Chinua Achebe, Named for Victoria, Queen of Englandin The Post-Colonial Studies Reader,Bill

Ashcroft, Gareth Grifths and Helen ifn eds!, "ondon and Ne# $or%& 'outledge,())*, +(),-()./!
Named for Victoria,Queen of England CH0N1A ACHEBE
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0 2A3 BA403E5 Albert Chinualumogu! 0 dro66ed the tribute to Victorian
England #hen 0 #ent to the uni7ersit8 although 8ou might 9nd some earl8
ac:uaintances still calling me b8 it! he earliest of them all;m8 mother;
certainl8 stuc% to it to the bitter end! 3o if an8one as%s 8ou #hat Her
Britannic <a=est8 Queen Victoria had in common #ith Chinua Achebe,
the ans#er is& the8 both lost their Albert> As for the second name #hich in
the manner of m8 6eo6le is a full-length 6hiloso6hical statement 0 sim6l8
cut it in t#o, ma%ing it more businessli%e #ithout, 0 ho6e, losing the
general drift of its meaning!
0 ha7e al#a8s been fond of stories and intrigued b8 language;9rst 0gbo
and later English #hich 0 began to learn at about the age of eight! 0 don?t
%no# for certain but 0 6robabl8 ha7e s6o%en more #ords in 0gbo than
English but 0 ha7e de9nitel8 #ritten more #ords in English than 0gbo!
2hich 0 thin% ma%es me 6erfectl8 bilingual! 3ome 6eo6le ha7e suggested
that 0 should be better o@ #riting in 0gbo! 3ometimes the8 see% to dri7e the
6oint home b8 as%ing me in #hich language 0 dream! 2hen 0 re6l8 that 0
dream in both languages the8 seem not to belie7e it! <ore recentl8 0 ha7e
heard an e7en more 6otent and meta6h8sical 7ersion of the :uestion& in
#hat language do 8ou ha7e an orgasmA 2hich #ould settle the matter if 0
%ne#!
2e li7ed at the crossroads of cultures! 2e still do toda8B but #hen 0 #as
a bo8 one could see and sense the 6eculiar :ualit8 and atmos6here of it
more clearl8! 0 am not tal%ing about all that rubbish #e hear of the
s6iritual 7oid and mental stresses that Africans are su66osed to ha7e, or
the e7il forces and irrational 6assions 6ro#ling through Africa?s heart of
dar%ness! 2e %no# the racist m8sti:ue behind a lot of that stu@ and
should merel8 6oint out that those #ho 6refer to see Africa in those lurid
terms ha7e not themsel7es demonstrated an8 clear su6eriorit8 in sanit8 or
more com6etence in co6ing #ith life!
But still the crossroads does ha7e a certain dangerous 6otenc8B
dangerous because a man might 6erish there #restling #ith multi6leheaded
s6irits, but also he might be luc%8 and return to his 6eo6le #ith the
boon of 6ro6hetic 7ision!
Cn one arm of the cross #e sang h8mns and read the Bible night and
da8! Cn the other m8 father?s brother and his famil8, blinded b8
heathenism, o@ered food to idols! hat #as ho# it #as su66osed to be
an8ho#! But 0 %ne# #ithout %no#ing #h8 it #as too sim6le a #a8 to
describe #hat #as going on! hose idols and that food had a strange 6ull
on me in s6ite of m8 being such a thorough little Christian that often at
3unda8 ser7ices at the height of the grandeur of Te Deum Laudamus 0
#ould ha7e dreams of a mantle of gold falling on me #hile the choir of
angels dro#ned our mortal song and the 7oice of God Himself thundering&
his is m8 belo7ed son in #hom 0 am #ell 6leased! $es, des6ite those
delusions of di7ine destin8 0 #as not 6ast ta%ing m8 little sister to our
neighbour?s house #hen our 6arents #ere not loo%ing and 6arta%ing of
heathen festi7al meals! 0 ne7er found their rice to ha7e the Da7our of
idolatr8! 0 #as about ten then! 0f an8one li%es to belie7e that 0 #as torn b8
s6iritual agonies or stretched on the rac% of m8 ambi7alence he certainl8
ma8 suit himself! 0 do not remember an8 undue distress! 2hat 0 do
remember #as a fascination for the ritual and the life on the other arm of
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the crossroads! And 0 belie7e t#o things #ere in m8 fa7our;that curiosit8
and the little distance im6osed bet#een me and it b8 the accident of m8
birth! he distance becomes not a se6aration but a bringing together li%e
the necessar8 bac%#ard ste6 #hich a =udicious 7ie#er ma8 ta%e in order to
see a can7as steadil8 and full8!
