Reading There Was a Country: A Personal History of Biafra

Here is an intellectually dense reading of Chinua Achebe's personal history of Biafra, which deconstructs and illuminates the book. Deconstructive components expose elements of Achebe's narrative that fly beyond the intellectual grasp of his hasty castigators, many of whom vented without having read the book. In the related vein, the illuminative components expose the obligation and burden that Achebe discharged in the book as a Biafran. It is therefore a book whose narrative retraces the responsibility of Achebe's faith vis-à-vis a historical challenge, which he fulfilled with determination by writing it. © The Author(s) 2013.

Duke Scholars

Author Valentin Mudimbe Literature