Elechi Amadi was born into an Ikwerre family in Aluu near Port Harcourt, in the Delta region of Eastern Nigeria. He studied at the Government College in Umuahia, and like other major Nigerian writers, he was educated at the University College of Ibadan. Its legendary English department and the student magazine The Horn encouraged a number of aspiring writers, the likes of Nobel Laurette Wole Soyinka. Amadi, however, studied natural sciences receiving his B. Sc. in physics and mathematics in 1959.
Amadi's early novels, like Chinua Achebe's, are set in his traditional African setting. Amadi's first novel, The Concubine, was published in 1966, six years after Nigeria's independence. The story was set in the area near Port Harcourt. It starts out as a depiction of village life, its conflicts, ancient customs, and gods, but then it proceeds into mythological level. Ihuoma is the most desirable woman in Omigwe village and the tragic heroine, whose well-fed look does a great credit her husband. He dies, but she has won the heart of the hunter Ekwueme. They deny their love so that Ekwueme can marry another woman, to whom he has been betrothed since birth. At the end Amadi reveals that Ihuoma is actually the wife of the Sea-King, the ruling spirit of the sea, but she had assumed the human form.
The widely acclaimed work was followed by his other works such as The Great Ponds, depicting a war between two villages over fishing rights, and The Slave, in which the protagonist fights against his background, but after a brief career in freedom. Amadi's books form a historical trilogy about traditional life in the rural, pre-colonial Nigeria.
The widely acclaimed work was followed by his other works such as The Great Ponds, depicting a war between two villages over fishing rights, and The Slave, in which the protagonist fights against his background, but after a brief career in freedom. Amadi's books form a historical trilogy about traditional life in the rural, pre-colonial Nigeria.
BOOKS PUBLISHED
- THE CONCUBINE, 1966
- THE GREAT PONDS, 1969
- translator: with Obiajunwo Wali and Greensille Enyinda: Okwukwo Eri, 1969 (hymnbook)
- translator: Okupkpe, 1969 (prayerbook)
- SUNSET BIAFRA: A CIVIL WAR DIARY, 1973 (essays)
- ISIBURU, 1973 (play)
- PEPPERSOUP, 1977 (play)
- PEPPERSOUP, AND THE ROAD TO IBADAN, 1977 (play)
- THE SLAVE, 1978
- DANCER OF JOHANNESBURG, 1979
- ETHICS IN NIGERIAN CULTURE, 1982 (essays)
- ESTRANGEMENT, 1986
- ELECHI AMADI AT 55: POEMS, SHORT STORIES, AND PAPERS, 1989 (ed. by W. Feuser and Ebele Eko)
MORE INFORMATION
Elechi Amadi Official Web Page
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