Mythology and Africanism - A Study

7/27/2019 Mythology and Africanism - A Study

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MYTHOLOGY AND AFRICANISM. A STUDY OF AMOS

TUTUOLAS THE PALM-WINE DRINKARD(1961) AND WOLE

SOYINKAS THE FOREST OF A THOUSAND DAEMONS(1982)

BY

AJ IBOLA, TOYIN DAUDA

07/15CD034

A RESEARCH PROJECT SUBMITTED TO THE DEPARTMENT OF

ENGLISH, FACULTY OF ARTS, UNIVERSITY OF ILORIN, IN PARTIAL

FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE AWARD OF

BACHELOR OF ARTS (B.A. HONS.)

JUNE, 2011


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CERTIFICATION

This is to certify that this research project has been read and

approved as meeting the requirements of the Department of English,

Faculty of Arts, University of Ilorin, Kwara State, Nigeria.

.. .

Dr. Kayode Afolayan Date

Project Supervisor

.

Dr. S.T. Babatunde Date

Head of Department

.

External Examiner Date


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ACKNOWLEDGMENT

To God almighty who owns my soul, spirit and body,who also make me

to witness a day like this wonderful one. To my supervisor, Dr. Kayode

Afolayan. Dr. A. S. Idiagbon, thank you for getting me informed.

Chief S. S. Ajibola; words can not express the depth of my gratitude that

I owe you many thanks for your support, interest and kindness

Mum, thanks so much for being there. Dad; thanks for your great advice

,your words can not be erase in my heart.

My departmental colleagues; Thank you all for carrying me along.

Dr. Mrs. B. F. Ibrahim, thank you so much.


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ABSTRACT

The aesthetic and cultural heritage of Africa are in facets and

mythology is unarguably part of these facets. This research intends to

analyze the underpinnings of mythology evident in the Yoruba cosmology,

as its relevance within African cultural production. Data will be colleted

from Wole Soyinkas The Forest of a Thousand Daemons (1982). And

Amos Tutuolas The Palm-wine Drinkard (1961). Which is in consonance

with the main research objective, that is, to examine mythology and its

reconstruction in the selected works. The application of the theory in

interpreting data subsumes that mythology reveals the primal foundation of

African culture and consequently of history. This research finds out that

mythology is of relevance to the contemporary society. The suppressed

African heritage must be resuscitated, as it has been influenced by the

Western World, and there is no better effort than Soyinkas and Tutuolas

transposition of African culture.


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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Title page i

Certification ii

Dedication iiiAcknowledgment iv

Abstract v

Table of contents vi

CHAPTER ONE

1.0 Background to the study 1

1.1 Purpose of study 51.2 J ustification of study 6

1.3 Methodology 7

1.4 Scope of study 8

1.5 Structure of thesis 9

CHAPTER TWO

2.0 Literature Review 11

CHAPTER THREE

3.0 The Palm Wine Drinkard: looking at the subtopic of the chapters. 22

CHAPTER FOUR

4.0 The Forest of a Thousand Daemons: looking at the subtopic of the

chapters. 30

CHAPTER FIVE

5.0. Conclusion 37

Bibliography 39


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CHAPTER ONE

1.0. GENERAL BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY

Myth is a traditional or legendary story, usually concerning some being or

hero or event, with or without a determinable basis of fact or natural

explanation, especially and that is concerned with details or demigods and

explains some practice, vie, and phenomenon of nature.

Similarly, Mythology can also be a story about superhuman beings

of an earlier age taken by preliterate society to be a true account, usually

of how natural phenomena, social customs and others came into

existence. A traditional story accepted as history; serves to explain the

world view of a people, can also be an ancient, fictional story, especially on

a sealing with gods, heroes and others.

The term Mythology can also be either the study of Myths, or to a

body of Myths. For example, Comparative Mythology is the study of

connections between Myths from different cultures whereas Greek

Mythology is the body of Myths from ancient Greece. The term Myths is

often used colloquially to refer to a false story but academic use of the

term generally to Mean Passing J udgment on truth or falsity.

In addition, Folklore is unwritten Literature of a people as expressed

in Folk takes, proverb, riddles Songs and others.

