內容簡介
讓我們調整一下時空座標，將位置轉移到兩個世紀前的西非，奈及利亞的一處伊博族村落。《分崩離析》的故事背景設在一處虛構村莊，藉村中一名驍勇伊博勇士Okonkwo的顛沛一生，看見英國殖民下，主角Okonkwo 、伊博族、乃至整個奈及利亞的社會結構與部族傳統，從個人命運到部族精神、國族文化逐漸如書名一般，分崩離析。
力大無窮，善於摔角的Okonkwo在崇尚力氣的伊博族村子裡為自己掙得一席之地，他備受部族尊敬，生活富裕，受眾人追捧與艷羨，但Okonkwo內心明白，他之所以窮盡一切努力，都是為了擺脫他那平庸懶惰、不負責任的父親帶給他的羞恥。然而，一場失手釀成的死亡意外，讓Okonkwo成為觸怒土地女神的罪人，遭到村子放逐，不得不遠走他鄉。
一轉眼就是七年，流放年限已滿，Okonkwo終於得以回家，只是，村莊再也不是他離開時的樣貌。白人來了，奈及利亞成為大英帝國的殖民地。當族人同胞，甚至妻兒都逐漸開始依照白人的方式生活，部族傳統精神過去賦予他的、屬於戰士的尊嚴與驕傲，頹然崩落，Okonkwo不願低頭屈服，決定揭竿奮力一搏。
為了反抗破壞伊博族文化的殖民勢力，他搗毀英人建築物，更為此殺了人，但沒想到族人態度消極，不願隨他奮起抵抗，孤立無援，又不願讓自己的行為拖累村民的Okonkwo，最終只能選擇以最極端的方式，做出最後的反抗…諷刺的是，他捍衛且為之雙手染血的，正是多年前，讓他因誤殺村中少年而遭到流放的伊博族信仰。
<p style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-position: inherit; font-variant-emoji: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.7; font-family: " helvetica="" neue",="" helvetica,="" arial,="" "\6587泉驛正黑",="" "wenquanyi="" zen="" hei",="" "hiragino="" sans="" gb",="" "\5137黑pro",="" "lihei="" pro",="" "heiti="" tc",="" "\5fae軟正黑體",="" "microsoft="" jhenghei="" ui",="" jhenghei",="" san-serif;="" font-optical-sizing:="" inherit;="" font-size-adjust:="" font-kerning:="" font-feature-settings:="" font-variation-settings:="" font-language-override:="" vertical-align:="" baseline;="" border:="" 0px;="" -webkit-tap-highlight-color:="" rgba(0,="" 0,="" 0);="" white-space:="" pre-wrap;"="">而阿契貝以殖民母國語言寫就本書，亦曾招致批評，對此他表示此舉屬有意為之：除為扭轉白人對非洲人的刻板印象，更是為了讓白人「看得懂」，因為這部小說所欲傳達的，正是他要向這些人—尤其是英國人—大力昭示的。
“A true classic of world literature . . . A masterpiece that has inspired generations of writers in Nigeria, across Africa, and around the world.” —Barack Obama
“African literature is incomplete and unthinkable without the works of Chinua Achebe.” —Toni Morrison
Nominated as one of America’s best-loved novels by PBS’s The Great American Read
Things Fall Apart is the first of three novels in Chinua Achebe's critically acclaimed African Trilogy. It is a classic narrative about Africa's cataclysmic encounter with Europe as it establishes a colonial presence on the continent. Told through the fictional experiences of Okonkwo, a wealthy and fearless Igbo warrior of Umuofia in the late 1800s, Things Fall Apart explores one man's futile resistance to the devaluing of his Igbo traditions by British political andreligious forces and his despair as his community capitulates to the powerful new order.
With more than 20 million copies sold and translated into fifty-seven languages, Things Fall Apart provides one of the most illuminating and permanent monuments to African experience. Achebe does not only capture life in a pre-colonial African village, he conveys the tragedy of the loss of that world while broadening our understanding of our contemporary realities.
作者介紹
<span style="font-family: " helvetica="" neue",="" helvetica,="" arial,="" "\6587泉驛正黑",="" "wenquanyi="" zen="" hei",="" "hiragino="" sans="" gb",="" "\5137黑pro",="" "lihei="" pro",="" "heiti="" tc",="" "\5fae軟正黑體",="" "microsoft="" jhenghei="" ui",="" jhenghei",="" san-serif;="" font-size:="" 14px;="" white-space:="" pre-wrap;"="">被譽為非洲現代文學之父的奇努阿．阿契貝生於奈及利亞，具伊博族血統，1958年出版了日後被稱為奈及利亞四部曲的首部長篇英語小說《分崩離析》。阿契貝的作品關注伊博族信仰傳統與基督教的影響，一生創作不輟，對殖民與後殖民時期，甚至現代奈及利亞處境的討論亦多有著墨。
Chinua Achebe (1930–2013) was born in Nigeria. Widely considered to be the father of modern African literature, he is best known for his masterful African Trilogy, consisting of Things Fall Apart, Arrow of God, and No Longer at Ease. The trilogy tells the story of a single Nigerian community over three generations from first colonial contact to urban migration and the breakdown of traditional cultures. He is also the author of Anthills of the Savannah, A Man of the People, Girls at War and Other Stories, Home and Exile, Hopes and Impediments, Collected Poems, The Education of a British-Protected Child, Chike and the River, and There Was a Country. He was the David and Marianna Fisher University Professor and Professor of Africana Studies at Brown University and, for more than fifteen years, was the Charles P. Stevenson Jr. Professor of Languages and Literature at Bard College. Achebe was the recipient of the Nigerian National Merit Award, Nigeria’s highest award for intellectual achievement. In 2007, Achebe was awarded the Man Booker International Prize for lifetime achievement.
