890 and started to
work for Belgians. Then, he left his job because he was terrified by their cruelty. So,
he started to write novels where there are many biographical references. In other
words, his experiences are inserted in his works. Moreover, in his works, as a good
modernist, he inserted also myths as the myth of the return called the nostos in Heart
of Darkness.

ANALYSIS

First part: it is very important. In the frame story is described the ship that contains 5
people: the lawyer, the accountant, Marlow, the narrator and the director. They are
types and not characters because they do not develop. Then there is a description of
London with positive (imperialistic propaganda) and negative elements (a mournful
gloom, brooding motionless) > symbol of civilization vs idea of obscurity.
To introduce the characters is the narrator, who introduces firstly the captain and then
the other peoples. They are different each other but linked by the bond of the sea.
They will have a lots of adventures, they will meet a lot of people. They have to learn
to live in harmony and community. It could be a problem, a social problem also
linked to the problem of adaptation in a place.
Marlow is presented with is ascetic aspect, like a sort of monk, sat cross legged. He
does not look very happy even tough (nonostante) his spirituality. The atmosphere
becomes gloomy linked with the idea of darkness.
There are many historical references, too. British ships had started to travel from
Thames. The same place has been the setting of very important events. Sir Francis
Drake, a pirate, supported by Queen Elisabeth in the XVI century. Sir John Franklin,
a Victorian Captain who sailed in 1814 with 2 ships called “The Terror” and
“Erebus”, to explore the North Pole into the North West Passage to reach the Pacific
to the Atlantic without navigating to the world. He disappeared.
Symbol of the torch. Germs are negative, they symbolize illness. They are metaphor
of the destruction of the Empire with infections.
London becomes negative, called a mistress, an obscure place. It is not only the heart
of civilization but also an uncivilized place.
The fascination or attraction of the abomination (disprezzo): British judge Africans
(the others), they feel disgust. The Romans had in the same way. It is the fascination
for evil. In civilization, abomination is inside in a conscious way. It is an anticipation,
namely colonizer can’t escape to the fascination for the abomination. They must to
have control to not become monsters or, more specifically, part of the abomination
itself. This is the existential message of the text. Moreover, according to Marlow, to
save them to abomination is the devotion to efficiency.

Marlow is a very strange sailor, a no common person, who loved to tell stories. He is
compared to Buddha, a symbol of wisdom (saggezza). There are also references to
the European colonization seen as violent and made out of economic interest. They
are violent and brutal who robbed all that they could take. There is a parallelism
between the first great Roman Empire and the British Empire: “the conquest of the
earth…to much” > here is presented the parallelism. Ideology is used to redeem the
brutality of the conquest. The ideology is linked to propaganda and it is personified
by Kurtz. When Marlow starts to narrate his experiences, begins the story two. That
story presents Marlow’s point of view. It is a story that starts in Brazil to describe his
journey in Congo. He starts the journey with the aim to meet Kurtz at the heart of
Africa and kill him.
Moreover, Marlow is really interest to maps. In fact, he confessed his passion for
maps. Obviously, maps are very important for the exploration in order to find
something. Victorian maps are divided into 2 parts: some places are drawn; others are
represented by blanks because they are not explored yet. Africa was full of blanks but
thanks to the explorers these blanks disappeared. He is fascinated by maps. Mapping
was an important object for colonizers, as something strategic.
Furthermore, at the beginning of Marlow’s journey are presented a lot of symbols,
like the river as a snake that symbolise the darkness. The snake also is a biblical
reference. Moreover, there is also a reference to mythology, designed by the two
women, who appeared like the Fates (le parche). One of them is Clotho who spins the
Thread of Life, then is described Lachesis who measures the Thread of Life and
Antropos who cuts the Thread of Life.
Moreover, chromatism is very interesting. The colour red is linked to the passion, to
something strong like the violence; green is linked to hope; black to death and white
to purity, innocence but in India is the colour of death; yellow is the colour of illness.
In fact, the yellow flags represented pathologies such as the germs of Empires.

Marlow is cynic and realist. He does not share the idea of propaganda, differently
from his aunt. His journey to Africa was very long. During his journey, he met other
boats, full of natives. His first impression was negative, because of the natives that
wore grotesques masks. Marlow refers himself and Europeans that went to Africa like
a sort of peregrines who have to regenerate themselves and do a sort of catharsis. It is
not a mission but a travel of redemption. Moreover, when he saw the natives, he
shocked by their sight, especially because they are connected each other by ropes
(corda). They were tied (legati) because they were slaves of Belgians.