Similarly, its also the body of stories and legends attached to a

particular place, group, activity and others so, the Link between folklore


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and Myth is the fact that they are both unwritten literature of people as

expressed in proverbs, riddles, songs and others. In the study of Folklore,

a myth is a sacred narrative explaining how the world and humankind

came to be in their present from. Many Scholars In other filed use the term

Myth In somewhat different ways. In a very broad sense, the word can

refer to any traditional.

Soyinka, (1976) Proposed that Myth was created out of ritual. The

later tem must understood in a wide sense, because in primitive societies

everything is sacred, nothing profane. Every action eating, drinking, tilling,

fighting has its proper procedure, which being prescribed, is holy.

Soyinka 1976.

Myth can also be a scientific way of explaining an origin of creation

or the universe. Its the way in which every creation story is logically

investigated and scientifically proved. Myth is historical which must be

proved.

In another vain, Africanism is African style and way of doing thing,

for instance, African way of thought, language, medicine, sorcery, and

witchcraft, secret society that include Ogbooni, Oro, Egungun. African

way of worship, object of worship, places of worship.

Similarly, Africanism is how the people go about in doing and

carrying out their cultural activities.


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Relating Africanism to mythology will be very important in this work,

since myth and culture are closely related and one cannot do without the

other. If myth is a story and Africanism deals majorly with the peoples

culture and way of life, relating and revealing the history of African people,

culture, traditions and moral values through some African mythical figure

e.g. Ogun.

Myth, in this work will critically looked into the history and culture of

the African people, most especially the West people or region.

We have African mythical figures. In the likes of Ogun the god of

Iron, we have Sango god of thunder and Lightening, Orunmila, Obatala.

These entire mythical figures are the Yoruba cosmology of West African

and Nigerian.

Kennedy, (1987) posits that, myths tell us of the exploits of the gods

their battles, the ways in which they live, love and perhaps suffer all on a

scale of magnificence larger than our life.

Ibrahim, (2008) propose that myth affects the cosmic and material

belief of man in his terrestrial and celestial existence.

A belief which to Soyinka, (1962), is the functional essence of man.

The intention of every one is to fulfill his / her heart desires and he or she

does this through laid down stories about some super ordinate powers.

These suggest the concept of functional myth and its relatedness

to mythical beliefs.


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Mazisi, (1980), affairs that change is possible only through myth.

Myth can crate an acute vision defining in a familiar cosmic terms the

future possibilities of a society.

The main characters in myths are usually gods or supernatural

heroes. As sacred stories, myth are often endorsed by rulers and priest

and closely linked to religion. In the society in which it is told, a myth is

usually regarded as a true account of the remote past. In fact, many

societies have two categories of traditional narrative, true stories or

myths, and false stories or fables. Myths generally take place in a

primordial age, when the world had not yet achieved its current form, and

explain how the world gained its current form and how customs,

institutions, and taboos were established.

In many cultures, it is hard to draw a sharp line between myths and

legends. Instead of dividing their traditional stories into myths, legends and

folktales, one that roughly corresponds to folktales, and one that combines

myths and legends. Even myths and folktales are not completely distinct.

In other word, myth, legend, saga, fable some kind of J okes,

traditional stories, in turn, are only one category writing folklore, which also

includes items such as gestures, costumes, and music.

1.1 PURPOSE OF STUDY

Since, myth is a traditional or legendary story, this shows the

usefulness of myth in every society in the world. This work will interrogate


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African world is an example the two authors selected is well grounded in

mythology and understands Africanism very well.

1.3 METHODOLOGY

The functional myth theory will be employed as analytical tool. Since

myth has functions and its this functions, this research work will be looking

at. This concept simply talks about how myths were used to teach morality

and social behavior. It states that myths told about what types of things

should and shouldnt be done and the consequences for those wrong

doing. The functional myth theory also states that myths were created for

social control and served the function of insuring stability in a society.

1.4 SCOPE OF STUDY

This research work will cover all areas that explain the relationship

between the study of mythology and Africanism and will focus on Yoruba

setting, with a particular attention on the Yoruba cosmology from the

selected texts.

Also, this research work will be the fact gathered from Dictionaries,

Internet, personal observation, textbooks, and notebooks. The study will

end after showing the great importance and function of mythology and also

showing Africanism as a rich cultural heritage and historical background


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contrary to what the Europeans thought it was (Cultureless, colorless, and

others).

1.5 STRUCTURE OF THESIS

This research work has five chapters.

Chapter one is the general background to the topic; Mythology and

Africanism.

