The Concubine (novel)

{{Infobox book <!-- See Wikipedia:WikiProject_Novels or Wikipedia:WikiProject_Books --> | name =The Concubine | title_orig = | translator = | image = | image_caption = | author =Elechi Amadi | illustrator = | cover_artist = | country =Nigeria | language =English | series = | genre =Novel | publisher =Heinemann African Writers Series | release_date =1966 | media_type =Print (Paperback) | pages =216 pp | isbn = | preceded_by =- | followed_by =The Great Ponds }}

The Concubine is the debut novel by Nigerian writer Elechi Amadi originally published in 1966.

Set in a remote village in Eastern Nigeria, an area yet to be affected by European values and where society is orderly and predictable, the story concerns a woman "of great beauty and dignity" who inadvertently brings suffering and death to all her lovers.

The novel portrays a society still ruled by traditional gods, offering a glimpse into the human relationships that such a society creates.

On its publication in London by Heinemann Educational Books, The Concubine was hailed as a "most accomplished first performance" and "an outstanding work of pure fiction".<ref>Eustace Palmer, "Elechi Amadi and Flora Nwapa", African Literarture Today, no. 1, 1969, p. 56.</ref><ref>Eldred Jones, "African Literature 1966-1967", African Forum, vol. 3, no. 1, p.5.</ref> A critical study of the novel was written by Alatair Niven, who called it: "an example of how an absence of conscious sophistication or experimentation can result in a novel of classic simplicity.... Rooted firmly among the hunting and fishing villages of the Niger delta, The Concubine nevertheless possesses the timelessness and universality of a major novel."<ref>Alastair Niven, A Critical View on Elechi Amadi's "The Concubine" (London, 1981), p. 7.</ref>

The Concubine has been made into a film, written by Elechi Amadi and directed by Nollywood director Andy Amenechi; the film was premiered in Abuja in March 2007.<ref>Elechi Amadi website, videos.</ref>

References