Literature of Politics: Of Dormancy or Doggedness; Finding Meanings in Chinua Achebe's A Man of the People. (original) (raw)

LITERATURE OF POLITICS: OF DORMANCY OR DOGGEDNESS; FINDING MEANINGS IN CHINUA ACHEBE’S A MAN OF THE PEOPLE. Abstract Apart from Achebe’s literary dogmas and polemics of the western influence on African native culture and history, there is no gainsaying asserting that he is also a gadfly who questioned and attacked Africa’s socio-political intricacies and orthodoxies. Over the years, the African polity has witnessed innumerable issues as regards good governance and direction, ranging from maladministration, megalomania, corruption, tyranny etc; perpetuated by African political elites and the society at large. However this dangerous politicking has crippled our societies, thus questioning the stance of the African writer; a praise singer or a social critic. It is on this note that this paper seeks to explore the stance of African writers and the utilitarian relevance of literature employed as a weapon to demystify the political statusquo, as exemplified in Chinua Achebe’s A Man of the People. Suffice to say this paper submits that African writers should constantly employ their writs as comrade in arms against the dangerous politicking of African elites and leaders. Their writs should constantly comment, prod and question the existing state of affairs in order to ameliorate the anomalies as epitomized by Chinua Achebe; else the growth we seek will remain an illusion. Keywords: Literature,politics, African leadership, social, critic.