Achebe the Orator — www.greenwood.com

Book flyer
MS Word
International
MS Word

Achebe the Orator The Art of Persuasion in Chinua Achebe's Novels

(Click to Enlarge)

Chinwe Christiana Okechukwu

ISBN: 0-313-31703-8

ISBN-13: 978-0-313-31703-3

DOI:

192 pages

Praeger Publishers

Publication: 3/30/2001

List Price: $110.95 (UK Sterling Price: £76.95)

Availability: In Stock

Media Type: Hardcover

Trim Size: 6 1/8 x 9 1/4

Subjects:

Series Title: Contributions in Afro-American and African Studies: Contemporary Black Poets

Description: Taken together, Chinua Achebe's five novels--Things Fall Apart (1958), No Longer at Ease (1960), A Man of the People (1966), Arrow of God (1967), and Anthills of the Savannah (1988)--encompass the entire social, historical, and political experiences of Nigeria, from precolonial times to the close of the 20th century. Central to these experiences is the clash of Igbo culture with the ways of the West. The novels show a society that has been fragmented and a people who are striving to reconstruct a world that they lost during their encounter with colonialism. Achebe has stated that his main purpose for writing is to reveal the truth about his people and their culture. This book examines his use of rhetoric to accomplish that objective.

Achebe's writings are fraught with rhetorical devices, and he has harnessed the power of oratory to show how his society has responded to the African colonial encounter and its aftermath. He uses oratory and rhetoric to both educate and persuade his readers and to delineate his characters. Because of the central role of language in his novels, his writings illustrate the nature of discourse among the Igbo as well as the larger Nigerian community. This volume presents a broad overview of rhetoric throughout Achebe's works and demonstrates how he uses the novel genre for persuasive purposes.

Table of Contents:

Introduction
Chinua Achebe and the African Novel
Audience and Oratory: Things Fall Apart
Oratory and Social Responsibility: Arrow of God
Locale and Argumentation: No Longer at Ease
The Rhetoric of Governance: A Man of the People
The Rhetoric of Military Intervention in Politics: Anthills of the Savannah
Conclusion
Bibliography
Appendix I: Historical Trajectory
Appendix II: Pertinent Rhetorical Theories
Index

About the Author: CHINWE CHRISTIANA OKECHUKWU is a Professor in the Department of Reading and English as a Second Language, Foreign Languages, and Philosophy at the Rockville campus of Montgomery College.

LCC Class: 823


All rights reserved. Copyright © 1999-2010 ABC-CLIO 130 Cremona Dr., Santa Barbara, CA 93117, 805-968-1911