African Author Urges Dialogue

Western perceptions of Africa are based on preconceptions and not first-hand knowledge, a prominent Nigerian novelist told an audience of more than 175 people yesterday at Boylston Hall.

Chinua Achebe, whose literary works have been translated into 30 languages, urged that relations between the West and Africa could be dramatically improved through increased dialogue.

"Dialogue cannot be replaced by even the most brilliant monologue," said Achebe. "So much of the `dialogue' is actually between the white man and his brother, and it is not working."

He said that although Europe and Africa have interacted for centuries, "the European definition of partnership successfully evades the notion of equality, and equality is the one thing Europe is reluctant to concede for others, especially Africans."

Achebe said Western conceptions of Africa were often formed by "experts and foreign correspondents," mostly white writers and missionaries who wrote of their own prejudices without regard for the Black perspective. "European reliance on their own experts would not worry us if it didn't exclude the African experience itself," he said.

According to Achebe, Western writers often accent primitive aspects of African culture to form a stereotype of "the authentic African."

"If the European decides he must talk to the African," said Achebe, "he must find one unspoiled by modern civilization, which tends to put inconvenient words in his mouth."

Achebe also read from his latest novel, "Anthills of the Savannah," which is about the president of a fictional African country and the young poet who edits the official governmentnewspaper.

Achebe, currently a visiting professor ofEnglish at the University ofMassachusetts-Amherst, has published four othernovels in addition to poetry, essays andchildren's books