0 #as luc%8 in ha7ing a fe# old boo%s around the house #hen 0 #as
learning to read! As the 9fth in a famil8 of siE children and #ith 6arents so
6assionate for their children?s education 0 inherited man8 discarded
6rimers and readers! 0 remember A idsummer Night!s Dream in an
ad7anced stage of falling a6art! 0 thin% it must ha7e been a 6rose
ada6tation, sim6li9ed and illustrated! 0 don?t remember #hether 0 made
an8thing of it! EEce6t the title! 0 couldn?t get o7er the strange beaut8 of it!
A <idsummer Night?s 5ream! 0t #as a magic 6hrase;an incantation that
con=ured u6 scenes and landsca6es of an alien, ha668 and unattainable
land!
0 remember also m8 mother?s "#e $n%e &raist #hich must ha7e been an
0gbo ada6tation of Pilgrim!s Progress' 0t could not ha7e been the #hole
boo%B it #as too thin! But it had some frightening 6ictures! 0 recall in
6articular a most 7i7id im6ression of the (alle% of the shado) of death' 0
thought a lot about death in those da8s! here #as another little boo%
#hich frightened and fascinated me! 0t had dra#ings of di@erent 6arts of
the human bod8! But 0 #as onl8 interested in #hat m8 elder sister told me
#as the human heart! 3ince there is a slight confusion in 0gbo bet#een
heart and soul 0 too% it that that strange thing loo%ing almost li%e m8
mother?s iron coo%ing 6ot turned u6side do#n #as the 7er8 thing that De#
out #hen a man died and 6erched on the head of the cofn on the #a8 to
the cemeter8!
0 found some use for most of the boo%s in our house but b8 no means all!
here #as one Arithmetic boo% 0 smuggled out and sold for half-a6enn8
#hich 0 needed to bu8 the tast8 mai-mai some tem6tress of a #oman sold
in the little mar%et outside the school! 0 #as found out and m8 mother #ho
had ne7er had cause till then to doubt m8 honest8;laFiness, 8esB but not
theft;recei7ed a huge shoc%! Cf course she redeemed the boo%! 0 #as so
ashamed #hen she brought it home that 0 don?t thin% 0 e7er loo%ed at it
again #hich #as 6robabl8 #h8 0 ne7er had much use for mathematics!
<8 6arents? re7erence for boo%s #as almost su6erstitiousB so m8 action
must ha7e seemed li%e a form of =u7enile simon8! <8 father #as much
#orse than m8 mother! He ne7er destro8ed an8 6a6er! 2hen he died #e
had to ma%e a bon9re of all the hoardings of his long life! 0 am the 7er8
o66osite of him in this! 0 can?t stand 6a6er around me! 2hene7er 0 see a lot
of it 0 am seiFed b8 a mild attac% of 68romania! 2hen 0 die m8 children
#ill not ha7e a bon9re!
