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Elechi Amadi

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Elechi Amadi

MFR
BornEmmanuel Elechi Daniel
(1934-05-12)12 May 1934
Aluu, Rivers State, Nigeria
Died29 June 2016(2016-06-29) (aged 82)
Port Harcourt, Nigeria
OccupationNovelist
NationalityNigerian
Notable worksThe Concubine (1966)

Elechi Amadi MFR // ⓘ (12 May 1934 – 29 June 2016) was a Nigerian author and soldier. He was a former member of the Nigerian Armed Forces. He was an author of plays and novels that are generally about African village life, customs, beliefs, and religious practices prior to contact with the Western world. Amadi is best regarded for his 1966 debut novel, The Concubine, which has been called "an outstanding work of pure fiction".[1]

Early life and education

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Born in 1934, in Mbodo-Aluu in what is now the Ikwerre local government area of Rivers State, Nigeria, Elechi Amadi attended Government College, Umuahia (1948–52), Survey School, Oyo (1953–54), and the University of Ibadan (1955–59), where he obtained a degree in Physics and Mathematics.[2][3] While in university, he adopted the name Elechi Amadi, which he felt reflected his Ikwerre heritage more than his birth name, Emmanuel Elechi Daniel.[4]

Career

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He worked for a time as a land surveyor and later was a teacher at several schools, including the Nigerian Military School, Zaria (1963–66).[5]

Military service and politics

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Amadi served in the Nigerian army, remained there during the Nigerian Civil War, and retired at the rank of captain.[6] He then held various positions with the Rivers State government: Permanent Secretary (1973–83), Commissioner for Education (1987–88) and Commissioner for Lands and Housing (1989–90).[7]

Writing

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He was a writer-in-residence and lecturer at Rivers State College of Education, where he has also been Dean of Arts, head of the literature department and Director of General Studies.[8]

Amadi has said that his first publication was in 1957, a poem entitled "Penitence" in a University of Ibadan campus magazine called The Horn, edited by John Pepper Clark.[9]

Amadi's first novel, The Concubine, was published in London in 1966 and was hailed as a "most accomplished first performance".[10] Alastair Niven in his critical study of the novel wrote: "Rooted firmly among the hunting and fishing villages of the Niger delta, The Concubine nevertheless possesses the timelessness and universality of a major novel."[11] The Concubine was made into a film, written by Elechi Amadi and directed by accomplished Nollywood film director Andy Amenechi, which premiered in Abuja in March 2007.[12]

The setting of Amadi's second novel, The Great Ponds, published in 1969, is pre-colonial Eastern Nigeria, and is about the battle between two village communities over possession of a pond.

In 1973 Amadi autobiographical non-fiction, Sunset in Biafra, was published. It records his personal experiences in the Nigeria-Biafra war, and according to Niven "is written in a compelling narrative form as though it were a novel".[13]

On 13 May 1989 a symposium was held at the University of Port Harcourt to celebrate Amadi's 55th birthday.[14]

In May 2004, a conference was organized by the Association of Nigerian Authors, Rivers State Branch, to mark Elechi Amadi's 70th birthday.[15]

For his last book, When God Came, Elechi turned for the first time to the genre of science fiction.[16] Reviewing it, Lindsay Barrett wrote: "When an author has attained the status of an icon in his profession, based on the publication of works that have been declared iconic masterpieces from the earliest period of his career, it is unusual to find him engaging in experimentation in the latter stages of that career. This is the surprising trajectory that this short but profoundly memorable booklet by the late Elechi Amadi represents. Although the two narrative treatises contained in this work were described by the author as an excursion into the medium of science fiction it would really be more accurate to define them as philosophical allegories. Their contents contemplate the human condition and the limits of the potential for human achievement based on the concept of the supernatural rather than simply being exercises in the conceptualisation of events of an otherworldly nature, which popular science fiction often is. ... In the final analysis these works read like fables from the future that the author must have had immense enjoyment creating. Amadi’s love for literature and his prolific output in his early years overshadowed his scientific background especially after the Civil War when he settled down to work as an educationist and public administrator in Rivers State. It was in this period that he embarked on the experiments in new forms of writing of which this work is a slight but unforgettable example."[17]

Later years

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2009 kidnapping

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On 5 January 2009 Amadi was kidnapped at his home in Aluu town, Ikwerre, by unknown gunmen. He was released on the evening of 6 January, 23 hours later.[18][19]

Africa39

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In 2014 he was a judge of Africa39, together with Tess Onwueme and Margaret Busby.[20]

Death

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On 29 June 2016, Amadi died at the Good Heart Hospital in Port Harcourt at the age of 82.[21][22] Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka paid tribute to Amadi as "a soldier and poet, captive of conscience, human solidarity and justice."[23]

Awards

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Legacy

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The Faculty of Humanity in University of Port Harcourt, is dedicated to him.[27] Port Harcourt Polytechnic was renamed to Captain Elechi Amadi Polytechnic in 2016.[27]

