Tag: Chinua Achebe

We have previously celebrated in this series Nigerian literary heroes such as the late Chinua Achebe, the Nobel prize winner, Wole Soyinka and other cultural vanguards, whose literary interventions constitute significant touchstones of the collective efforts at decolonisation, as well as the confrontation of our nation’s post-independence struggles. I wrote earlier that Nigeria’s political predicament was matched by several attempts at a literary depiction of our collective situation. The imperative of progress from colonial to postcolonial status was the occasion for the formation of those literary heroes and heroines whose creative energies kept the national project in constant literary ferment. While a number of options are available to these writers, their utilization of mythic resources particularly makes the effort at a literary engagement of socio-political crises very pungent. Myth occurs in the history of all human traditions and communities and it is a basic constituent of human culture. Using myth as the basis of a rethinking of collective political existence becomes a unique literary ingenuity. It is from this perspective that it can be said that Daniel Olorunfemi Fagunwa, Hubert Adedeji Ogunde and Amos Tutuola represent a unique group of mythmakers who deploy significant aspects of oral tradition not just as a flowery tribute to literary distinctiveness, but as a culminated contribution to the Nigerian literary space with both a didactic and functional signature.

D. O. Fagunwa and Amos Tutuola are known for novels that chronicle tales of marvels and magic, while Hubert Ogunde cuts across the Nigerian cultural landscape as an actor, playwright, theatre manager and musician. In particular, encounters with the writings of Fagunwa give the impression of a writer deeply steeped in the folkloric tradition of Yoruba storytelling. Besides being a major precursor to many Nigerian writers, Fagunwa made a choice of an indigenous language as the medium for his creative outputs. This fact requires some elaboration. First, at a time the British hegemony had imposed English as the colonial language of administration in the country, it took a lot of courage for Fagunwa to insist that his works remain in Yoruba. Secondly, Fagunwa’s linguistic choice is also evocative of a cultural pride that is often missing in the modern narratives of many African countries currently being overwhelmed by the ravaging forces of globalization. Consequently, his Ogboju Ode Ninu Igbo Irunmale (1938; The Forest of a Thousand Daemons), became the first full-length novel published in the Yoruba language. His second novel, Igbo Olodumare (‘The Forest of God’) was published in 1949. He also wrote Ireke Onibudo (1949; ‘The Sugarcane of the Guardian’), Irinkerindo Ninu Igbo Elegbeje (1954; ‘Wanderings in the Forest of Elegbeje’), and Adiitu Olodumare (1961; ‘The Secret of the Almighty’); a number of short stories; and two travel books. One marked distinction of Fagunwa’s works is the vividness of language usage and a picaresque which resonate with profound moral insights. Again, this last point needs a brief explanation. In an age in which government is massively recruiting different options to combat moral anarchy, a plethora of moral gems can be found in Fagunwa. It may not be far from the truth to say that Achebe’s famous ‘writer-as-teacher’ dictum was partly inspired by how his predecessor wrote to teach morals and to bring his audience to a level of moral awareness. Fagunwa’s imagery, humour, wordplay and rhetoric, which all reveal an extensive knowledge of classical Yoruba, is not just an embellishment of literary devices. They serve thematic concerns.

Amos Tutuola’s stories equally incorporated Yoruba myths and legends into loosely constructed prose epics that improvised on traditional themes. Unlike Fagunwa, Tutuola wrote largely in English and is also a major reference point in the canons of Nigerian Literature in English. One of Tutuola’s greatest charms was his language. He wrote in a way that made his language appear uncorrupted by western literary gimmicks. The words read quickly like some terse, simple narratives, but the impact sinks almost as original and poetic. The Nigerian professor, Morala Ogundipe-Leslie noted of Tutuola’s language: ‘He has simply and boldly (or perhaps innocently) carried across into his English prose the linguistic pattern and literary habits of his Yoruba language, using English words as counters. He is basically speaking Yoruba but using English words.’

His works articulate a unique example of a hybridized interface between Nigeria’s pre-colonial oral folklore and literary modes of discourse. The Palm-wine Drinkard (1952) is obviously his most famous literary work, a classic quest tale that was the first Nigerian book to, in a sense, achieve critical acclaims and international fame. The story tells the mythological story of a man who follows a palm wine tapster into the land of the dead or ‘Deads’ Town.’  Here, the man encounters the familiar elements subsumed in the folktale narrative: the world of magic, ghosts, demons and supernatural beings. Some of his other works include: My Life in the Bush of Ghosts (1954), Simbi and the Satyr of the Dark Jungle (1955), The Brave African Huntress (1958), etc. The relevance of Tutuola seems obvious considering his important contributions to the preservation of the structure of the oral tale in modern Nigerian Literature

Hubert Ogunde, often described as ‘the father of Nigerian theatre’, was a theatre doyen who, like Fagunwa and Tutuola, deployed the mythic imagination in the mobilization of literary works for the goals of national rebirth. The Ogunde Concert Party, a company which he founded in 1945, was Nigeria’s first professional theatrical company. It travelled around Nigeria, West Africa and the rest of the world performing plays such as Garden of Eden, Strike and Hunger, Herbert Macaulay, Slavery, Police Brutality and Princess Jaja (which celebrated the richness of the country’s indigenous cultures while also shedding light on the ills plaguing its government and society). Ogunde’s theatre ensemble was a committed one; it constituted an ample chance to contribute to pressing social issues and dialogues in the public domain. He passionately spoke of his theatre production as the mirror dictum of what literature should be all about. He once said, ‘I must reflect the image of the society we live in.’ Hence, his social vision was exposed through the opportunity theatrical performances afforded him in interaction with the public. So, for him, theatre goes beyond the sheer pleasure of the lights and costumes; it was a tool for social engineering and popular interaction. It was a medium to register, first, displeasures at certain social-political and economic realities, and to articulate solutions to them. This was the highest point of his theatre experiences. His theatre represented the participatory framework of the African theatrical tradition which allows for spontaneous and instantaneous feedbacks from the audiences.

Why are these legendary pioneers significant for our contemporary national project? There is only one reason: they saw in the context of folklores and mythological narratives a possibility of narrating the experiences of what we used to be and what we can recreate ourselves to be. In other words, a people can only locate themselves within the context of what they are and what they believe they can ever be. Their works point to the balance and fluidity of wholeness that can arise from a dexterous combination of varying worldviews and perspectives. Their creative energies provide us with latent possibilities that remain hidden when other national resources have become exhausted. In the magical realities they presented to us, we can hear the birds sing, the roars of the waves and the lush grasses that portend that we can still dream of what we want to be as Nigerians. By looking at the past, they present us alternative imageries of what we desire to be as Nigerians.