Chapter two is the literature review which will define myth and

Africanism and also talk on what other scholars had say concerning them.

In chapter three, the focus will be on the subtopic of the chapters

of the palm wine drunkard.

Chapter four will also focus on the subtopic of the chapters of

forest of a thousand daemons.

Finally chapter five focuses on the conclusion and

bibliography.


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WORKS CITED

Soyinka W. (1979). Myth, Literature and The African World.

Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Ibrahim B.F. (2008). Themes, Patterns and Oral aesthetic form in

Nigerian Literature. Ilorin: Hay tee Press.

Chinweizu et al. (1980). Towards the Decolonization of African

Literature, Enugu: Fourth Dimension Publication Co. ltd.


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CHAPTER TWO

2.0 LITERATURE REVIEW

Defining a myth is not an easy pre-occupation because of the many

complexities surrounding it. The term Mythology is loosely used to refer to

a body of myths. A myth is usually in a narrative poem or written play. It is

different from narrative tales only because it is believed to be substantially

true. Myths Originated out of the need to explain certain phenomena,

customs, or beliefs. This explains the relationship between mythology and

Africanism which shows that myths has its own function and importance in

any society.

Cam bell, (1988:22) believed that there were two different orders of

mythology: that there are myths that are metaphorical of spiritual

potentiality in the human being, and that there are myths, That have to do

with specific societies.

Ward, (1911:8) asserts that religion is the effective desire to be in

the night relation to the power manifesting itself in the universe. This

proposes that it is the explanations and character of gods shows by

mythology that aids man to keep his relations with them on the right basis.

It consequently means that the mythic faculty is present in the thinking

process and answers a basic human need.

Kennedy, (1987:624) posits that myths tell us of the exploits of the

gods their battles, the ways in which they live, love and perhaps suffer all


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on a scale of magnificence larger than our life. Considering Kennedys

suggestion, it is clear that for the gods to have the highlighted attributes,

they must have defined cultural background. This shows another

relationship between mythology, Africanism and history. Since Africanism

is African ways and style of doing things, it is also the race, the people

ways of life is their culture.

Culture encompasses tradition, norms, mannerisms, customs and

others. Africanism means the African people world view, peoples

collective Endeavour to live and come to term with their environment. Frere

speculative debates have ensured on the synonymy of myth, Africanism

and history. The notions of what Africanism, history and of what event is

possibly range or vary from place to place, and region to region. It is

difficult to lay down rules discrimination between Africanism and the

mythical, except through a wide range of experience coming from various

region and strata of development.

In an attempt to solve the ongoing, scholars have stated their

opinions by trying to draw a line between, Soyinka differentiate between

European two different world view.

Soyinka, (1979:48) posits that; George strainer observes, in his

diagnosis of the decline in tragic grand our of the European dramatics

vision, a relatedness between this decline and that of the organic world

view and of its attendant context of mythological, symbolic and ritual


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reference. The implication of this, a strange one to the African world

view is that, to expand stories own metaphor the world in which lightning

was a cornice in the cosmic architecture of man collapsed at that moment

when Benjamin Franklin tapped its power with a kite. The assimilative

wisdom of African metaphysics recognizes no difference in essence

between the mere means of happing the power of lightning whether it is by

ritual sacrifice, through the purgative will of the community unleashing in

J ustice on the criminal, or through the agency of Franklins revolutionary

gadget.

Its evident in the above Soyinka that, the African world view is

different from the Europeans. This explains the concept of Africanism.

Chinweizu et al, (1980) assets that;

African oral literature is important to the

Enterprise of Decolonizing African literature

For the important reason that is an incontestable

Reservoir of the values, sensibilities, Aesthetics

And achievements of traditional African thought and

Imagination, outside the plastic arts: It serves as the ultimate

foundation guidepost and point of departure for liberating

African literature. It is the only root from which modern African

Literature must draw substance p.10


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It is not unrealistic therefore to posit that are bound to be re-evaluated

recast, or even rejected as the society which produces it develops new

physical and social conditions through history. This re-evaluation to suit the

state of the contemporary society, without the loss of the aesthetics of

mythology is what Wole Soyinka and Amos Tutuola make evidence

through their library mode of play /Drama texts.

NOVELIST REVIEW

A playwright, also known as a dramatist, is a person who writes

dramatic literature or drama, whose productions through library vision are

pictured in literary output.

