Civil Peace - Historical Context

Historical Context

Much of Chinua Achebe's literature was inspired by the events of the Biafran War and by the responses to a war that, for many Igbo writers, was a struggle for survival, a search for a new beginning for Africa, and a redefinition of Balck identity in the context of a complex world behavior. A leading novelist at the time, Chinua Achebe was a pioneer in post-war Igbo literary activities. Achebe maintained

“It is clear to me that an African creative writer who tries to avoid the big social and political issues of contemporary Africa will end up being completely irrelevant --- like the absurd man in the proverb who leaves his burning house to pursue a rat fleeing from the flames.”

Achebe does not hide the fact that the Biafran situation has affected his creativity in no small way.

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