Second part: it starts with a particular description of the new journey, not in place but
in time. This journey goes back to primitivism and regression. Of course, this passage
was criticised by colonialist’s theories.
Description of nature as mysterious, with an impenetrable forest, a dark sun, a
deserted river. It is not a beautiful nature. In this passage, Conrad uses strong
adjectives to convey the idea that something s impenetrable and mysterious.
p.139 description of the natives. There is a comparison between the humanity of
natives and ours. Moreover, in this place probably there are cannibals but there are
not proofs. About cannibals, Conrad has a good opinion: according to him they are
human, denying the prejudice over them. However, the very inhuman people were
colonizers, white people seen as cruel because of stereotypes.
p.140 pathetic parody: colonizers imposed imitation to Africans.

Marlow and his company are attacked by Kurtz’s followers from the forest.
P.145 they do not eat meat. Why? Marlow continues to ask this to himself, especially
because it is important to the reference to cannibals. Probably they can control
themselves. The first cannibal is the fireman (mimicry). Another is the helmsman
(timoniere) > mad.
p.150 description of a woman wet by blood.
p.151 description of the moment of death > obscure, threatening nature. Marlow is
fascinated by the mystery of death.
p.152 description of Marlow who likes the match. It is not the Marlow in Africa but
in London. It is a return to story 1, a reference to little Marlow, worn (consumato) by
the experience. There is a return to the frame.
p.154 Anticipation of Marlow and Kurt’s meeting.
p.154 Kurtz origins: mixed race, half English mother and half French father > a
combination of different European people. Main idea > superiority of Europeans.
p.155 reference to a revolution in India called India mutiny (1857) > Indians against
English.
p.158 appeared the figure of Harlequin who wears his particular clothes of different
colours. He is a young, funny man but also clever (furbo). Kurtz is the one who
submits Harlequin, that has also admiration for him.
Kurtz is a charismatic, cruel and arrogant colonizer.

Third part: it starts with an advice for lectors.

Function of Harlequin: he introduces Kurtz and demonstrates how a minor figure can
be submitted by a charismatic man.
Marlow and his company start to follow Kurtz.
p.163 Kurtz represents colonization but he has changed > mystery of Kurtz. He is a
very complex character. Kurtz wants to civilize the brutes. He was the first to do that,
using the torch.
p.164 horrific scene vs bee scene. It is the part of show power, typical of civilization.
Kurtz loves showing his power.

Kurtz is a combination of different people:

1. Klain
2. Artur Eugene Constant Hodister: a manager of a company, a very charismatic
man and African anthropologist.
3. Captain Leon Rom: an officer of army who committed terrible things, who
mutilated bodies part of natives like hands, feet etc.
4. Henry Menton Stanley: a famous, British explorer, who wrote a similar report
as K. He was a charismatic dictator, anticipator of Hitler and Stalin. He uses
charisma to join people to him.
All these men (3 Belgian, 1 British) inspired K’s character.
p.166 K is very ill > thin. Kurtz means short in German but it is a paradox because he
is seven feet long. Comparison to ivory> connected with violence of colonizer, with
money and death. In fact, colonizers went to Africa for ivory. It symbolizes the
rapacity and the great of colonizers.
Description of K: voice deep, strong, powerful. His mouth is like a cannibal. Skeletal
figure vs his powerful voice.
P.174 K is divided into 2 people: evil and a good person. His soul was mad not him.
K has a gene of evil. Marlow himself can’t return an innocent after knowing the
fashion of evil and liked it.
p.175 interesting Is the relationship between K and his trip. Importance of women.
K. speaks in fragments; he does not speak much.
p.177 important passage where Kurtz gives to Marlow some documents probably
because he will die. It is a symbolic gesture: he shares to Marlow all his knowledge
and not only his documents.
p.178 last words of K: the horror, the horror! Pronounced twice. According to the
philosopher Walter Beniamin, who wrote a famous essay called “The Storyteller”, the
death is the essence of person’s life.
Kurtz’s message is quite obscure. Interpretations:
1. He is horrified by the idea of Die and he feels horror
2. It can be a judgment of world around. It could be a comment of life
3. It could be a message of the horror of evil
4. Essence of nature and life: Africa associated with darkness and abomination.

Marlow becomes persecuted by the message. He continues to dream the nightmare,

the horror. Marlow keeps Kurtz’s essence alive telling his story. It is a sort of parody
> keeping evil alive. Kurtz is described as a remarkable (straordinario) man, with a
candour and a conviction.
p.179 Marlow remained loyal to Kurtz to the last. Why?
When he returns to Brazil he is not the same. He was contaminated by Kurtz
ideology. He is persecuted by Kurtz’s large mouth and his last words.
p.181 Marlow discovers, with letters, that Kurtz’s Intended (wife) is very beautiful
and he decides to meet her. She is a very candid girl. She kept loyal to Kurtz. She is a
typical Belgian woman, innocent, loyal.
p.185 Conrad insinuates a doubt of all Europeans: is this woman really innocent? She
continues to celebrate her model man, who was a cruel and brutal person.
p.186 message of that God don’t care, that human being are alone: there is not
salvation but only horror.
In the last passage there is a return to story 1. Marlow is meditating as a spiritual
man, but what he is meditating is some horror as an ironic Buddha.
p.187 Africa > heart of darkness
Europe > dark colonizers, secrets.
APOCALYPSE NOW