Ojaide, (1998:135) an advocate of literature tradition succinctly

assets that;

In Africa, a Dramatist is not only a

Specifically gifted person, but

His gauge of societys condition is more

Perceptive than the man of common

Disposition. He sees through what appears to the

Rest of the society as opaque.

Wanjala, (1983:22) equally observed that, the Dramatist is a student of his

society in that he recognizes the myths, the hoper and aspirations of his

people and strives to recreate them imaginatively to reflect the inner

meanings of the society about which and for whom he speaks.


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The position of the Dramatist, in the society, is most tasking in that he is

saddled with the responsibility of understanding the intricacies and

complexities which his society is enmeshed in and must be able to mirror

the society in which he finds himself.

Udoeyop (1973:15) affirms that,

The Dramatist is not a historian,

or doctor whose only duty is to perform autopsy.

The secret of his divination lies in his sensitivity to

Register accurately the creaks of lifes puppetry to

Create for us an accurate image of the grotesque masquerades he

sees as part of the reality of our society

These assertions confidently show that the African Dramatist is an artisan

who showcases and projects the image of his society. Wole Soyinka and

Amos Tutuola are those Dramatist. They achieve this through

mythodramatism which is the systemization and consequently the

culmination of myth and play or Drama.

SOYINKAS REVIEW

It is one that we can commend to society. Fagunwa is one of the

great pioneers of the fiction Genre In our indigenous language, a trial

blazer in the modernization and preservation of a traditional culture. A

forest of a thousand daemons is a world classic, a story that will be forever

young because it speaks to our fundamental yearning for adventure, thrill


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and wisdom. This shows the functional essence of myth in its relation to

Africanism.

Osofisan added that he was excited because Charms realized the

need to promote Nigerians indigenous culture by investing in the play

unlike. Some companies that promote foreign derived shows.

Osofisan 1979

The Translator, Wole Soyinka explains that four hundred has a

similar meaning in Yoruba to what we mean by a thousand and that

daemon is closer in essence to the Yoruba Imole than gods, deities, or

demons. Soyinka deploys obscure English world to convey shades of

meaning and sort out the many types of creature in this tale.

Though, Soyinka is known with his complexities in his words usage,

but sine a forest of thousand Daemon is not his original work but rather a

translated work of Fagunwa. This makes the words a simple and

understandable one. Even Average reader will read and understand. This

did not attract much criticism compare to Wole Soyinkas Idanre.

Femi Osofisan settle the Matter when he acknowledges that he has

been one of Soyinkas ardent critics to whom he himself has replied with

some of his most famous diatribe but it is also true that all quarrels with

Soyinka are in the end, nothing less than a tribute to his genius that our

disagreement with him represent with all fierceness, the kind of damage

that admires pay to masters. Osofisan 1979


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Wole Soyinkas language is fresh inventive and potential laden.

However, he remains a remarkable craftsman in fusing, enriching,

transforming and elevating the English and Yoruba languages into a

metaphoric unified medium of the celebration of human potential and the

rich cultural heritage of Africa.

Soyinka believes that all religions are metaphors for the strategy of

Man, coping with the vast unknown. He subscribe to the Yoruba belief that

the gods man, and nature are bound in the interest of the psychic well

being of the universe.

TUTUOLAS REVIEW

Tutuola acclaiming west and criticism at home. The book was based

on Yoruba folktales, but was largely his own invention using pidgin English

prose. While distinctly African, the novel bears some resemblance to the

magic realism works of South African writers such as J uan Rulfo and

Gabriel Garcia Marguez. In all of these works the tone is mythical and pre-

modern, but told in the form of a narrative novel which is in essence a

modern form. This contrast is manifestation of the transition between

traditional cultures and the global trend towards modernity.

The wine Drinkard tells the mythological story of a man who follows

a palm wine tapster into the land of the dead or Dreads Town there he

finds a world of magic, ghosts, demons, and supernatural beings. The


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book came out in 1952 and received appraisal from Dylan Thomas as well

as other Western Intellectual figures of the time

However, among many Africa intellectuals it caused controversy and

received harsh criticism. In Nigeria, in particular, some feared the story

showed their people in a negative light.

Specifically, that is depicted a drunk, used pidgin English, and

promoted the idea Africans were superstitious. However, Nigerian novelist

Chinua Achebe defended Tutuilas works stating the stories in it can also

be read as moral tales commenting on Western consumerism.

