PARSING THE PAST AND PRESENT NIGERIAN NOVELS: A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF ACHEBE AND ADICHIE

Abstract

Fiction is a mirror through which the society is seen. It is a work of imagination. However, the writer draws his or her inspiration from what happens around him or her. This is why we have certain works of art that fall within a particular age; the happenings of the age influence the writer. The reader who perhaps was not born within the age decodes the activities of the age and understands how life was lived within the era. In this essence, literature helps us to appreciate life as lived within the period as well as why things are the way they are today. In this article, the researcher examines the life of the African within the pre-colonial/colonial and the contemporary eras as perceived by Achebe and Adichie with the aim of making the audience see the semblance in the belief system of the African in the past and present despite the profuse transformation that has taken place since the 20th century.