Differences between literary and movie text

Literary Movie
Single narrator 2 different narrative voices:
inside voice (character)
outside voice (external)
Images indirectly described Images dominates , directly described
Description of characters Presentation of characters by images
Space indirectly visible, mediated by Space directly visible
description
Time > ellipsis represented by a blank. Cut of scene > ellipsis, change of scene
Flash-forwards and flashbacks.
Music is not presented Music is only presented here linked to
an emotional function.

Discussion!

Differences between the book and the movie:

1. Main character: Willard and not Marlow, sent in order to kill Kurtz.
2. The characters of the company are military and not civil.
3. Lack of the frame, it is only presented the central story.
4. Substitution of the narration with the external voice.

Symbols: connection between the helicopter’s blades at the beginning and the electric
fan’s blades when Willard is in his room.

Music: protesting music against the war in Vietnam. Ex. The doors, Rolling stones,
Wagner symphony.

Relationship between Willard and Kurtz is similar to that of the novel. Willard is
obsessed by Kurtz.

Coppola interprets Kurtz, while Conrad doesn’t. At the end of the movie, Kurtz is
killed by Willard, while he is declaiming a poem of a modernist poet who denounces
the modern, empty men, slaves of capitalism.
Tiger: Chef has an exaggerated reaction when he saw the tiger. The tiger represents
the nature, a potential enemy that attacks men and runs away. It represents the
violated nature. It is a symbolic scene > all people have lost humanity and contact
with the world and nature because of the war.

The comparison between Willard and Kurtz in the box (gabbia) is a sort of test in
order to see if Willard can figure out (riesce a capire) his world. He hates the
photographer because he has entered in this world without understand it. Colby, the
first sent, had not the capacity to see the horror therefore he become a slave. The right
man that can kill Kurtz and can narrate his story is Willard.

Harsh scene of the sacrifice of the ox (bue): parallelism with the sacrifice scene of
Kurtz. The ox is a projection of Kurtz who became as a victim. He is not only the
monster.

The most important moment of the movie is when Kurtz is died and Willing can take
his place. He has to take a decision: become the new Kurtz or return to humans’
world? He takes a moral decision: he throw the machete in order to demonstrate that
he wants to be free from everything.
 Chinua Achebe (1930-2013)

He is a Nigerian novelist and poet. His first novel is Things Fall Apart, published in
1958. He was born in an Igbo village of Ogidi on 16 November 1930. He became
fascinated with world religions and traditional African cultures, and began writing
stories as a university student. Storytelling was a mainstay (pilastro) of the Igbo
tradition and an important part of the community. Achebe’s mother and sister told
him many stories, which he repeatedly requested.
Achebe was an excellent student. In fact, he won a scholarship to study medicine, but
he changed his studies to English Literature. The language of the school was English,
especially to provide a common tongue for pupils from different Nigerian language
groups. Achebe described this later as being ordered to “put away their different
mother tongues and communicate in the language of their colonisers”.
Moreover, he was fascinated by readings. So, he started to explore the school’s
“wonderful library”. He read many classics but also tales of colonial adventures such
as Haggard’s Allan Quatermain. He expressed a sort of self-dislike.
Furthermore, he critics European literature about Africa and he dislikes Nigerian
characters described from a European point of view, that doesn’t understand their
culture and traditions. According to him, the right solution is write African literature
by the point of view of Africans and not Europeans. So, we can call him as one of the
defenders of African literature. He was the pioneer of the Nigerian novel written by
an African.
His first job was teaching at the Merchants of Light school at Oba. As a teacher he
urged his students to read extensively and be original in their work.
Then, he moved to Lagos, where he got a job at a radio station. The city of Lagos also
was very important to him. In fact, he talked about his experiences describing the city
of Lagos in the novel “No Longer at Ease”. In this city, he started work on novel. He
worked hard to develop his own style. His masterpiece is Thinks Fall Apart, revised
many times. At the end, he cut away the second and third sections of the book,
leaving only the first one.

Things Fall Apart (1958)

In 1958, Achebe sent his novel to a British agent. It was sent to several publishing
houses. Some rejected it immediately, especially because it was written by an African
writer and therefore it had no market potential. Finally, he found a publisher who
thought that his novel was the best he had read. So, the book was received well by the
British press, and received positive reviews. In Nigeria, some readers were more
sceptical, others more supportive.

