Chinua Achebe vs Dmitri Shostakovich
Two child prodigies, compared on what is actually documented: field, era, country and record. No invented numbers.
The record, side by side
| Chinua Achebe | Dmitri Shostakovich | |
| Field | Literature | Music |
| Sub-field | Novelist | Composer |
| Born | 1930 | 1906 |
| Died | 2013 | 1975 |
| Country of birth | Colonial Nigeria | Russia |
| Star sign | Scorpio | Libra |
Who they are
Chinua Achebe
Father of African Literature · Author of Things Fall Apart 20 million copies sold · 57 languages translated · Most widely read African novel in history Born November 16, 1930 · Ogidi, Nigeria · Died March 21, 2013
Full biography of Chinua Achebe →
Dmitri Shostakovich
In January 1936, Josef Stalin attended a performance of Dmitri Shostakovich's opera Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District at the Bolshoi Theatre and left before the final act. Two days later, Pravda published an unsigned editorial — almost certainly authorized at the highest level — titled "Muddle Instead of Music." The article attacked the opera as "formalist" and "bourgeois," its dissonances described as deliberate assaults on Soviet socialist culture. Shostakovich was twenty-nine years old, the most celebrated composer in the Soviet Union, and now suddenly in danger. He had a new symphony nearly finished —…
Full biography of Dmitri Shostakovich →
What they share
- Their lifetimes overlap.
Where they part
- Different fields: Literature for Chinua Achebe, Music for Dmitri Shostakovich.
- Born in different countries: Colonial Nigeria and Russia.
- 24 years separate their births (1930 and 1906).
Questions people ask
- Who came first, Chinua Achebe or Dmitri Shostakovich?
- Dmitri Shostakovich. Chinua Achebe was born in 1930, Dmitri Shostakovich in 1906.
- What field is each of them in?
- Chinua Achebe is filed under Literature (Novelist). Dmitri Shostakovich is filed under Music (Composer).
- Were they contemporaries?
- Yes - their lifetimes overlap.