bMS Eng 1406
Achebe, Chinua. Papers: Guide.
Houghton Library, Harvard College Library
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Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138
© 2001 The President and Fellows of Harvard College
Repository: Houghton Library, Harvard College Library, Harvard University
Location: b
Call No.: MS Eng 1406
Creator:
Achebe,
Chinua.
Title: Papers,
Date(s): ca. 1963-1993.
Quantity:
2
cartons (ca. 2 linear ft.)
Abstract: Manuscripts of Achebe's main
publications from Arrow of God (1964) to Anthills of the Savannah (1987), and of a few later occasional writings down to 1993; with some publishers'
correspondence.
J. F. Coakley
*95M-57
Purchased from Chinua Achebe through
George Robert Minkoff with funds from the Amy Lowell fund and from the Afro-American
Studies Department. Received 1996 May 15.
Chinua Achebe (1930- ) is a Nigerian writer and scholar. He became well
known after his first novel Things fall apart (1958), which depicted the encounter
of the Igbo people of Nigeria with the British colonial power. His subsequent novels and short
stories are likewise set in West Africa. Achebe's poetry was written out of the experience of the
Biafran war of 1966-1970. He became Senior Research Fellow at the University of Nigeria,
Nsukka in 1970, and Emeritus Professor of English in 1985. After holding several visiting
appointments in Britain and the United States, in 1991 he became Professor of Languages and
Literature at Bard College in New York.
Organized into
the following series: I. Compositions (with subseries A. Fiction, B. Poetry, C. Essays and other
compositions), II. Correspondence, III. Other papers.
The collection consists of manuscripts of Achebe's main publications from Arrow of
God (1964) to Anthills of the Savannah (1987), and of a few later
occasional writings down to 1993; and a small amount of correspondence, mostly with
publishers. Achebe wrote almost all the compositions in this collection in longhand. The
original manuscripts went through several drafts, and when they were typed he continued to
revise them by hand. The publishers' setting copies, however, are usually clean.
-
Series:
I. Compositions
Arrangement: Arranged
chronologically by the year of publication. Individual stories or essays are arranged under the
book in which they appeared, in the order of the table of contents. Within each title, the
manuscripts are arranged with earlier drafts first, then revised drafts, then setting copy.
-
A. Fiction
-
Chike and the river,
1966.
-
Anthills of the savannah,
1987.
-
(48)
Chapter 6 : AMs with alterations, [ca.
1985].
1 folder.
-
(49)
Chapter 7 : AMs with alterations, [ca.
1985].
1 folder.
-
(50)
Chapter 8 : AMs with alterations, [ca.
1985].
1 folder.
-
(51)
Chapter 9 : AMs with alterations, [ca.
1985].
1 folder.
-
(52)
Chapter 10 : AMs with alterations, [ca. 1985].
1 folder.
-
(53)
Chapter 11 : AMs with alterations, [ca. 1985].
1 folder.
-
(54)
Chapter 12 : AMs with alterations, [ca. 1985].
1 folder.
-
(55)
Chapter 13 : AMs with alterations, [ca. 1985].
1 folder.
-
(56)
Chapter 14 : AMs with alterations, [ca. 1985].
1 folder.
-
(57)
Chapter 15 : AMs with alterations, [ca. 1985].
1 folder.
-
(58)
Chapters 16-17 : AMs with alterations, [ca. 1985].
1 folder.
-
(59)
Chapter 18 : AMs with alterations, [ca. 1985].
2 folders.
-
(62)
Chapter 3 : AMs with alterations, [ca.
1986].
1 folder.
-
(63)
Chapter 6 : AMs with alterations, [ca.
1986].
1 folder.
-
(64)
Chapter 7 : AMs with alterations, [ca.
1986].
1 folder.
-
(65)
Chapter 8 : AMs with alterations, [ca.
1986].
1 folder.
-
(66)
Chapter 9 : AMs with alterations, [ca.
1986].
1 folder.
-
(67)
Chapter 10 : AMs with alterations, [ca. 1986].
1 folder.
-
(68)
Chapter 11 : AMs with alterations, [ca. 1986].
1 folder.
-
(69)
Chapter 12 : AMs with alterations, [ca. 1986].