Thinks Fall Apart became one of the most important book in African literature. It also
was translated in many languages. The Nigerian Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka
described it as “the first novel in English which spoke from the interior of the African
character, rather than portraying the African as an exotic, as the white man would see
him”.

In 1961, Achebe married a woman named Christiana Chinwe, Christie. They had
three children.

II° NOVEL: No longer at ease

In 1960, before marrying Christie, Achebe dedicated to another woman his second
novel that narrate about a civil servant who is embroiled in the corruption of Lagos.
The protagonist is Obi, grandson of the main character of Things Fall Apart,
Okonkwo.
So, that novel is considered a kind of sequel. In this novel, are presented Obi’s
experiences in Lagos. He has a lot of ideals but he will be corrupted. Obi is trapped
between the expectations of this family, its clan, his village and his society. He is
crushed by these forces and finds himself imprisoned for corruption.

In 1964, Achebe attended the Commonwealth Literature conference, presenting his

essay “The Novelist as Teacher”, a didactic essay centred on the writer’s mission.

III° NOVEL: Arrow of God

The novel tells the story of Ezeulu, a Chief Priest, and it talks about the conflict
between the Igbo traditions and the European Christianity, represented by the
missionaries. Also Ezeulu’s story ends with a tragedy.

IV° NOVEL: A man of the people

Published in 1966, it is a sad satire, that describes the Coup d’Etat and the corruption
of African State. In fact, there are biographical references of Achebe’s life and
historical references of the Biafra war and of the militaries’ new government.

Collection of short stories > GIRLS AT WAR (1972)

Achebe moved to USA because of the University of Massachussetts offered him a

professorship. Here, he realised that American people didn’t’ know anything about
Africa.
He published a very famous essay on Conrad’s Heart of Darkness. Here he describes
Conrad as a bloody racist, because he read the book from his point of view and not
from Europeans point of view.
He is generally considered the father of African literature.

Style and narrative strategies

Achebe’s early novels are realistic and historical in genre.

His style is based on the oral tradition of the Igbo people. He inserts folk tales in his
novels or stories, presenting Igbo culture and traditions. Moreover, his style is full of
proverbs used to comment events.

Language

Problem of language: what use?

1. African because English and other European languages were “part of the neo-
colonial structures that repress progressive ideas”
2. English > used by Achebe, seen as a language used with the aim to talk each
other. His purpose was communicating with readers across Nigeria by using
one central language, English as lingua franca.

So, he opted for the second solution and he “Igboized” or nativized his English to
describe local realities. He transformed the language into a distinctly African style.

Themes

He uses many themes, describing Igbo life from Igbo perspective.

A prevalent theme in Achebe’s novels is the intersection of African tradition,
particularly Igbo varieties, and modernity, especially as embodied by Europeans
colonialism.
Another important theme is the tragedy that we can find especially at the end of the
novels. Moreover, the gender roles of men and women are frequent themes in his
writing. He has been criticised as a sexist author, offering an uncritical depiction of
traditionally patriarchal Igbo society, where the most masculine men take numerous
wives, and women are beaten regularly.
Legacy (eredità)

Achebe has been called the father of modern African writing and Africa’s greatest
storyteller. He is a model for African writers. He was the beneficiary of many
honorary degrees from many universities.

Things Fall Apart (1958)

It forms with “No longer at ease” and “Arrow of God” a trilogy which narrates the
colonial conflict and the fall of an Igbo community. Among the three novels there are
intratextual links. So, the work is a kind of family saga describing three generations.

It is a realistic and historical novel. Its aim is to represent the past with objectivity
and impartiality, without essentialism.

The protagonist is Okonkwo. His personal tragedy is a symbol of the public tragedy
of his people.

There are two different conceptions of time:

1. Chronological (the story progresses, western concept based on Bible)
2. Cyclical (Igbo, based on natural seasons, typical of animism)

Theme > the conflict between two different cultures.

> nature vs culture: differences between Africa and west Africa. Importance of
forest. In Africa, nature is an integral part of people’s life: use of kola nuts to
reinforce social brands.

Title > it is a quote from the poem “The second coming”, written by Yeasts.

Hero > disappears, he is not Okonkwo. He has defects.

Language > English or new English, Africanised. It is a language adapted to natives

or Africans.

Rhetorical strategies > he uses r.s typical of Igbo like repetitions, metaphors,
expressions translated into English.

Space > according to Lotman, the space is generally divided into:

1. Inside or internal > family, protection
2. Outside or external > unknown, mystery

IN intermediate space ES1 ES

Is the space of village forest, the space of magic white men

It is a dynamical space.

