,1!

The African Writer and the

English Language
CHINUA ACHEBE

• • •

I N J u N E 1 9 6 2, there was a writers' gathering at Makerere,

impressively styled: "A Conference of African Writers of English
Expression." Despite this sonorous and rather solemn title, it
turned out to be a very lively affair and a very exciting and useful
experience for many of us. But there was something which we
tried to do .and failed-that was to define "African literature"
satisfact~rily.

Was it literature produced in Africa or about Africa? Could Af-

rican literature be on any subject, or must it have an African
theme? Should it embrace the whole continent or south of the
Sahara, or just black Africa? And then the question of language.
Should it be in indigenous African languages or should it include
Arabic, English, French, Portuguese, Afrikaans, and so on?
In the end we gave up trying to find an answer, partly-I
should admit-on my own instigation. Perhaps we should not
have given up so easily. It seems to me from some of the things
I have since heard and read that we may have given the impres-

55
 56 Chinua Achebe The African Writer and the English Language 57

sion of not knowing what we were doing, or worse, not daring is doomed to failure. After the elimination of white rule shall
to look too closely at it. have been completed, the single most important fact in Africa in
A Nigerian critic, Obi Wali, writing in Transition 10 said: "Perhaps the second half of the twentieth century will appear to be the
the most important achievement of the conference ... is that Af- rise of individual nation-states. I believe that African literature
rican literature as now defined and understood leads nowhere." will follow the same pattern.
I am sure that Obi Wali must have felt triumphantly vindicated What we tend to do today is to think of African literature as
when he saw the report of a different kind of conference held a newborn infant. But in fact what we have is a whole generation
later at Fourah Bay to discuss African literature and the university of newborn infants. Of course, if you only look cursorily, one
curriculum. This conference produced a tentative definition of infant is pretty much like another; but in reality each is already
African literature as follows: "Creative writing in which an Afri- set on its own separate journey. Of course, you may group them
can setting is authentically handled or to which experiences orig- together on the basis of anything you choose-the color of their
inating in Africa are integral." We are told specifically that Con- hair, for instance. Or you may group them together on the basis
rad's Heart of Darkness qualifies as African literature while Graham of the language they will speak or the religion of their fathers.
Greene's Heart of the Matter fails because it could have been set Those would all be valid distinctions, but they could not begin
anywhere outside Africa. to account fully for each individual person carrying, as it were,
A number of interesting speculations issue from this definition, his own little, unique lodestar of genes.
which admittedly is only an interim formulation designed to pro- Those who in talking about African literature want to exclude
duce an indisputably desirable end, namely, to introduce African North Africa because it belongs to a different tradition surely do
students to literature set in their environment. But I could not not suggest that black Africa is anything like homogeneous. What
help being amused by the curious circumstance in which Conrad, does Shabaan Robert have in common with Christopher Okigbo
a Pole, writing in English could produce African literature while or Awoonor-Williams? Or Mongo Beti- of Cameroun and Paris
Peter Abrahams would be ineligible should he write a novel based with Nzekwu of Nigeria? What does the champagne-drinking
on his experiences in the West Indies. upper-class Creole society described by Easmon of Sierra Leone
What all this suggests to me is that you cannot cram African have in common with the rural folk and fishermen ofJ. P. Clark's
literature into a small, neat definition. I do not see African lit- plays? Of course, some of these differences could be accounted
erature as one unit but as a group of associated units-in fact for on individual rather than national grounds, but a good deal
the sum total of all the national and ethnic literatures. of Africa. of it is also environmental.
A national literature is one that takes the whole nation for its I have indicated somewhat offhandedly that the national lit-
province and has a realized or potential audience throughout its erature of Nigeria and of many other countries of Africa is, or
territory. In other words, a literature that is written in the national will be, written in English. This may sound like a controversial
language. An ethnic literature is one which is available only to statement, but it isn't. All I have done has been to look at the
:1:1 one ethnic group within the nation. If you take Nigeria as an reality of present-day Africa. This "reality" may change as a result
example, the national literature, as I see it, is the literature written of deliberate, e.g., political, action. If it does, an entirely new
in English; and the ethnic literatures are in Hausa, Ibo, Yoruba, situation will arise, and there will be plenty of time to examine
Efik, Edo, Ijaw, etc., etc. it. At present it may be more profitable to look at the scene as
Any attempt to define African literature in terms which over- it is.
look the complexities of the African scene at the material time What are the factors which have conspired to place English in
 58 Chinua Ach.ebe The African Writer and the English Language 59