(From Wikipedia, the froe encyclopedia) The novel, the palm wine

Drinkard draws closely on the traditional repertory of the writers culture.

The novel is also unique with its chain of disjointed episodes. A close

examination of the inner structure of the way, in which individual episodes

are constructed, set in sequence and woven together into coherent design

makes the work to be outstanding. Its style is essentially an oral style. In

syntax as well as imagery and narrative content, Tutuola Sounded exactly

like a Yoruba raconteur.


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WORKS CITED

Cambell, J . (1988). The power of myth: New York Doubleday Ltd.

Ward W. F. (1911). Religious Experience of the Roman People.

London: Fowler P.8

Kennedy X. J . (1987). Literature: An Introduction to fiction, Poetry and

Drama. London: Little Brown and Company.

Soyinka W. (1979:48). Myth, Literature and the African World.

Cambridge: Cambridge University Press P.64.

Chinweizu et al (1980). Towards the Decolonization of African

Literature, Enugu: fourth Dimension Publication Co. Ltd.

Ojaide, T. (1998). Poetic Imagination in Black Africa: Essay on African

Poetry in a research in African, Literature. Abiola Irele. (ed). Indiana:

University Press. P135

Wanjala C. (1983). Discovering Easy African Poets In East Africa

Literature: An Anthology. Arne Zetherstern (Ed). New York: London

Publishers.Udeoyop N. J . (1973). Three Nigerian Poets. Ibadan: University Press

P.15

Osofisan F. (2002). Insidious Treason: Drama in a post Colonial State.

Lagos: Concept Publication P. 20.

http://www.wikipedia.com from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.


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CHAPTER THREE

3.0 The Palm-wine Drinkard: looking at the subtopic of the chapters.

The Palm Wine Drinkard was written based on the style of African Orator,

it is picturesque or episodic, imaginative combined rhetorical forms, and

message. Amos Tutuolas work the palm wine drunkard is also a

celebration of Yoruba myths, tales and beliefs.

This narrative display a pattern: a young individual or small group

will leave the communal site of the village or town to undertake an

adventurous quest in order to resolve a particular problem that effect their

status in society. Tutuila, though, subverts the given heroic stature of

Fagunwas more traditional protagonists and his work displays none of the

strident Christian moralist and didacticism of his precursor. This is evident

in the humorous opening lines of the palm-wine Drinkard, which describes

his narrators status writing his family and society together with his

deucedly unheroic motivations and desire. I was a palm-wine drunkard

since I was a boy of ten years of age. I had no other work than to drink

palm-wine in my life. In those days we did not know other money, except

COWRIES, so that everything was very cheap, and my father was the

richest man in our town. My father got eight children and I was the eldest

among them, all of the nest were hard workers, but I myself was an expert

palm-wine drunkard. I was drinking palm-wine from morning till night and

from night till morning. By that time I could not drink ordinary water at all


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except palm-wine. But when my father noticed that I could not do any work

more than to drink, he engage an expert palm tapster for me, he had no

other work more than to tap palm-wine every day. So my father gave me a

palm-wine farm which was nine miles square and it contained 560,000

palm-trees, and this palm wine tapster was tapping one hundred and fifty

kegs pf palm-wine every morning, but before 2 0clock pm, l would have

drunk all of it; after that he would go and tap another 75 kegs in the

evening which I would be drinking till morning. So my friends were

uncountable by that time and they were drinking palm-wine with me from

morning till a late hour in the night (Tutuila 1951:1).

The death of the Drinkards father is swiftly followed by the

accidental death of his beloved palm-wine tapster, which precipitates a

crisis in the social status of the pampered and indolent young Drinkard,

and leads him to go in search of his dead tapster in the land of the Dreads

this passage also illustrates the anachronistic syncretism (out of date, and

reducing language reflection) that is so often a feature of Tutuolas

narrative landscapes. He locates the tale in an indefinite pre-colonial era

when we did not know other money, except COWRIES yet the narrative

goes on to mention such seemingly incongruous modern artifacts as guns,

bottles of wine, and a dance hall in which the lights (.) were in

Technicolors and they were changing color at five minutes (Tutuola

1952:68-69).


