The Fagunwa, D. Fagunwa by Dr. Ayomide Owoyemi

 

A novel which involves the mysterious is perhaps the most difficult to write. In such a case, the writer goes really into the world of imagination and therefore it is necessary for him to have had an inborn gift of imagination

 —D. O. Fagunwa, 1960

 

My first encounter with Fagunwa was when I chanced upon an illustration from an old book, in which a man with a long beard cradling  a pipe, was sitting on a rooftop and it was captioned “baba onirugbon yeuke enitio o n gbe nibi gengele okuta”, the book was worn, torn and browned with age, it looked mysterious like the man in the book,

Most Yoruba children in those days were exposed to fantasy at tender ages, from tales told by grandfathers, grandmothers, folk stories that spoke about one spiritual ancestor or the other, Fagunwa espoused this concept, elaborated and popularized.

I wonder how many of our primary or secondary school children today know who D.O. Fagunwa was, but anyone who lived in the 40’s to the early 90’s in Yoruba speaking areas could not have evaded knowing who he was.  Fagunwa was larger than life, he was a mystery, from how he lived, where he was born even circumstances surrounding his deaths was food for mystics, how could a spirit die: “O, he died in Bida, he was alone and was seen by some locals simply walking away into the great River Niger and never returned”; “No,” another would counter, “he was seen walking on the River Niger like Jesus when suddenly Ojola-ibinu (a mythical snake-like creature from one of his novels) arose from the depths and dragged him down”; “True,” another would add, “except that someone saw him uplifted into the heavens and he disappeared”(he died December 9, 1963, near Bida at a place called punton)

As at the time when fagunwa wrote his first book very few if any books of Yoruba text existed (the Yoruba bible was the most popular then), technically he was a pioneer of Yoruba prose, influencing a long list of writers e.g Amos Tutuola, one wonders if any writer educated in Yoruba could completely escape being affected by him. Like Shakespeare or the King James Version of the Bible, he appears to have made an indelible imprint on the literary language of the Yorubas. He was also a teacher and contributed to the study of Yoruba language through his joint authorship with L.J. Lewis of Táíwò àti Kẹ́hìndé, a pioneer text for the teaching of Yoruba language in primary schools.

He was born in Oke-igbo in present day Ondo state, a setting and location that heavily influenced his stories and characters, three of his five works, as a matter of fact, embody the word ‘igbo’ as title: Igbo Irunmale; Igbo Olodumare and Igbo Elegbeje, also he would have been well aware, through the medium of traditional folktales, as a village boy, that ‘igbo’ is the abode of trolls, spirits and fairies; the home of witches and wizards; of gnomes and all classes of daemons known as ‘ebora’, whom his major characters used to confront in duels and battles during their series of adventures, he consistently used concepts, ideas and themes from local Yoruba folk tales, this theme was evident in almost all his novels. The influence of his solid Christian background (Joshua Akintunde his father and mother (Rachael Osunyomi) are both converts to Christian religion. He himself gave up his middle name) showed in his veiled and overt references to bible stories and instances, the biblical allusions in his novels are in myriads.

enjoy this beauty;

“... ogunlógò awon èdá alààyè ni nwon mò pe oòrùn naa mú, awọn alángbá

nsáré, ara wọn ndún hánránhánrán lórí ewé gbígbẹ, awọn ẹiyẹ nla kò sì ké

mó, nitori mo ti gbó igbe ẹlulu, mo ti gbọ ti àdàbà, ẹiyẹ agbe ti ké, àlùkò ti

sòrò, olúkúlùku wọn si dáké minimini si ibiti Olodùmarè so wọn lójò si, àfi

ẹiyẹ kékeré gbogbo, ti nwọn ko tobi ju alápandèdè, ni nwọn nfo sihin fò

sọhun ti ara wọn kò balè bi ewé ojú omi, nwọn nti orí igi dé orí igi bi nwọn

ti nké bi ọmọ adìe”. (Igbó, p. 1).

Citing Prof. badejo’s interpretation

“... Countless were the ones who knew the malice of the sun. Lizards were

restless, their skin crinkling stridently over dry leaves. Birds were silent.

The Black-throated Coucal has already called and the hooing had died away,

the dove has equally called, so also are the Ground Hornbill and the blue

Woodcock . Each of them fell impenetrably silent wherever their maker had

assigned them. Only the pint-sized birds that are not bigger than the swallow

bird flew ceaselessly hither and thither, restless as floating leaves on water

surface, hopping from tree to tree and chirping like chickens”.