1 folder.
-
(70)
Chapter 13 : AMs with alterations, [ca. 1986].
1 folder.
-
(71)
Chapter 14 : AMs with alterations, [ca. 1986].
1 folder.
-
(72)
Chapter 15 : AMs with alterations, [ca. 1986].
1 folder.
-
(73)
Chapter 16 : AMs with alterations, [ca. 1986].
1 folder.
-
(74)
Chapter 17 : AMs with alterations, [ca. 1986].
1 folder.
-
(75)
Chapter 18 : AMs with alterations, [ca. 1986].
1 folder.
-
(77)
Chapter 1: Ts, 1986.
1 folder.
Pp. 1-19,
with a title page in Achebe's hand.
These 18 items (77-94) were
removed from a loose-leaf binder in an envelope marked "completed 12-7-86." There are sparse
Ms alterations to the text in these items.
-
(78)
Chapter 2 : Ts, 1986.
1 folder.
Pp. 20-37.
-
(79)
Chapter 3 : Ts, 1986.
1 folder.
Pp. 38-49.
-
(80)
Chapter 4 : Ts, 1986.
1 folder.
Pp. 50-79.
-
(81)
Chapter 5 : Ts, 1986.
1 folder.
Pp.
80-103.
-
(82)
Chapter 6 : Ts, 1986.
1 folder.
Pp.
104-122.
-
(83)
Chapter 7 : Ts, 1986.
1 folder.
Pp.
123-152.
-
(84)
Chapter 8 : Ts, 1986.
1 folder.
Pp.
153-183.
-
(86)
Chapter 10 : Ts, 1986.
1 folder.
Pp.
203-212.
-
(87)
Chapter 11 : Ts, 1986.
1 folder.
Pp.
213-232.
-
(89)
Chapter 13 : Ts, 1986.
1 folder.
Pp.
246-274.
-
(90)
Chapter 14 : Ts, 1986.
1 folder.
Pp.
275-289.
-
(91)
Chapter 15 : Ts, 1986.
1 folder.
Pp.
290-301.
-
(92)
Chapter 16 : Ts, 1986.
1 folder.
Pp.
302-316.
-
(93)
Chapters 17 : Ts, 1986.
1 folder.
Pp.
317-337.
-
(94)
Chapter 18 : Ts, 1986.
1 folder.
Pp.
338-365.
-
B. Poetry
-
(96)
Beware, Soul-brother : partial AMs, 1970 and undated.
1 folder.
Consists
of the poems "Vultures,"
"Bull and egret,"
"Love cycle,"
"Generation gap," and "Harmattan." (The last of these was entitled "Penalty of Godhead" in the published book of 1971.)
-
C. Essays and other compositions
-
Morning yet on creation day: Essays,
1975.
-
(99)
"Colonialist criticism" : Ts
(mimeograph) with AMs alterations, 1974.
1 folder.
-
(101)
"Africa and her writers" : Ts with
AMs alterations, [1972].
1 folder.
-
(103)
"What do African intellectuals read?" : Ts (carbon), [1972].
1
folder.
-
(104)
"Thoughts on the African novel" :
Ts with AMs alterations, 1973.
1
folder.
-
(112)
Ts setting copy, [ca. 1974].
9 folders.
-
The trouble with Nigeria,
1983.
-
(113)
AMs, [ca. 1983].
6 folders.
-
(115)
Ts (mostly carbon), [ca. 1983].
2 folders.
-
Other compositions,
1971-1996.
-
(116)
Introduction to This earth, my
brother by Kofi Awoonor : Ts (carbon), 1971.
1 folder.
-
(118)
"Work and play in Tutuola's Palm-wine
drinkard" : Ts with AMs alterations, [1977 or 1978].
1 folder.
-
(119)
Preface to In pursuit of publishing
by Alan Hill : AMs, [1988].
1 folder.
-
(120)
"A call to Nigerians" : AMs, [1993].
1 folder.
-
(126)
"My daughters" : AMs, undated.
1 folder.
Apparently unfinished.
-
(129)
Untitled essay on being Nigerian : AMs, undated.
1 folder.
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Series:
III. Other papers
hou00116
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