I really enjoyed both of these articles, but especially the piece from the Guardian.
Something interesting in the Achebe lecture — he states that “Heart of Darkness” is “the most commonly prescribed novel in twentieth-century literature courses in English Departments of American universities.” That’s interesting to me. This lecture must have had a greater impact than I previously realized because I’ve never been assigned to read it, and I don’t think I know of anyone who has.
I really liked the last part of Achebe’s piece where he speaks how “Travelers with closed minds can tell us little except about themselves.” There’s a lot of truth in that.
posted by tam on February 26, 2003 3:54 PM
the first book we read in my english world lit class was “heart of darkness.” however, my professor was a young grad student, so our reading of “heart of darkness” was meant to be ironic and serve as a contrast to every other book assigned… the second of which was “things fall apart.”
posted by chris on February 26, 2003 4:33 PM
See, this is quite a loaded topic for me, because I want to balance my fondness for “Heart of Darkness” as a book on the one hand, and my complete empathy for Achebe’s position on the other.
The English-language canon (and other works of European lit — take “The Stranger,” for instance) is brimming with people of color who are little more than symbols and props. It’s weird, I think, that some people who — moreso than most others — appreciate the cultural importance of literature and art (I guess I’m thinking of some crabby old professors here) don’t think that (or any “political” considerations) is a point worth examining.
I still haven’t finished reading the Watts article. Stupid job.
posted by jacob on February 26, 2003 6:18 PM
For what it’s worth, I read both “Heart of Darkness” and Achebe’s 1975 comments about it in a class - maybe more than one. The general consensus seemed to be that the H of D was important (interesting? I don’t know which word is better) both for the contribution to literature and to the politicals contained within. Or something like that.
posted by seth on February 26, 2003 9:40 PM
Heart of Darkness was required reading for my AP English class in high school (and probably still is). I sympathize with Jacob’s opinion: the book, as a piece of literature, is impressive but Achebe’s criticism is also valid.
I do think that it’s worth noting that my high school teacher - a then 26 year old white Baptist who almost definitely voted Republican - presented the novel as a historical record of white (read:European/American) paranoid attitudes about the “dark continent” and it’s inhabitants. In truth, I think it made a large contribution to my early “intellectual exploration” of the fact that I’m white and the perspectives position afforded/imposed on me by my whiteness.
To be fair, Achebe himself is most certainly an easy target for accusations of sexism (see http://www.llp.armstrong.edu/watermarks2/jmb.html) for the portrayal of women in his works, esp. in “Things Fall Apart”. As with Conrad, however, his attitudes can be interpreted by the reader as either a biased proponent of the status quo or an accurate presentation of the actual state of societies at the time both pieces were written.
posted by sarah on February 26, 2003 11:52 PM
Well, what do you know. Shows what I get for assuming everyone’s English department experiences were just like mine (which tended to focus on American lit, which everyone could probably already guess.)
I’m curious about the article you posted Sarah. I need to read it and pop back in.
posted by tam on February 27, 2003 10:02 AM
My lit classes were split between British and African/African-American lit. I think I only took one American lit class. Well, one white American lit class. I took a lot of black American lit. So my experience isn’t really indicative of most. But I did read a hell of a lot of good books.
I hadn’t really thought about sexism in Achebe’s book. I’ll have to read the article Sarah posted. I really REALLY like “Things Fall Apart,” though.
I wouldn’t say I was so much a fan of “Heart of Darkness,” necessarily. But I like Apocalypse Now.
posted by seth on February 27, 2003 10:34 AM
To be honest, i wouldn’t dream of taking Achebe’s 1975 lecture seriously. H of D is probably one of the finest books of the 20th century, in fact, its probably one of the single most important novels written. Achebe fails to realise that Conrad is also against colonialism in his descriptions of the Belgian settlers, which, one can quite easily see are venemous, for example “whited sepulchres” which head this webpage. From what I can see, Achebe’s main arguement is of the language Conrad uses, but one must realise that Conrad was writing in his 4th language, originally being from Siberia in Russia. The phrases Achebe uses such as, “Travelers with closed minds can tell us little except about themselves” are highly senimental. Trying not be racist in my comments; Achebe seems to me to be an angry man trying to get his own back on white society.
comments
I really enjoyed both of these articles, but especially the piece from the Guardian.
