Chinua Achebe, Things Fall Apart Arts One Jon Beasley

63 Pages·2014·1.65 MB·English

Chinua
 Achebe,
 Things
 Fall
 Apart

Arts
 One

Jon
 Beasley-­‐Murray

March,
 2014
Wrestling
 in
 The
 Gambia
•  Reprise

•  Review

•  Response

•  RepeCCon

•  IdenCty

•  ReacCon

•  History
REPRISE:
 REMAKE/REMODEL
Mr
 Seamus
 Fera
“Things
 really
 fell
 apart
 in
 the
 reading
 list
 this
 term

[.
 .
 .].
 I
 sCll
 have
 yet
 to
 really
 see
 the
 whole

remaking/remodeling
 in
 these
 books.
 Like
 I
 see
 the

connecCon
 in
 Kant
 and
 Genesis
 and
 Butler
 and

Sophocles
 but
 that
 is
 all…..and
 maybe
 Hobbes
 and

Rousseau
 if
 I
 knew
 what
 the
 hell
 the
 former
 was

saying.
 I
 know
 that
 this
 isn’t
 necessarily
 a
 class
 of

“Great
 Books”
 but
 i
 think
 that
 it
 could
 use
 a
 bit

more
 greatness
 and
 less
 HaiC
 (everything
 goes
 back

to
 HaiC)”
 (“Mr
 Fera’s
 Superb
 Blog:
 The
 Best
 Blog

Ever”)
How
 Many
 Ways
 to
 Say
 “RepeCCon”?

•  copying
  •  mirroring

•  appropriaCon
  •  reversal

•  parody
  •  homage

•  pasCche
  •  inspiraCon

•  criCque
  •  derivaCon

•  remaking
  •  renovaCon

•  remodelling
  •  covering

•  sampling
  •  plagiarism

•  mimicry
  •  the]

•  response
  •  influence

•  desecraCon
  •  sequel

•  reworking
  •  reply

•  adaptaCon
  •  (re-­‐)reading
What
 is
 Life?

•  YOLO?

•  Or
 is
 life
 a
 series
 of

repeCCons…

•  Heartbeat,
 breathing,

generaCon,
 cicadianism

•  Habits,
 rouCnes,
 rituals

•  Seasons,
 birthdays,

anniversaries

•  The
 virtue
 of
 recycling?

•  Language
Reprise

•  Without
 repeCCon,
 life
 is
 impossible

•  What
 does
 not
 repeat
 is
 dead

•  Without
 difference,
 life
 is
 equally
 impossible

•  What
 simply
 repeats
 is
 also
 dead

•  This
 is
 a
 book
 about
 repeCCon
 and
 death
Achebe
 aaempts
 to
 portray
 the
 life
 of
 an
 Igbo

(Ibo)
 community
 on
 its
 own
 terms,
 not
 simply
 in

its
 interacCon
 with
 Europe.
 But
 his
 tragic
 vision

does
 I(g)bo
 society
 few
 favours:
 Okonkwo
 never

acts,
 only
 reacts;
 he
 is
 doomed
 both
 to
 simple

repeCCon
 and
 because
 repeCCon
 becomes

impossible.
 UlCmately,
 in
 Achebe’s
 account,
 the

I(g)bo
 have
 neither
 history
 nor
 future—nor

present.