There Was a Country: A Personal History of Biafra by Chinua Achebe
Memoir and history are brought together by a master story-teller, writes Noo Saro-Wiwa
No writer is better placed than Chinua Achebe to tell the story of the Nigerian Biafran war from
a cultural and political perspective. Yet, apart from an interview with
Transition magazine in 1968 and a book of Biafran poems, Nigeria's
most eminent novelist has kept a literary silence about the civil war
in which he played a prominent role – until now. In his engrossing new
memoir, There Was A Country, Achebe, now 81, finally speaks about his life during the conflict that nearly tore Nigeria apart in the late 60s.
In many ways, the early part of Achebe's life mirrors the story of
early Nigeria. Nicknamed "Dictionary", Achebe was a gifted Igbo student
and enthusiastic reader, a member of the "Lucky Generation" of young
students who rubbed shoulders at top institutions under the tutelage of
Oxbridge colonials. They were effortlessly absorbed into the media,
industry and civil service, serving a Nigeria driven by optimism on its
way to freedom from British rule.By independence in 1960, Igbo people dominated commerce and the public sector in a land where the three biggest ethnic groups (the Yoruba, Hausa and Igbo) were jostling for supremacy. Achebe attributes Igbo domination to their self-confidence, inherent democratic values and adaptability, which were suited to Nigeria's modernising economy. But many Nigerians resented it, and Achebe admits that the Igbo could be cocky, brash and materialistic, though he rejects the popular suspicion that there was a pan-Igbo agenda to control Nigeria – his people have too strong an "individualistic ethic".
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