Characterization > actantiality model, developed by Greimas, based on a

relationship between emissary or subject + object + recipient or antagonist. At the
bottom of that relationship there is a DESIRED OBJECT.

Subject > Okonkwo and the community he represents

A desired object

Antagonist > white men + Okonkwo himself becomes an antagonist (he creates
conflicts within his community, he violates the rules of the Week of Peace and
commits an infraction against the goddess Ani).

Achebe describes the two principles: male vs female.

Okonkwo’s fight against his father Unoka and, later, his son Nwoye depends on his
excess of masculinity and the other’s possession of feminine elements. He
condemned as too arrogant by the wise men of his community. He is a self-made who
is the first to violate the rules of his community. But he later comes to embody the
community.

There are many references to the racism of the white men who accuse the Igbos of
being primitive. The novel closes with such a reference: the book on the natives
written by the District Commissioner (an officer of the British). The book symbolises
the operation of cultural erasure conducted by the British.

Analysis TFA

 The title is a quotation from a poem, which describes the end of civilization
and so Achebe adopts this for his novel.
 Third person narrator > traditional narrator
 no-chronological time
 the book starts with the character’s presentation and with the context.
 The book is divided into 3 parts. Something happens only in the second part, while
the third part ends with a tragedy.

CHAPTERS
PART 1

1 > it starts with Okonkwo description. Space: inner (9 villages) vs the beyond (not
very clear). Time: western time chronological “when O. was 18” vs time of the
legend and myth “since the Founder of their town engaged a spirit”.
Simile: “like a Bash-Fire in the harmattan”> it is an African proverb, too.
Description of the man, a partial hero. He is physically a strong man, but he is not a
complete hero. He tends to use violence, he cannot solve problems by using words
and he has no patience. He has only physically (wrestling) success.
Anaphora: “he had no patience”
Unoka is O’s father. He sounds a bit different from his son. He loves drinking and
making marry. He was not a successful man. He is the opposite of his son.
The father vs the son
Weak strong
Female features masculine
Too lazy not balance, he makes many mistakes

Okonkwo, strong and brave man, is obsessed by his father. He embodies the
masculine spirits.
Agbala is an igbo word englobed into English. Achebe mixed western and African
traditions.

Ikemefuna is a boy from another village who must be sacrificed. He is given to O,

becoming the best friend of his son. He becomes part of the family. He does not
know he is a sacrificial victim.

Description of nature as a predator “nature red in tooth and claw”. It also is a

quotation from Tennyson “In Memoriam”, quotation from western literature.

Ani is a female God of Fertility.

3 > Unoka got ill > problem because in Igbo tradition when a man is ill he can
contaminate the others and for this the village has to be cleansing. It is a sort of
superstitious belief.

4 > O’s difficult relation with his community. It starts with a negative proverb.

6 > ilo: people meet there for rituals

music: a kind of possession, part of feelings. In Africa music and art are communal or
sacred.
7 > it is a tragic chapter. Ellipsis: 3 years. The space acquired gender connotations >
gender space > mother’s hut and father’s obi. Here is presented Nwoye, the son of O,
a very sensitive child.

8 > Ezinma is presented, as an interesting child, the favourite son of O. She is a very
masculine daughter.

10 > description of ritual dance, evocation of spirits, special masks. Women cannot
take part because is a man ritual. Describing rituals, Achebe uses a lots of traditional
elements to involve the reader. There is a lots of folklore elements. Importance of
spirits of ancestors. Masks linked with social aspects and not with entertainment.

11 > it is a part full of folklore.

13 > here something starts to happen, important chapter. Infraction during the Week
of Peace. Ceremony of the dead of a warrior called Ezeudu. It is a very masculine
ceremony. In the funeral they also use guns, important for Africans because they
don’t produce them. Accident > O kills a boy, the son of the warrior dead. O is
punished and exiled for 7 years. He has committed a sort of sin. He contaminates all
community. He has to be cleansing. They symbolically kill him, killing his animals,
burning his house etc.

PART 2

14 > free will vs predestination or chi

15 > arrives a white man > colonization. There is a prophecy of destruction. This man
was a missionary who destroyed believes. Here Achebe criticises missionaries,
especially because they brought destruction.

16 > the missionaries settled there. Conversion of many people to Christianity.

17 > symbolic chapter which describes the penetration or invasion of missionary.

Importance of space. IN (village and clan) vs ES1 (evil forest or the threshold) ES
(external space or space of abomination). External space must be destroyed to protect
the village and the clans.

18 > description of conversion.

19 > last year of exile of O.

PART 3
20 > O returns to Umofia. Everything has changed (church, politics, laws). Igbo
submitted by white men. Introduction of the District Commissioner. White people
don’t make any effort to understand the Igbo people.

