CHINUA ACHEBE : Art as an Instrument of Socio-Political-Cultural Transformation

The paper attempts to approach Achebe's works through a relatively neglected standpoint-his cross-cultural vision and imagination, which he achieved and portrayed brilliantly by intervening into both African and western values, institutions, beliefs and cultures. My interest in doing so was conditioned by thinking about Achebe's works as strong interventions into historical junctures, enabled by his intellectual and literary training and education, and his exposure to other traditions as one of the greatest literary chroniclers and thinkers. However, in The present paper attempts to approach Achebe's works through a relatively neglected standpoint-his cross-cultural vision and imagination, which he achieved and portrayed brilliantly by intervening into both African and western values, institutions, beliefs and cultures. My interest in doing so was conditioned by thinking about Achebe's works as strong interventions into historical junctures, enabled by his intellectual and literary training and education, and his exposure to other traditions as one of the greatest literary chroniclers and thinkers. However, in this approach, his works reveal a multiple awareness of his immensely rich understanding of cross-cultural impacts on the colonizers andthis approach, his works reveal a multiple awareness of his immensely rich understanding of cross-cultural impacts on the colonizers and colonized alike.