 First edition | |
| Author | Chinua Achebe |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Publisher | Heinemann, London |
Publication date | 1964 |
| Publication place | UK |
| Media type | Print (hardback) |
| Pages | 287 pp |
| Preceded by | No Longer at Ease |
| Followed by | A Man of the People |
Arrow of God, published in 1964, is the third novel by Chinua Achebe. Along with Things Fall Apart and No Longer at Ease, it is considered part of The African Trilogy, sharing similar settings and themes. The novel centres on Ezeulu, the chief priest of several Igbo villages in colonial Nigeria, who confronts colonial powers and Christian missionaries in the 1920s.[1] The novel was published as part of the influential Heinemann African Writers Series.
The phrase "Arrow of God" is drawn from an Igbo proverb in which a person, or sometimes an event, is said to represent the will of God.[2] Arrow of God won the first ever Jock Campbell/New Statesman Prize for African writing.[3]
In 2022, it was included on the "Big Jubilee Read" list of 70 books by Commonwealth authors, selected to celebrate the Platinum Jubilee of Elizabeth II.[4]
- ^ "Arrow of God by Chinua Achebe". Time. 10 November 1967. Archived from the original on 20 October 2012. Retrieved 19 September 2007.
- ^ Smith, Daniel Jordan (22 September 2001). "'The Arrow of God' pentecostalism, inequality, and the supernatural in South-Eastern Nigeria". Africa. 71 (4). Edinburgh University Press: 587. doi:10.2307/1161581. ISSN 0001-9720. JSTOR 1161581.
- ^ Ezenwa-Ohaeto (1997), Chinua Achebe: A Biography, James Currey Ltd, ISBN 0-85255-545-8, p. 105.
- ^ "The Big Jubilee Read: A literary celebration of Queen Elizabeth II's record-breaking reign". BBC. 17 April 2022. Retrieved 14 July 2022.