Something interesting in the Achebe lecture — he states that “Heart of Darkness” is “the most commonly prescribed novel in twentieth-century literature courses in English Departments of American universities.” That’s interesting to me. This lecture must have had a greater impact than I previously realized because I’ve never been assigned to read it, and I don’t think I know of anyone who has.
I really liked the last part of Achebe’s piece where he speaks how “Travelers with closed minds can tell us little except about themselves.” There’s a lot of truth in that.
posted by tam on February 26, 2003 3:54 PM
the first book we read in my english world lit class was “heart of darkness.” however, my professor was a young grad student, so our reading of “heart of darkness” was meant to be ironic and serve as a contrast to every other book assigned… the second of which was “things fall apart.”
posted by chris on February 26, 2003 4:33 PM
See, this is quite a loaded topic for me, because I want to balance my fondness for “Heart of Darkness” as a book on the one hand, and my complete empathy for Achebe’s position on the other.
The English-language canon (and other works of European lit — take “The Stranger,” for instance) is brimming with people of color who are little more than symbols and props. It’s weird, I think, that some people who — moreso than most others — appreciate the cultural importance of literature and art (I guess I’m thinking of some crabby old professors here) don’t think that (or any “political” considerations) is a point worth examining.
I still haven’t finished reading the Watts article. Stupid job.
posted by jacob on February 26, 2003 6:18 PM
For what it’s worth, I read both “Heart of Darkness” and Achebe’s 1975 comments about it in a class - maybe more than one. The general consensus seemed to be that the H of D was important (interesting? I don’t know which word is better) both for the contribution to literature and to the politicals contained within. Or something like that.
posted by seth on February 26, 2003 9:40 PM
Heart of Darkness was required reading for my AP English class in high school (and probably still is). I sympathize with Jacob’s opinion: the book, as a piece of literature, is impressive but Achebe’s criticism is also valid.
I do think that it’s worth noting that my high school teacher - a then 26 year old white Baptist who almost definitely voted Republican - presented the novel as a historical record of white (read:European/American) paranoid attitudes about the “dark continent” and it’s inhabitants. In truth, I think it made a large contribution to my early “intellectual exploration” of the fact that I’m white and the perspectives position afforded/imposed on me by my whiteness.
To be fair, Achebe himself is most certainly an easy target for accusations of sexism (see http://www.llp.armstrong.edu/watermarks2/jmb.html) for the portrayal of women in his works, esp. in “Things Fall Apart”. As with Conrad, however, his attitudes can be interpreted by the reader as either a biased proponent of the status quo or an accurate presentation of the actual state of societies at the time both pieces were written.
posted by sarah on February 26, 2003 11:52 PM
Well, what do you know. Shows what I get for assuming everyone’s English department experiences were just like mine (which tended to focus on American lit, which everyone could probably already guess.)
I’m curious about the article you posted Sarah. I need to read it and pop back in.
posted by tam on February 27, 2003 10:02 AM
My lit classes were split between British and African/African-American lit. I think I only took one American lit class. Well, one white American lit class. I took a lot of black American lit. So my experience isn’t really indicative of most. But I did read a hell of a lot of good books.
I hadn’t really thought about sexism in Achebe’s book. I’ll have to read the article Sarah posted. I really REALLY like “Things Fall Apart,” though.
I wouldn’t say I was so much a fan of “Heart of Darkness,” necessarily. But I like Apocalypse Now.
posted by seth on February 27, 2003 10:34 AM
To be honest, i wouldn’t dream of taking Achebe’s 1975 lecture seriously. H of D is probably one of the finest books of the 20th century, in fact, its probably one of the single most important novels written. Achebe fails to realise that Conrad is also against colonialism in his descriptions of the Belgian settlers, which, one can quite easily see are venemous, for example “whited sepulchres” which head this webpage. From what I can see, Achebe’s main arguement is of the language Conrad uses, but one must realise that Conrad was writing in his 4th language, originally being from Siberia in Russia. The phrases Achebe uses such as, “Travelers with closed minds can tell us little except about themselves” are highly senimental. Trying not be racist in my comments; Achebe seems to me to be an angry man trying to get his own back on white society.
posted by Anthony, UK on January 5, 2004 11:18 AM
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