22 > another infraction. Is presented Enoch, the outcast who killed the python, the
son of a native priest converted. Destruction of the church > O is one of the rebels.

23 > rebels arrested. Presentation of Imperialistic Propaganda > Europeans bought

peace and civilization. O. doesn’t want to be submitted.

24 > idea of contamination of white people.

25 > the last chapter: The D. Commissioner wants to arrest O. He has committed
suicide, an abomination for the Igbo society. The last paragraph is very ironic against
the English people > they never try to understand their culture. The chapter ends with
a reference to a real book entitled “the pacification of the primitive tribes of the lower
Niger” > criticism to colonizer’s literature.
 Ben Okri (1959-)

He is a Nigerian poet and novelist, considered one of the principal African authors in
the post-modern and post-colonial traditions. He was born in Minna, in west central
Nigeria. With his family, he moved to London, where he spent his earliest years and
attended primary school. Then, they moved back to Nigeria.
Rejected for admission to a university program in physics because of his youth, he
became fascinated by poetry. So, he began write firstly articles on social and political
issues and then novels. He criticised the government. He studied comparative
literature with a grant from the Nigerian government. But when funding for his
scholarship fell through, Okri found himself homeless, sometimes living in parks and
sometimes with friends > exile figure similar to Conrad.
His success as a writer came when he published his first novel, called “Flowers and
shadows”. His second novel is more complicated then the first, called “The famished
road”. His works are divided into novels, poetry, short stories and essays, where he
clarifies his ideas.
His best known work “The famished road” with “songs of enchantment” and “infinite
riches” form a trilogy. It is difficult to categorise his works, sometimes considered as
post-modern. In fact, he uses many techniques of post-modernism.
His works could be linked with Yoruba folklore, New Ageism, magic realism and
existentialism. He rejected the categorization of his works as magical realism.
According to him, there are many realities, all different and nobody has an absolute
reality > philosophical approach to the world.

Citations:
- homo fabula: we are storytelling beings
- post-modern idea that there is not reality
- mystery of storytelling

He studied paintings. Nowadays, African paintings are different to Europeans, but in

the Renaissance we can find many elements in common. According to Okri, the poet
must to have a mission, he is a warrior. He describes poets and their antagonists in
some essays. Their antagonists are rationalists people, scientist but especially
politicians, that is people focused on money, but also religious. Politicians and
religious try to kill poets physically and morally.
Moreover, according to Okri, the reader is very important and is also important the
cooperation between him and the writer.
 Dangerous love (1996)

It is a particular novel. Okri rewrote it many times. The first title was “The landscape
within”. The second version was more mature. It is written in third person narrator.
The protagonist is Omovo who lives in a slug, a ghetto and he came from a poor
family. Also Okri lived in a ghetto. He is a young man (19 years old) who lives with
his father while his mother is died. He works for a company far away from the ghetto.
He is not happy with his job and he wants to become a painter, a real artist. He has
two brothers who left home, broking the family. The step-mother is cruel.
The other protagonist is a woman called Ikeyiwa. Omovo fell in love with her, but it
is a platonic love because she is married with a man that she does not love. It is a
forbidden love.

This novel describes all the social problems of Nigeria. But there is a hope: Omovo
managed to become an artist. He paints for a mission, not for money. For this reason,
we can consider Dangerous love “KUNSTLEROMAN” which means “Novel of the
art”.

Omovo has many obstacles on his way. But he has got a helper, Dr Okocha who will
be his mentor. He also is an artistic guide and a father for Omovo.
Omovo has 3 important friends: Okoro, Keme and Dele. Okoro and Dele are
corrupted, while Keme is a journalist. Dele is the son of a rich man and, for this, he is
corrupted as his father.

“The interpreters” is a novel written by Wole Soyinka, a novelist of the first

generation. It is a pessimistic novel where there is no hope for corrupted people in
Nigeria. On the other side, Okri, the second generation, says that there is a hope even
not for everybody.

Analysis

Paratext is divided into:

1. Introduction > the writer expresses his desire to rewrite “The landscape within”
in another work. Okri wants to describe life and reality. It is a new work of art,
releted with the first.
2. Epigraph > main meanings of the work. It is from a spiritual poet called Rilke.
It is a question “non dovrebbero le sofferenze alla fine portare frutti?”. It is a
metaphor for the sufferings of Africans people caused especially by
colonization. The aim is that all sufferings must develop to something better >
process of regeneration. Metaphor of fruit > life. He wants to write something
that reveals hope. That is Okri’s belief.
3. Extract from a notebook > it is an idea that he had. It is a clue. Here appears
the dead girl, a character. It is a vision. The idea of vision was taken from
 different other works like Divine Commedy and Horfeus Myth. In the Divine
Commedy, Dante has to cross the dark forest, symbol of the lost of faith and
disorientation. It is a spiritual journey of Omovo, linked to Dante’s journey.
But, the journey of Omovo it is not view in a Christian way.
In the Horfeus Myth, Horfeus turns back for love, as will do Omovo. But, in
this case, love is dangerous. This myth is very important to understand the
work. Okri uses many myths in his works. Moreover, Horfeus is an artist, THE
arstist for excellence compared to Omovo. Art is harmony, order, regularity,
represented by Horfeus. Okri chooses Horfeus myth because he wants to create
an artist, THE African artist.