Critics are speaking with one voice on Fagunwa’s superlative use of language, his masterful exploitation of the Yoruba language. It is the submission of most of the critics that the true greatness of Daniel Fagunwa as a writer majorly lies in the stupendous way he handles  the Yoruba language in all his five novels. The gift of language is a distinctive quality which sets Fagunwa apart from his successors. His use of language is seen to be inimitable – a master of Yoruba language, no one else comes close to achieving his dexterous verbal effects. In creativeness and inventiveness. He has no equal. Fagunwa has an ear for music and rhythms of Yoruba Language. Many of the passages in his novels have a poetic quality about them. These are elements to which the average Yoruba readers respond, with delight. It is Ulli Beier’s opinion that Fagunwa is as acknowledgeable in proverbial expression as an old oracle priest’. Abiola Irele buttresses this opinion when he says that repetition, balance and tonal forms, world building and sustained phrasing in whole passages, build up admirably in Fagunwa’s works’. And according to Olubummo, Fagunwa is able to get away with almost anything by the sheer dazzling brilliance of his words.’ Fagunwa enjoys hyperbole, and declamatory utterances. His books are full of vivid, fanciful comparisons. He also delights in ebullient rhetorical effects, which he achieves through what Lindfors calls ‘repetition, profusion of detail, and a zany extravagance of invention

He created a retinue of glowing and ebullient characters e.g  Esu Kekereode, Anjonnu Iberu, Olowoaye, Ojola Ibinu, Kako, Akaraoogun, Imodoye, Olohun Iyo, Aramanda Okunrin, Ibembe Olokunrun, Ifepade, Arogidigba, Baba Onirugbon Yeuke, Ajediran, Iragbeje, Ajantala, Ogongo Baba Eye and so on, also due to his vivid and true to life description of animals in his book he was called a zoologist by Prof Badejo of WUSTO

his books, in order of publication are:

 •1938, Ogboju Ode Ninu Igbo Irunmale (Wole Soyinka translated the book into English in 1968 as The Forest of A Thousand Demons).

 •1940, Irinkerindo Ninu Igbo Elegbeje (Expedition to the Mount of Thought).

 •1946, Igbo Eledumare (The Forest of God).

 •1949, Ireke Onibudo.

 •1963, Adiitu Olodumare.

Although Fágúnwà is most celebrated for his novels, he was also a travel writer, a fact attested by his two-volume travel memoir: Ìrìnàjò, Apá Kinní (1949) and Ìrìnàjò, Apá Kejì (1951). He contributed, and wrote the introduction, to a collection of short stories entitled Àsàyàn Ìtàn (Selected Stories). With E. L. Lasebikan, he co-authored a short story, Òjó As`tán, Ìwé Kinní (Òjó, the Storyteller, Book 1).

The symbolism in Fagunwa's novels are to be interpreted at more than one level. On the superficial level, they are stories of adventure: A hero sets out on a journey to a forest or in quest of an object. At the deeper level, the journey is an allegory of life's journey with its attendant problems and difficulties. It is only through an understanding of this deeper level that we can attein the full meaning of the novels 

Fagunwa was legendary in creating those five classics that have refused to age and fade. Fagunwa’s works had been adapted for the stage over time, but a conscious attempt at telling his tales in modern ways through movies and documentaries will cement and promulgate the legacies of this man

Kids of nowadays should be made to remember Akara ogun in the same way they will remember Aragon of lord of the ring fame or sokoti like they will remember legolas…………….fagunwa is the king of modern Yoruba fantasy

 

 

He said and I quote
"we should not merely copy others but should give first consideration to the need of our society"

Daniel Olorunfẹmi Fagunwa MBE (1903 – 9 December 1963)

 

Dr. Ayomide Owoyemi is a Medical Doctor and an art, music and history enthusiast

ff @ayomidejoe on twitter

 

References

1.      Tunde fagbenle dec 2010 for village Square

2.      Dr. Bayo Adebowale, lecture delivered on the occasion of Fagunwa Night, Saturday 25th February, 2011 at U.I. Amphi-Theatre, Ibadan.)

3.      Alena Rettová  Symbolism in D.O.Fagunwa's The Forest of a Thousand Daemons Universität Leipzig, Sommersemester 1999

4.      Encyclopedia Brittanica

5.      Ayo Bamgbose, The Navels of D. O. Fagunwa (Benin City: Ethiope Publishing Corp., 1974)

6.      BERNTH LINDFORS, Form, Theme, and Style in the Narratives of D. O. Fagunwa university of NairobiThe International Fiction Review, 6, No. 1 (1979)