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Participation in ritual performances. In the context of Tutuolas

narrative structure, the J ourneys that all his protagonist undertake could be

describe as naturalistic movement or performances which carry both

connotations: as representation of the symbolic process of initiation into

the social and as individuated forms of regeneration and rebirth. Some of

the principal signifiers of ontological transformation in Tutuolas narratives

are the numerous physical transmutations his characters accomplish,

either willingly or through coercion. Anthropomorphism and shape

changing are a regular feature of Yoruba folktales and Mythology and

Tutuolas stories are similarly littered with magical transformations and

episodes involving metamorphism. In the palm-wine Drinkard the young

protagonist Akara Ogun uses, the Magical powers of his juju to change

into a variety of bird, lizard, aero plane and pebble.

(Tutuola 1951:117:40)

in the palm-wine Drinkard there is no hint of danger in the young

Drinkards description of his initial entry into the realm of the dead When I

saw that there was no palm wine for me again, and no body could tap it

for me, then I thought writing myself that old people were that the whole

people who had died in this world, did not go to heaven directly, but they

were living in one place some where in this world. So that I would find out

where my palm-wine tapster who had died was. One fine morning, I took

all my native juju and also my fathers juju with me and I left my fathers


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home town to find out whereabouts was my tapster who had died (Tutuola

1951:9). The Drinkard eventually escapes from the realm of the Deeds by

turning himself into a pebble in other to skip across a river to evade

pursuing ghosts, who he later realizes are forbidden to cross this particular

boundary. Instead of signifying danger for the Drinkard, the crossing of this

threshold actually signifies freedom and escape from danger.

Subsequently, Tutuola undoubtedly followed a form of narrative

structure first employed by D.O. Fagunwa, in his stories written in Yoruba

and published in the 1930s and 1940s.

What is so vital about The Palm Wine Drinkard is Tutuolas absolute

dedication to the fantastic. All laws of the probables are flouted and

everything is elastic. Details are hasty and sketched and sentences often

end with a blunt etc. Things are most often described by the elements

that mark them out, make them what they are. For brevity, places and

things are named by their description.

The Red People in the Red Town or, rather wonderfully, The

skull as a complete Gentlemen. The latter is a bare Cranium that hires

body parts and a nice suit and poses in the market place as a kind of

Bryan Ferry in order to lure pretty young women. Events are compressed,

time collapses, a decade passes in a sentence. It is, appropriately, a

drunken logic. (Tutuola 1951:73, 18).


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In addition, the plot, such as it is, follows the eldest of eight children.

His work, as he puts it, is to drink palm-wine. He is an expert and drinks

225 kegs of it a day. He cannot even drink plain water any more. The

drunkard is supplied by a tapster who falls fatally from a tress and,

because nobody can tap palm-wine as well as this character, the narrator

sets off for Dead Town to find his posthumous incarnation. On the way,

the drunkard finds up a wife, uses all kind of juju and meets incredible

characters such as The invisible pawn The Hungry creature and The

faithful mother in the white Tree, Inside the white Tree is a kind of hotel

cum- hospital with a great ballroom-scale is immaterial in the Bush. It is

like a mutilated episode of in the Night Garden or an adventure from The

mighty Bush, (Tutuola 1951:69-72, 85-92).

Lastly the palm-wine Drinkard aroused exceptional worldwide

interest. Drawing on the West African Yoruba Oral Folktale tradition,

Tutuola described the odyssey of a devoted palm-wine drinker through a

nightmare of fantastic adventure. Since them, the palm-wine Drinkard has

been translated into more than 15 languages and has come to be regarded

as a master work of one of Africas most influential writers.

Fable is usually a very brief story its concern is to explain a problem

in very simple terms, or to point out a moral truth in an offensive manner.

This is why it usually carries a deeper meaning, through a surface story.

More often than not, the characters are mostly animals who act as


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surrogate human being. This does not however totally exclude human

characters in some cases. Example abound in Amos Tutuolas The Palm

wine Drinkard. For example,

At the same time that this

Rod fish saw stood before

Their hold, it was laughing and

Coming towards me

Live a human-being.

(Tutuola 1951:80)


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REFERENCES

Soyinka W. (1979). Myth, Literatures and the African World.

Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Pp. 140-160.

http://www.spikemagazine.come/amos-tutuola-the-palm-winedrinkardphp


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CHAPTER FOUR

4.0 THE FOREST OF A THOUSAND DAEMONS: looking at the

subtopic of the chapters.