the position of national language in many parts of Africa( Quite Although I had read some of his poems and he had read my
simply the reason is that these nations were created in the first novels, we had not met before. But it didn't seem to matter. In
place by the intervention of the British, which, I hasten to add, fact I had met him through his poems, especially through his
is not saying that the peoples comprising these nations were in- love poem Come Away My Love, in which he ·captures in so few
vented by the British. words the trials and tensions of an African in love with a white
The country which we know as Nigeria today began not so girl in Britain:
very long ago as the arbitrary creation of the British. It is true,
as William Fagg says in his excellent new book, Nigerian Images, Come away, my love, from streets
that this arbitrary action has proved as lucky in terms of African Where unkind eyes divide
art history as any enterprise of the fortunate Princess of Serendip. And shop windows reflect our difference.
And I believe that in political and economic terms too this ar-
bitrary creation called Nigeria holds out great prospects. Yet the By contrast, when in 1960 I was traveling in East Africa and
fact remains that Nigeria was created by the British-for their went to the home of the late Shabaan Robert, the Swahili poet
own ends. Let us give the devil his due: colonialism in Africa of Tanganyika, things had been different. We spent some time
disrupted many things, but it did create big political units where talking about writing, but there was no real contact. I knew from
there were small, scattered ones before. Nigeria had hqndreds of all accounts that I was talking to an important writer, but of the
autonomous communities ranging in size from the vast Fulani nature of his work I had no idea. He gave me two books of his
Empire founded by Usman clan Fodio in the north to tiny village poems, which I treasure but cannot read-until I have learned
entities in the east. Today it is one country. Swahili.
Of course there are areas of Africa where colonialism divided And there are scores of languages I would want to learn if it
up a single ethnic group among two or even three powers. But were possible. Where am I to find the time to learn the half dozen
on the whole it did bring together many peoples that had hith- or so Nigerian languages, each of which can sustain a literature(
erto gone their several ways. And it gave them a language with I am afraid it cannot be done. These languages will just have to
which to talk to one another. If it failed to give them a song, it develop as tributaries to feed the one central language enjoying
at least gave them a tongue, for sighing. There are not many nationwide currency. Today, for good or ill, that language is En-
countries in Africa today where you could abolish the language glish. Tomorrow it may be something else, although I very much
of the erstwhile colonial powers and still retain the facility for doubt it.
mutual communication. Therefore those African writers who Those of us who have inherited the English language may not
have chosen to write in English or French are not unpatriotic be in a position to appreciate the value of the inheritance. Or we
smart alecks with an eye on the main chance-outside their own may go on resenting it because it came as part of a package deal
countries. They are by-products of the same process that made which included many other items of doubtful value and the pos-
the new nation-states of Africa. itive atrocity of racial arrogance and prejudice, which may yet sei:
You can take this argument a stage further to include other the world on fire. But let us not in rejecting the evil throw out
countries of Africa. The only reason why we can even talk about the good with it.
African unity is that when we get together, we have a manageable Some time last year I was traveling in Brazil meeting Brazilian
number of languages to talk in-English, French, Arabic. writers and artists. A number of the writers I spoke to were con-
The other day I had a visit from Joseph Kariuki of Kenya. cerned about the restrictions imposed on them by their use of
 60 Chinua Achebe The African Writer and the English Language 6i

