Perhaps learn the meaning of the phrase "by commonly accepted measures" before you accuse someone of racism. I'm pretty sure hardly anyone knows about Chinua Achebe, so your definition of "widely" must be quite wide.
Perhaps learn the meaning of the phrase "by commonly accepted measures" before you accuse someone of racism. I'm pretty sure hardly anyone knows about Chinua Achebe, so your definition of "widely" must be quite wide.
Things Fall Apart has sold over 20 million copies and has been translated into more than 50 languages. It is a staple of literature curriculums in schools and universities across the globe. That isn't a "wide" definition of widely known; it's the standard one.
Then you have Chimamanda Adichie, who has sold millions of copies and won several awards, including the BBC National Short Story Award, widely described as "one of the most prestigious awards for a single short story"
Then another Nigerian writer, Wole Soyinka, won the Nobel fucking Prize in Literature in 1986. Or is that measure not good enough for you, your highness ?
Not only do you come across as racist, you clearly have no idea what you're talking about. Congratulations.
These examples seem highly cherry-picked. If you look at bestseller lists, or writers who average people actually know, the results are in fact very different. Your accusation ("racist") is defamatory.
Calling a Nobel Prize winner, among others 'cherry-picked' in an argument about literary greats where you asked for 'commonly accepted measures' is one of the most intellectually dishonest things I've ever read, so congratulations again.
You were thoroughly proven wrong so now your new standard for literary greatness is "writers that average people know" ? (which is really just code for 'writers I know', because millions do know those writers, I wasn't sharing some secret). I guess that means we can throw out Faulkner, Joyce, and Woolf in favor of whoever's currently at the top of the airport bookstore list.
It's not "defamatory" to point out that your argument, which began with a dismissive generalization about an entire country, was based on profound ignorance (the kind that wouldn't have taken anything more than a basic google search to remedy). You were corrected with facts. Instead of going, 'I stand corrected, sorry', you're doubling down. It just makes you look worse, and stupid.
This is the most basic racist playbook happening in real time, and you're the star. If you genuinely think you aren't then you need to take a long, good look at yourself.