No Longer at Ease

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No Longer at Ease by Chinua Achebe: Episode 1

No Longer at Ease by Chinua Achebe

Episode 1

BBC Radio 4 - No Longer at Ease by Chinua Achebe, Episode 1

Obi Okonkwo stands trial, accused of accepting a twenty dollar bribe.

Obi Okonkwo stands trial accused of accepting a twenty dollar bribe. Chinua Achebe's classic novel portrays the corrupt system of government in Nigeria in the 1960s.

No Longer at Ease is the classic 1960s novel by Nigerian author Chinua Achebe. 

It's the story of an Igbo man, Obi Okonkwo, who leaves his village for an education in Britain and then a job in the Nigerian colonial civil service, but is conflicted between his African culture and Western lifestyle and ends up taking a bribe. The novel is the second work in what is sometimes referred to as the "African trilogy", following Things Fall Apart and preceding Arrow of God. 

No Longer at Ease continues many of the themes from Achebe's first novel. Here, the clash between European and traditional cultures has become entrenched during the long period of colonial rule. Obi struggles to balance the demands of his family and village for monetary support while simultaneously keeping up with the materialism of Western society.

Written by Chinua Achebe
Abridged by Jane Rogers

Read by Paterson Joseph
Produced by Clive Brill
A Brill production for BBC Radio 4

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