Bibliography

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  • The Concubine (novel), London: Heinemann African Writers Series, 1969; Ibadan: Heinemann Books, 1993, ISBN 0-435-90025-0
  • The Great Ponds (novel), Heinemann, 1969; Macmillan Education, 1976, ISBN 978-0435270261
  • Sunset in Biafra (war diary), Heinemann African Writers Series, 1969, ISBN 978-0435901400
  • Isiburu (play), Heinemann, 1973, ISBN 978-0435925086
  • Peppersoup and The Road (plays, combined volume), Ibadan: Onibonoje Publishers, 1977
  • Dancer of Johannesburg (play), Ibadan: Onibonoje Publishers, 1978
  • The Slave (novel), Heinemann African Writers Series, 1978, ISBN 978-0435902100
  • Ethics in Nigerian Culture (philosophy), London: Heinemann Educational Books, 1982, ISBN 978-9781295966
  • Estrangement (novel), Heinemann African Writers Series, 1986, ISBN 978-0435905644
  • The Woman of Calabar (play), Port Harcourt: Gitelle Press, 2002
  • Speaking and Singing (essays and poems), University of Port Harcourt Press, 2003
  • Collected Plays (ed. Seiyifa Koroye), Port Harcourt: Pearl Publishers, 2004
  • When God Came, 2011

Further reading

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  • Ebele Eko, Elechi Amadi: The Man and his Work, Yaba, Lagos: Kraft Books Ltd, 1991.
  • Willfried Feuser and Ebele Eko (eds), Elechi Amadi at 55, Ibadan: Heinemann Educational Books, 1994.
  • Seiyifa Koroye, Critical Perspectives on Elechi Amadi, Port Harcourt: Pearl Publishers/Association of Nigerian Authors, 2008.

References

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  1. ^ Eldred Jones, "African Literature 1966-1967", African Forum, vol. 3, no. 1, p. 5.
  2. ^ Gikandi, Simon (2003). Encyclopedia of African Literature. Taylor & Francis. pp. 26–27. ISBN 978-1-134-58223-5. Retrieved 2018-11-20.
  3. ^ Liukkonen, Petri. "Elechi Amadi". Books and Writers (kirjasto.sci.fi). Finland: Kuusankoski Public Library. Archived from the original on 25 January 2015.
  4. ^ Ochiagha, Terri (January 2011). "Amadi, Elechi". In Gates, Henry Louis Jr.; Akyeampong, Emmanuel; Niven, Steven J. (eds.). Dictionary of African Biography. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press (published 2012). ISBN 9780195382075. Retrieved 2022-10-27.
  5. ^ Hans M. Zell, Carol Bundy, Virginia Coulon, A New Reader's Guide to African Literature, Heinemann Educational Books, 1983; pp. 350-351.
  6. ^ Elechi Amadi website, CV. Archived 2013-03-26 at the Wayback Machine
  7. ^ "Literary icon, Elechi Amadi, is dead". Punch Newspapers. 29 June 2016. Retrieved 2020-05-26.
  8. ^ "Elechi Amadi (1934-2016)". The Sun Nigeria. 2016-07-08. Retrieved 2020-05-26.
  9. ^ A Celebration of J. P. Clarke's 50 Years of Artistry, A Presentation by Elechi Amadi – 13 August 2010. Archived 26 February 2013 at the Wayback Machine
  10. ^ Eustace Palmer, "Elechi Amadi and Flora Nwapa", African Literarture Today, no. 1, 1969, p. 56.
  11. ^ Alastair Niven, A Critical View on Elechi Amadi's "The Concubine" (London, 1981), p. 7.
  12. ^ Elechi Amadi website Archived 2011-07-26 at the Wayback Machine, videos.
  13. ^ Niven, A Critical View on Elechi Amadi's "The Concubine", (1981), p. 5.
  14. ^ a b "Elechi Amadi dies -". The NEWS. 2016-06-29. Retrieved 2020-05-26.
  15. ^ Preface to Seiyifa Koroye, Critical Perspectives on Elechi Amadi Archived 2013-02-20 at the Wayback Machine, Port Harcourt: Pearl Publishers/Association of Nigerian Authors.
  16. ^ Aderonke Adeleke, "Late Elechi Amadi’s Final Work Of Art, ‘When God Came’", The Cerebral Lemon Co., 1 July 2016.
  17. ^ Lindsay Barrett, "Fables From The Future: Elechi Amadi’s Philosophical Allegories", The Independent (Nigeria), 21 August 2016.
  18. ^ "Gunmen kidnap Nigerian novelist", BBC News, 6 January 2009.
  19. ^ Jimitota Onoyume and Samuel Oyadongha, "Nigeria: Novelist, Elechi Amadi Kidnapped, Freed After 23 Hours", AllAfrica, 7 January 2009.
  20. ^ "Imagine the World", Africa39.
  21. ^ Jimitota Onoyume (29 June 2016). "Elechi Amadi dies at 82". Vanguard. Retrieved 30 June 2016.
  22. ^ "Nigeria's Elechi Amadi, author of The Concubine, dies", BBC News, 30 June 2016.
  23. ^ Ben Ezeamalu, "‘Adieu Soldier and Poet,’ Soyinka pays tribute to Elechi Amadi", Premium Times, 4 July 2016.
  24. ^ "Elechi Amadi | Encyclopedia.com". www.encyclopedia.com. Retrieved 2020-05-26.
  25. ^ "Elechi Amadi dies at 82". Vanguard News. 2016-06-29. Retrieved 2020-05-26.
  26. ^ Niven, Alastair (2016-08-22). "Elechi Amadi obituary". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2020-05-26.
  27. ^ a b Onoyume, Jimitota (5 December 2016). "Rivers government renames Port Harcourt Poly after Elechi Amadi". Vanguard. Port Harcourt. Retrieved 4 January 2023.
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