Cultural nationalism then is at the heart of the various theorisations of an African worldview and African model of development, and has informed all other ideological, intellectual and artistic expression.

But cultural nationalism was a disabling conceptual framework, limiting our self-expression and self-definition, and more importantly, our cultural and political growth.

Take Achebe’s Things Fall Apart, for instance, which is representative of the style, themes and points of view of most of our modern literature.

Before the white man, Okonkwo — the tragic hero of the book —was a successful man. But the coherence of his world collapses with the coming of the white man.

Unable to relate to the changing times and values, he commits suicide. The point of view of Things Fall Apart is unequivocal: only within the context of our traditional world can we find meaning and purpose.

Manipulated to express this predetermined ideological position, Okonkwo, as well as others in the book, lacks the multi-dimensional and multilayered complexity that has to be the result of an individual faced with changing and bewildering times.

With the author’s stern cultural nationalist eyes looking over their shoulders, the characters are inhibited and fail to follow their impulses and thoughts to their logical conclusions.

In an article in The EastAfrican newspaper, David Kaiza says of Achebe: “He goes at a subject in a monotone that can dull the mind.

His characters are carved out in two dimensions. The third dimension of characters coming outside the books’ themes to act in a world of senses rather than of social change is tragically missing.”

Further, encumbered by authorial intrusions to explain Igbo customs, the book begins to straddle hesitantly the line between art and social documentation.