Scott Timberg explores why Chinua Achebe’s novel, Things Fall Apart, “looks immortal.”
“The book eventually released, Things Fall Apart, became a critical hit in Britain as well as the first African novel to break through to the English-speaking world. Not only did it sell -- nearly 10 million copies, in 50 languages -- this slim, understated volume became the one African novel to break, unambiguously, into the often impenetrable Western canon. The book continues to live: High school kids and college students read it for class, while African novelists read it to pursue its ideas and themes.” – from “At 50, Achebe Novel Looks Immortal,” by Scott Timberg, Los Angeles Times