BOOK ONE

1 > it starts in media res, describing the main character called Omovo. The narrator is
in third person, omniscient and not autobiographical. It is used a pidgin English,
reproduced especially when there are dialogues.
In this chapter, the protagonist decides to cut all his hair and collecting them. It is a
symbolic action because he wants to change. He wants to collect his hair to give them
to spirits and start in this way his process of change.
He lives in a compound, a series of apartments. Here there is a strong description of
the compound view as a terrible reality.
Tuwo is the first character that Omovo presents. He is a bad man because he imitates
white people and loves the same girl that Omovo. He tries to imitate English man, the
colonizers. He was infamous for that; he is notorious in a negative way.
Omovo’s passion is painting. His first painting is important. He painted children who
was running around a tree. There is a symbolism: tree as a symbol of die.
Moreover, in this chapter are also presented many social problems like hungry and
poverty of African people. His painting style is full of symbolism but it is also
realistic. He describes his reality; he wants to denounce the horror of reality.

2 > Dr Okocha is introduced. He is Omovo’s mentor, an artist himself. He paints a

wrestler, a very powerful painting. Wrestlers struggled against spirits. He is a
spiritual wrestler, a sort of suggestion to him. Dr Okocha is a painter, not a pure
artist. He paints for events, for money and for himself > compromise. He is a good
man.
Introduction of Ifeyiwa. She is a beautiful woman but she is not happy. Takpo is her
husband who abused on her.

3 > Ifeyiwa and Omovo are attracted each other. She feels that life is over. They are
talking about art and life. A carried weapon is arriving. In 18 th and 19th century,
Nigeria had many militaries groups. Nigerian always were mined by the presence of
militaries.
4 > Omovo’s painting disappeared. Key word of the novel > loss. Someone called
anonymous wrote a book, inserting Omovo’s painting that was disappeared. Then,
there is a criticism of the new colonialism. Moreover, Okri explains as arts is
something to share, it must be communal. In fact, in Africa nobody firm their works
but they are of all. Omovo himself wants to work for his community, for a communal
art.
Then, is presented a strong description of the toilet: dark, sinister, smelling
(puzzolente). Metaphor of the dirty toilet > social, political corruption, physical dirty.
Omovo paints furiously. He feels disorientated and he paints his disorientation. He
completes his work but he is not sure of what he has created.

5 > the entire chapter is ironic, full of parodies. Set > art gallery. Parody of western
people who don’t understand African art. He meets his friends Keme. Importance of
cooperation between the artist and the viewer. Mention of famous artists like Picasso,
Van Gogh etc. The second drawing of Omovo is considered to be against the regime
or propaganda, so he lost it as his first draw. Message: people have to limit their
power of expression.

6 > idea of loss. A body is found. She is a young girl, killed in a violent way. She is a
victim. There is a correspondence with the missing sister of Keme > the death girl
presented at the beginning of the novel, anticipation of Okri.

7 > Omovo’s father is the victim of destiny, society and his own children. But he is
the responsible of the death of his wife. He is a man who suffers but he is the
responsible of hi sufferings.

BOOK TWO

1 > two important levels of the novel: social and artistic. Omovo has a mixed feeling
for his father. He criticised him but he also loved him. He does not hate his father but
he thinks he was impulsive and irrational, that he made mistakes. He doesn’t want to
be like is father because it means being a destructive man and not a creative man.
Omovo has to change his model, because his father is a failure.
Blackie is Omovo’s step mother and the new wife of his father. She is an impulsive
and passionate woman. She is like a lioness. She had a natural abortion, losing her
son.

2 > low narration, focused on Omovo’s family.

4 > is narrated the story of Ifeyiwa who was forced to marry Takpo. Her family
decide the price of hi daughter (her dowry). Her husband is a disgusting and revolting
man. He treated her like a slave. She is a victim but also a rebel. She became attracted
by Omovo > dangerous love. She is part of female community but she does not want
to be a servant of a man. She wants to be more professional and she wants to study.
But her husband is jealous, especially for her happiness. There is presented African
condition of women, submitted to men.
Fela Kuti > the king of music. Music of protest. Symbol of activism for artists.