the Portuguese language. I remember a woman poet saying she In 1789 he published his life story, a beautifully written document
had given serious thought to writing in French! And yet their which, among other things, set down for the Europe of his time
problem is not half as difficult as ours. Portuguese may not have something of the life and habit of his people in Africa, in an
the universal currency of English or French but at least it is the attempt to counteract the lies and slander invented by some Eur-
national language of Brazil with her eighty million or so people, opeans to justify the slave trade.
to say nothing of the people of Portugal, Angola, Mozambique, Corning nearer to our times, we may recall the attempts in
etc. the first quarter of this century by West African nationalists to
Of Brazilian authors, I have only read, in translation, one novel come together and press for a greater say in the management of
by Jorge Amado, who is not only Brazil's leading novelist but one their own affairs. One of the most eloquent of that band was the
of the most important writers in the world. From that one novel, Honorable Casely Hayford of the Gold Coast. His presidential ad-
Gabriella, I was able to glimpse something of the exciting Afro- dress to the National Congress of British West Africa in 1925 was
Latin culture which is the pride of Brazil and is quite unlike any memorable not only for its sound common sense but as a fine
other culture. Jorge Amado is only one of the many writers Brazil example of elegant prose. The governor of Nigeria at the time
has produced. At their national writers' festival there were liter- was compelled to take notice, and he did so in characteristic style:
ally hundreds of them. But the work of the vast majority will be he called Hayford's congress "a self-selected and. self-appointed
closed to the rest of the world forever, including no doubt the congregation of educated African gentlemen." We may derive
work of some excellent writers. There is certainly' a great advan- some amusement from the fact that British colonial administra-
tage to writing in a world language. tors learned very little in the following quarter of a century. But
I thi:nk I have said enough to give an indication of my thinking at least they did learn in the end-which is more than one can
on the importance of the world language which history has say for some others.
forced down our throats. Now let us look at some of the most It is when we come to what is commonly called creative lit-
serious handicaps. And let me say straightaway that one of the erature that most doubt seems to arise. Obi Wali, whose article
most serious handicaps is not the one people talk about most "Dead End of African Literature" I referred to, has this to say:
often, namely, that it is impossible for anyone ever to use a second
language as effectively as his first. This assertion is compounded ... until these writers and their Western midwives accept the
of half truth and half bogus mystique. Of course, it is true that fact that any true African literature must be written in African
the vast majority of people are happier with their first language languages, they would be merely pursuing a dead end, which
than with any other. But then the majority of people are not can only lead to sterility, uncreativity and frustration.
writers. We do have enough examples of writers who have per-
formed the feat of writing effectively in a second language. And But far from leading to sterility, the work of many new African
I am not thinking of the obvious names like Conrad. It would writers is full of the most exciting possibilities. Take this from
be more germane to our subject to choose African examples. Christopher Okigbo's Limits:
The first name that comes to my mind is Olauda Equiano,
better known as Gustavus Vassa, the African. Equiano was an Ibo, Suddenly becoming talkative
I believe from the village of Iseke in the Orlu division of Eastern like weaverbird
Nigeria. He was sold as a slave at a very early age and transported Summoned at offside of
to America. Later he bought his freedom and lived in England. dream remembered
 62 Chinua Achebe The African Writer and the English Language 63

