Now you can barely find any discussion on Heart of Darkness which does not feature Chinua Achebe’s challenge. The Massachusetts Review published the essay, and the rest was not only history but a legacy for the future. Some in the hall were shocked and horrified others, as it dawned on them what Achebe was actually saying, were exhilarated. The lecture had an instant impact in a quite literal respect. He had done so in his fiction, and here he was doing it in his social, cultural, and literary commentary. It was always Chinua Achebe’s gift to do this - to conjoin disparate spheres of discourse, to shift perspectives, to change the conception of what it was not only possible but necessary to say. It was one of those rare moments that changed the nature and shape of literary criticism it was also a rare moment in which literary criticism changed the shape and perception of the world. ON FEBRUARY 18, 1975, Chinua Achebe, regarded then and now as the father of African literature, presented a Chancellor’s Lecture on the University of Massachusetts campus titled “An Image of Africa” the subtitle, “Racism in Conrad’s Heart of Darkness,” was added later. The ISI’s director, Professor Stephen Clingman, chaired this committee, so we’ve called upon him to introduce this very special issue. “Forty Years After: Chinua Achebe and Africa in the Global Imagination” was hosted by the university’ Interdisciplinary Studies Institute, and its organizing group included Professors Joye Bowman, Sabina Murray, Britt Rusert, and Ekwueme Michael Thelwell. Editor’s Note: In our Spring issue the Massachusetts Review is honored to feature the contributions to a recent symposium held at the University of Massachusetts Amherst on October 14 and 15, 2015.
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