Reading Chinua Achebe’s Arrow of God as Igbo Speculative Fiction
Conference: The 23rd Annual International Conference of the Igbo Studies Association (ISA) (2026)
Presenter(s): Ada Uzoamaka Azodo
Presentation Date: May 14, 2026 @ 01:29 AM
Abstract
The second quarter of the twenty-first century and moving forward towards a viable African future call for a speculative approach in African literature discourse to be placed on its traditional foundations. With advanced technological knowledge impacting social media, literature, science, culture, economy, politics, value systems, and more, it is time to forage into African cosmology in the quest for progress towards a desirable African future. Generally speaking, speculation fiction genre goes beyond realism and includes aspects of science fiction, the supernatural, imaginary, fantasy, futurism, and more. Rereading with a speculative lens Chinua Achebe’s third canonical novel on the Igbo world, Arrow of God, can unearth usable aspects for continually rebuilding a robust and plausible Igbo future. Observe that Things Fall Apart, No Longer at Ease, and Arrow of God comprise The African Trilogy written by Chinua Achebe. Because authorial license allowed him less than a rigid adherence to how people, places, and events are depicted, his literary imagination profited from this to challenge the boundaries of the human and divine, real and surreal, and possible and unknown. These are the domain of the speculation fiction genre. What are the power dynamics in the Ulu community? How did the people exert power in deciding the gods’ actual wish for their community over above Ezeulu’s dictates? What are the traditional rituals and rites inherent in the parallel universes of the supernatural and natural worlds in Arrow of God? These are some of the questions and more that the critic shall seek to answer in this rereading of Chinua Achebe’s Arrow of God as an Igbo specimen of speculative fiction.
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