Between sleep and waking mission to many different kinds of use. The African writer should
I hand up my egg-shells aim to use English in a way that brings out his message best
To you of palm grove, without altering the language to the extent that its value as a
Upon whose bamboo towers hang medium of international exchange will be lost. He should aim at
Dripping with yesterupwine fashioning an English which is at once universal and able to carry
A tiger mask and nude spear.... his peculiar experience. I have in mind here the writer who has
something new, something different to say. The nondescript
Queen of the damp half light,
writer has little to tell us, anyway, so he might as well tell it in
I have had my cleansing.
conventional language and get it over with. If I may use an ex-
Emigrant with aj.r-borne nose,
travagant simile, he is like. a man offering a small, nondescript
The he-goat-on-heat.
routine sacrifice for which a chick, or less, will do. A serious
writer must look for an animal whose blood can match the power
Or take the poem Ni9ht Rain, in which J. P. Clark captures so of his offering.
well the fear and wonder felt by a child as rain clamors on the In this respect Amos Tutola is a natural. A good instinct has
thatch roof at night, and his mother, walking about in the dark, turned his apparent limitation in language into a weapon of great
moves her simple belongings strength-a half-strange dialect that serves him perfectly in the
evocation of his bizarre world. His last book, and to my mind,
his finest, is proof enough that one·can make even an imperfectly
Out of the run of water
learned second language do amazing things. In this book, The
That like ants filing out of the wood
Feather Woman of the Jun9le, Tutola's superb storytelling is at last cast
Will scatter and gain possession
in the episodic form which he handles best instead of being pain-
Of the floor.
fully stretched on the rack of the novel.
From a natural to a conscious artist: myself, in fact. Allow me
I think that the picture of water spreading on the floor "like to quote a small example from Arrow of God, which may give some
ants filing out of_the wood" is beautiful. Of course, if you have idea of how I approach the use of English. The Chief Priest in
never made fire with faggots, you may miss it. But Clark's inspi- the story is telling one of his sons why it is necessary to send
ration derives from the same source which gave birth to the him to church:
saying that a man who brings home ant-ridden faggots must be
ready for the visit of lizards. I want one of my sons to join these people and be my eyes
I do not see any signs of sterility anywhere here. What I do there. If there is nothing in it you will come back. But if there
see is a new voice coming out of Africa, speaking of African is something there you will bring home my share. The world
experience in a worldwide language. So my answer to the ques- is like a Mask, dancing. If you want to see it well you do not
tion Can an African ever learn En9lish well enou9h to be able to use it stand in one place. My spirit tells me that those who do not
effectively in creative writin9? is certainly yes. If on the other hand you befriend the white man today will be saying had we known to-
ask, Can he ever learn to use it like a native speaker? I should say, I hope morrow.
not. It is neither necessary nor desirable for him to be able to do
so. The price a world language must be prepared to pay is sub- Now supposing I had put it another way. Like this, for instance:
 64 Chinua. Achebe The African Writer a.nd the English La.ngua.ge 65

I am sending you as my representative among these peo- bear the burden of my experience if I could find the stamina
ple-just to be on the safe side in case the new religion de- to challenge it, and me, to such a test.
velops. One has to move with the times or else one is left
behind. I have a hunch that those who fail to come to terms I recognize, of course, that Baldwin's problem is not exactly
with the white man may well regret their lack of foresight. · mine, but I feel that the English language will be able to carry
the weight of my African experience. But it will have to be a new
The material is the same. But the form of the one is in character English, still in full communion with its ancestral home but al-
and the other is not. It is largely a matter of instinct, but judg- tered to suit its new African surroundings.
ment comes into it too.
You read quite often nowadays of the problems of the African
writer having first to think in his mother tongue and then to
translate what he has thought into English. If it were such a
simple, mechanical process, I would agree that it was pointless-
the kind of eccentric pursuit you might expect to see in a modern
Academy of Lagado-and such a process could not possibly pro-
duce some of the exGiting poetry and prose which is already ap-
pearing.
One final point remains for me to make. The real question is
not whether Africans could write in English but whether they ought
to. Is it right that a man should abandon his mother tongue for
someone else's? It looks like a dreadful betrayal and produces a
guilty feeling.
But, for me, there is no other choice. I have been given this
l'i language and I intend to use it. I hope, though, that there always
will be men, like the late Chief Fagunwa, who will choose to
write in their native tongue and ensure that our ethnic literature
will flourish side by side with the national ones. For those of us
who opt for English, there is much work ahead and much ex-
citement.
Writing in the London Observer recently, James Baldwin said:

My quarrel with the English language has been that the lan-
guage reflected none of my experience. But now I began to
see the matter another way.... Perhaps the language was not
my own because I had never attempted to use it, had only
learned to imitate it. If this were so, then it might be made to
CASEBOOKS IN CRITICISM

General.,Editor, William L. Andrews CHINUA ACHEBE'S

Things Fall Apart
... ... ....
A CASEBOOK

Edited by
Isidore Okpewho

OXFORD
UNIVERSITY PRESS

2003