he %ind of taste 0 ac:uired from the chaotic literature in m8 father?s
house can #ell be imagined! Gor instance 0 became 7er8 fond of those
as6ects of ecclesiastical histor8 as could be garnered from The *est
African Churchman!s Pam+hlet,a little terror of a boo%let 6rescribing
interminable Bible readings morning and night! 0t had the date of
consecration for 6racticall8 e7er8 Anglican bisho6 #ho e7er ser7ed in 2est
AfricaB and, e7en more intriguing, the dates of their death! <an8 of them
didn?t last 7er8 long! 0 remember one 6athetic case +0 forget his name/ #ho
arri7ed in "agos straight from his consecration at 3t! 4aul?s Cathedral and
#as dead #ithin da8s, and his #ife a #ee% or t#o after him! hose #ere
the da8s #hen 2est Africa #as trul8 the #hite man?s gra7e, #hen those
great lines #ere #ritten, of #hich 0 #as at that time una#are&
Bight of Benin> Bight of Benin>
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2here fe# come out though man8 go in>
But the most fascinating information 0 got from Pam+hlet, as #e called it,
#as this cr86tic entr8 for the month of August&
Augustine, -isho+ of .i++o, died /01
0t had that elusi7e and eternal :ualit8, a tantaliFing unfamiliarit8 #hich 0
al#a8s found mo7ing!
0 did not %no# that 0 #as going to be a #riter because 0 did not reall8
%no# of the eEistence of such creatures until fairl8 late! he fol%-stories m8
mother and elder sister told me had the immemorial :ualit8 of the s%8 and
the forests and the ri7ers! "ater, #hen 0 got to %no# 6eo6le it still didn?t
hel6 much! 0t #as the same Euro6eans #ho made all the other mar7ellous
things li%e the motor-car! 2e did not come into it at all! 2e made nothing
that #asn?t 6rimiti7e and heathenish!
he nationalist mo7ement in British 2est Africa after the 3econd 2orld
2ar brought about a mental re7olution #hich began to reconcile us to
oursel7es! 0t suddenl8 seemed that #e too might ha7e a stor8 to tell! Rule
-ritannia2 to #hich #e had marched so unself-consciousl8 on Em6ire 5a8
no# stuc% in our throat!
At the uni7ersit8 0 read some a66alling no7els about Africa +including
Ho8ce Car8?s much 6raised ister 3ohnson/ and decided that the stor8 #e
had to tell could not be told for us b8 an8one else no matter ho# gifted or
#ell-intentioned!
Although 0 did not set about it consciousl8 in that solemn #a8 0 no#
%no# that m8 9rst boo%, Things 4all A+art, #as an act of atonement #ith
m8 6ast, the ritual return and homage of a 6rodigal son! But things ha66en
7er8 fast in Africa! 0 had hardl8 begun to bas% in the sunshine of
reconciliation #hen a ne# cloud a66eared, a ne# estrangement! 4olitical
inde6endence had come! he nationalist leader of 8esterda8 +#ith #hom it
had not been too difcult to ma%e common cause/ had become the not so
attracti7e 6art8 boss! And then things reall8 got going! he 6art8 boss #as
chased out b8 the bright militar8 bo8s, ne# idols of the 6eo6le! But the
6art8 boss %no#s ho# to #ait, %no#s b8 heart the counsel <other Bedbug
ga7e her little ones #hen the harassed o#ner of the bed 6oured hot #ater
on them& IBe 6atient,? said she, Ifor #hat is hot #ill in the end be cold!?
Cne hears that the 6art8 boss is alread8 conducting a #his6ering
cam6aign& I$ou done see us cho6,? he sa8s, Ino# 8ou see dem cho6! 2hich
one 8ou li%e 6assA? And the 6eo6le are trul8 confused!
0n a little nondescri6t co@ee sho6 #here 0 sometimes sto6 for a
hamburger in Amherst there are some unfunn8 inscri6tions hanging on the
#alls, re6resenting a one-sided dialogue bet#een management and sta@!
he unfunniest of them all reads;6oeticall8&
a%e care of 8our boss
he neEt one ma8 be #orse!
he trouble #ith #riters is that the8 #ill often refuse to li7e b8 such
rationalit8!
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J originall8 6ublished as INamed for Victoria, Queen of England? Ne) Letters K,+./ +Gall/, ()L.!