The Dissolving Center of Achebe’s Things Fall Apart? — Watch Episode 4 of Prof. Ato Quayson’s Vlog

The fourth episode of Professor Ato Quayson’s vlog Critic.Reading.Writing is up!

In this week’s episode, the Professor dives into the classic Things Fall Apart (1958) by Chinua Achebe. The title of the episode is “The Dissolving Center” in which Quayson traces the narrative decentralization of Okonkwo’s household and his status as a cultural representative of Umuofia.

The 31-minute episode dissects Okonkwo’s tragic trajectory from the perspective of space. It establishes a dyadic relationship between space and non-space represented by the marketplace and the evil forest. Professor Quayson elaborates:

The arrival of the Christians and their occupation of a slice of the evil forest has gradually shifted the cultural salience of the evil forest and converted it into a space of communal building…As the evil forest is shifting from being the space of sacred dread, it is automatically altering the status of the marketplace as a place of social affirmation.

Click below to watch!

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