The forest of a thousand Daemons was written in 1938 in response

to a literacy contest sponsored by the Nigerian ministry of education. It is

considered the first novel to be written in Yoruba and one of the first to be

written in any of Africas indigenous language.

The story which follows is a veritable agidigbo, writes the author in

the opening section of forest of a thousand Daemons. He only plays a

small part in the novel, as his role is essentially that of amanuensis, talking

down AkaraOgun. It is the talks the old man relates that make up almost

the entire book. Forest of a thousand Daemons is thus a second-hand

take, and an oval account set down on paper ,,, and, as the author notes,

an account that is drummed more than it is merely recounted. My friends

all like the sonorous proverb do we drum the agidigbo, it is the wise who

dance to it, and the learned who understand its language. Thats a lot for

printed word on a page to live up to, and much of the musicality is surely

also lost in translation. (Soyinka 1982:7) Akara Oguns name means

compound of spalls and he has a few up his sleeve to help him in the

adventures he relates. He is a hunter, but the forest --as the books title

suggestcontains much in are than trust game.


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Ali, a most evil forest of a thousand daemons, it is the very abode of

ghommids. P14

But, of course, in his younger days he ventured there though his first

encounter with the powerful supernatural creatures of the forest leads him

to fall right back on:

An appropriate spell egbe,

the rarified, which transports him right back to the safety of his room. Pp

14, 16

AkaraOgun does go on to have a variety of adventures among the many

unusual spirits and creatures of this alter world. There is a creature with

sixteen eyes being arranged around the base of his head, a women who

transforms herself into everything from a tree to an antelope to a roaring

fire, a four headed man (Whose name was fear, Eru) ostrich-king (He

was bird from his neck downwards, the rest was human) and, perhaps

most impressively, tiny, swarming sand elves.

(Soyinka 1982:84, 86).

Akara-Ogun and various friends of his are tested along the way. Betrayal

and Murder are common, and few of the outcomes can be described as

happy. Fed up by the treachery around him Akara Ogun goes on a

slaughtering rampage or two as well.

There are some places where Akara-Ogun feels comfortable, but

more typically, he finds himself in nightmarish locales.


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xxxiii

The name of the city is

Is filth. It is a place of suffering

And contempt, a city of greed and

Contumely, a city of envy and wrangles,

A city of death and diseases a variety city

Of sinners Pp. 44-58.

There is a great deal of rich material here, but the stories are rather

hurriedly told and several times too often theres a reluctance to say much

of anything.

But how many should recount,

how many tell, how much can I tell you

about the many encounters in these places.

I have mentioned I they were numerous than lips

can tell the rest is silence.

Theres too much silence, theres not enough to these adventures, not like

this (which may be a reflection of how much is missed by the reader who is

unfamiliar with Yoruba myth, fiction, and approaches to story telling).

A great deal of language and of the drumbeat of the account is

surely lost in translation. Soyinka does address some of this in his very

brief translators introduction. His rendering does read quite well, but at

times it is obvious what great compromises he had to make: consider just:

Do not permit your child to


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xxxiv

Keep bad company, that he

Start from youth to pub-crawl.

(Its clear what he means, but obviously the pub has no place in his

setting).

The Literal meaning of the books title is The Brave Hunter in the

forest of 400 Deities, but the translator non other than Wole Soyinka

explains that four hundred has a similar meaning in Yoruba to what we

mean by a thousand, and that daemon is a thousand, and that daemon

is closer in essence to the Yoruba imale than gods, deities or demons.

Soyinka deploys obscure English words to convey shades of

meaning and sort out the many types of creature in this tale. After an

unsetting encounter with a warrior named Agbako, whose sixteen eyes are

engaged around the base of his head, the here is greeted by a beautiful

woman who spells things out for him:

Akara-Ogun, you are aware that

Even as dewilds exist also;

Even as spirits exists so also

Do kobolds, as kobolds on this earth, so are

Gnomes, as gnomes so also

Exist the dead. Pp 22-25

These ghommids and trolls together make up the entire thousand and one

daemons who exist upon earth.


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xxxv

Further more, like the better known novel The palm wine Drinkard

by Amos Tutuola, forest of a thousand Daemons is based in Yoruba

Folktales, but although it come earlier than in English), it is less grotesque

and more traditional in tone reason is that it is told not in the odd but

powerful broken English of Tutuola but in the sophisticated, sometime

antique language of its translator.