5 > important passage > description of a conflict between two villages, connected by
colonialism. With the decolonization, all villages are settled again. Not peace but
conflicts. In this chapter is more evident the jealousy of Tapko > reference to Othello.

6 > conversation between Omovo and Dr Okocha about art. UGLYNESS, TRUTH >
symbols for reality. Omovo can’t stop to representing uglu things because he is
overwhelmed (sopraffatto) by reality. So, his mentor advises him that to have success
he has to start to paint bright things and happy subjects, and not the cruel reality. He
has to look reality with happiness and courage. Courage to be an activist or a militant
artist, the courage to dream, to change. According to Dr Okocha, the artist has to find
positive things in reality and painting them in order to have success.
Reference to an indian poet, a visionary like William Blake. The poet has to become
a visionary to go beyond the senses. The third eye or imagination is inner, inside on
people. Okri is more optimist than Conrad. He wants to change reality and to battle
the horror vs Conrad more pessimist (the horror is in all of us).

7 > is introduced the figure of Okoro, Omovo’s friend. Reference to Fela Kuti. Series
of tragical experiences make by Okoro > trained to horror by army. Okoro had
suffered a lot because of the civil war. For this, he became cynic and he represents
young cynicism. Different perspective of reality: Omovo believes, Okoro is more
cynical and resigned. Other friend of Omovo is Dele, a rich man, completely different
from Okoro. He is not cynic but he is indifferent and selfish. His dream is going to
America. Dele is totally superficial, trivial and selfish.

10 > a violent chapter, a sign of domestic violence, a cruel reality.

12 > Omovo meets Keme and they talk about what happens to Keme. He is very
hungry, firstly because he was arrested and then he is very frustrating because people
doubt what he saw. Corrupted society, especially the police or the justice system.
Epiphany > Omovo realised that his art is not adequate to describe African reality.
So, he has to change the process. Keme is trapped by reality, Dele wants to escape
from it to follow his American dream, Okoro tries to forget the world, Omovo’s
brothers escaped from reality. The only who wants to change reality is Omovo.

13 > intertextual reference > the interpreters, a poem of Okur. A sense of abandon
from the older generation. This book finish with a dream.
BOOK THREE > something happens

1 > references to Omovo’s daily life. Symbol of mask > projection of a daily life.
Omovo has to overcome the negativity of the mask.

2 > description of Omovo’s reality at job. He works in a chemical camp. It is

something completely different by art. He does not like it. A man with an important
costumer arrives and wants something to Omovo, called Mr Babakoko > symbol of
destruction and corruption. He tries to corrupt Omovo. Generation conflit: young vs
old generation. Link with the first paint > the releted losses.

3 > corruption and nepotism. Old generation overcomes the young generation.

5 > important for the idea of art. The first part is devoted to a western art (Italian,
Spanish, French etc)> tradition. The second part is devoted to African art >
innovation. Omovo studied two traditions and he finds to combine these traditions
together. It is a sort of experiment. Okri himself tries to find a new tradition > fusion
between two traditions.
Metaphor of onion in art: it becomes a metaphor of creativity. We have to believe in
things that we can’t see. Transform nothing to something.
Importance to explore the vision. An artist has to explore new things; he has to go
beyond (andare oltre).

6 > Ife and Omovo, for the first and only time in the novel, have sex. But they are
interrupted by her husband.

7 > degeration of Igbo society. Omovo was beaten by some thugs (scagnozzi), sent
by Takpo.

BOOK FOUR

1 > confrontation between Ife and Takpo. She hates him and she never tries to
understand him. He forced her to have sex with him.
Moment of violence. He tries to kill her, and he starts to accuse her. Takpo represents
himself as a victim of society. He is terrorising is wife, an innocent, the real victim.
Takpo wants to take revenge to Omovo.

4 > Ife and Omovo fall ill. She falls ill because of the shock and Omovo because he
was beaten. Their illness is a symbol of transformation. She has hallucinations and
she starts to reflect to her responsibility. She develops a plan. She decides to change
her life, leaving her husband and starting a new life. Here we can see Ifeyiwa’s
emancipation. The chapter ends with she who go away secretly.
5 > hallucinations of Omovo. The most important is when Dr Okocha appeared to
him, saying that everything that happened is a part of his preparation. A preparation
for living.
Discussion between white men and Nigerians. Domination of white men.

6 > Omovo’s suffering. Letters to his father.

7 > Ife is still ill. She travels with her illness. She travels in a state of hallucination.
She returns to her family but she dies because of a shot. Perhaps it was a sacrifice.
But her sacrifice is vain because there is not regeneration.

BOOK FIVE

1 > chapter of meditation. Many epiphanies. Metaphor of the coral.

3 > another drawing of Omovo.

5 > the epiphany is completed. Image of coral.