The language of forest of a thousand Daemons is sometime

awkward, and Soyinka seems to have preserved its flavor.

Recounting the third day of his journey, the hunter says:

I ate, filled up properly so that my bony protuberated most roundly:

Yet peculiar as it sometimes is, the book has life, and helps gap between

oral tradition and the modern literature of Nigerian one of the most fertile

on the continent.

D.O. Fagunwas works were essentially chosen because they portray the

value we cherish in charms. His books teaches lesson in perseverance,

hard work, determination, teamwork, patriotism and others. We also

believe that these values are essential for nation building.

Charms also realized the need to promote Africas and Nigerias

indigenous culture by investing in the play unlike some companies that

promote foreign derived shows. By selecting this work charms is

rendering an immeasurable service to the preservation of African Culture.


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xxxvi

WORKS CITED

Soyinka W. (1982). Foreword in The Forest of a Thousand Daemons.

Thomas Nelson (Nigeria) Ltd. P.3

Soyinka W. (1982). The Forest of a Thousand Daemons Thomas

Nelson (Nigeria) Ltd (7-140).

Hettp://wordswithoutborders.org/ wiki/ dispatched/ article/ forest of

thousand daemons/.


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xxxvii

CHAPTER FIVE

4.1 CONCLUSION

Mythology and Africanism are indispensable in the analysis of a

literary text. They aid and demonstrate textual form as well as how

conclusions are reached in literary interpretation.

In this study, we have been able to carry out mythology and

Africanism analysis of the texts by looking into the heroic quality of the

protagonist in the texts, also hard work, doing extra ordinary to achieve

some basic goals in life, charms was also emphasis in portraying Africa

culture which reflects the concept of Africanism and mythological essence

in the texts.

Finally, Tutuola and Soyinka also used texts reminiscent of his tribe,

African views and cosmology in order to depict the Africans heritage and

their oral literature. He also showed that man cannot succeed without first

facing some difficulties or obstacles in life and defeating some inevitable

challenges in the world.


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xxxviii

REFERENCES

Lind fore, B. (1973) Folklore in Nigeria Literature. New Yolk: African

publishing company.

Soyinka W. (1982). The Forest of a thousand Daemons: Thomas

Nelson (Nigeria) Ltd.

Amos, T. (1961) The palm-wine Drinkard. Ibadan: Spectrum Books

limited.


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xxxix

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Primary Sources

Amos T. (1961) The palm-wine Drinkard Ibadan: Spectrum Book

limited.

Soyinka W. (1982). The forest of a thousand Daemons: Thomas

Nelson (Nigeria) Ltd.

Secondary Sources

Cambell, J . (1988). The power of myth: New York Doubleday ltd.

Chinweizu (1980). Towards the Decolonization of African literature,

Enugu: Fourth Dimension publication Ltd.

Internet Sources

http://www.Buzzle.com/myth/function php

http://www.spikemagazine.com/amos-tutuolathepalm-wine-drinkard

php.

http://wordswwithoutbordes.org/wiki/dispatches/article/forestofa thousand.

http://an.wikipedia.org/wiki/mythology

Ibrahim B.F. (2008). Themes, patterns and oral aesthetic form in

Nigerian literature: Ilorin: Hay tee press.

Kennedy X J . (1987). Literature: An Introduction to fiction, poetry and

Drama. London: Little Brown and Company.

Lindfors, B (1973) folklore in Nigeria Literature. New York: African

publishing Company.


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Ojaide T. (1998) Poetic Imagination in Black Africa: Essay on African

Poetry in a research in African, literature, abiola Irele. (Ed) Indiana:

University Press.

Osofisan F. (2002). Insidious Treason: Drama in a post Colonial State.

Lagos: Concept Publication.

Soyinka W. (1979). Myth, Literature and the African world. Cambridge:

Cambridge University Press.

Udeoyop N. J . (1973). Three Nigerian Poets. Ibadan: University Press.

Wanjala C. (1983). Discovering Essay African Poets in East African

Literature: An Anthology. Arne Zetherstern (Ed). New York: London

Publishers.

Ward W.F. (1911). Religious Experience of the Roman People. London:

Fowler.

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Mythology and Africanism - A Study

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