D.O FAGUNWA BIOGRAPHY, LIFESTYLE AND CAREER

BIOGRAPHY

He was born in Oke-Igbo, Ondo State, to Joshua Akíntúndé Fágúnwà and Rachel Òṣunyọmí Fágúnwà in 1903. His paternal grandfather was Asungaga Bèyíokú, an Ifa priest. His parents were originally adherents of the traditional Yoruba religion until they converted to Christianity in the late 1910s to early 1920s. He was born with the name Oròwọlé, referring to the Yoruba bullroarer god, Orò. When his family converted to Christianity, he changed his name to Ọlọ́runfẹ́mi (God loves me).

EDUCATION

An Oloye of the Yoruba people, Fagunwa studied at St. Luke's School, Oke-Igbo, and St. Andrew's College, Oyo, before becoming a teacher himself.

CAREER

In 1938, entering a literary contest of the Nigerian education ministry, Fagunwa wrote his Ògbójú Ọdẹ nínú Igbó Irúnmọlẹ̀, widely considered the first novel written in the Yoruba language and one of the first to be written in any African language. Wole Soyinka translated the book into English in 1968 as The Forest of A Thousand Demons, first published by Random House and again by City Lights in September 2013 (ISBN 9780872866300). Fagunwa's later works include Igbo Olodumare (The Forest of God, 1949), Ireke Onibudo (1949), Irinkerindo ninu Igbo Elegbeje (Expedition to the Mount of Thought, 1954), and Adiitu Olodumare (1961).

Fagunwa's novels draw heavily on folktale traditions and idioms, including many supernatural elements. His heroes are usually Yoruba hunters, who interact with kings, sages, and even gods in their quests. Thematically, his novels also explore the divide between the Christian beliefs of Africa's colonizers and the continent's traditional religions. Fagunwa remains the most widely read Yorùbá-language author, and a major influence on such contemporary writers as Amos Tutuola. He also used Greek myths and Shakespearean stories as themes in his books, such as in his book Igbo Olodumare, where the character Baba-onirugbon-yeuke tells a story similar to Romeo and Juliet.

D. O. Fagunwa was the first Nigerian writer to employ folk philosophy in telling his stories.

Fagunwa was awarded the Margaret Wrong Prize in 1955 and was made a Member of the Order of the British Empire in 1959. He died in a river in 1963; the ground by the bank of the river apparently gave way under his feet and he fell into the river. He tried to swim out of the water but sank because the canoe by the river also fell and collapsed on him.

LEGACY

Fagunwa Memorial High School and Fagunwa Grammar School in Oke-Igbo, Nigeria, are named for Fagunwa. His daughter, Yejide Ogundipe, serves as a council chairperson for Ile Oluji/Okeigbo. Fagunwa day (formerly known as Fagunwa night) is an annual event aimed at reading and promoting his five books. Fagunwa day was initiated in his honour by the Society of Young Nigerian Writers in conjunction with Fagunwa Literary Society and Egbe Odo Onkowe Ede Yoruba.

HOW D.O FAGUNWA STARTED HIS FIRST WRITING

He said that when he was going to write Ogboju Ode Ninu Igbo Irumole, he was at Oyo as headmaster of St. Andrew’s Practising School. The idea came to him to write, after all those who wrote books were human beings like himself. He said from the town he came to Ibadan road and created a path through a bush to a very big tree which was so huge that you couldn’t see sunrays under the tree.

That was where he started writing this book. He didn’t know that opposite the road he created, there was a woman selling yam and other things in a kiosk. He didn’t know that the woman was suspecting that he wasn’t a human being – he used to come out of the bush to buy yam and returned there. The road didn’t lead to anywhere.

The woman contacted some hunters and the villagers to search the bush. God saved him. The period they came was when he had gone out to buy yam, otherwise they would have searched the place and could have killed him while doing so.

He was returning to the bush after buying yam when those men stopped him. They asked him where he was going and where he came from. He said he told them stories about himself. They asked, “You say you are writing a book, is it in the bush that writers work?”

They followed him into the bush and saw the small table, chair and books on the table. They asked him where he originated from. He told them and that he was the headmaster of St. Andrew’s Practising School. That was how they spared him.

After finishing writing the book, the problem of printing arose. He didn’t know anything about publishing at that time. He was just worried about printing the book. He had no money on him. Then somebody told him to go to CMS. It was the Europeans who were at the head of affairs there and they were into book selling and publishing. So, when he was on holidays, he went to Lagos. He went to CMS, met the general manager and told him about his book. The general manager called a Yoruba man there to study the book. In about 30 minutes or so, the man came back and said, “This is a very good book, it’s going to sell.” They accepted the manuscript. He said he was shocked when they asked him how much they should pay for it. He just wanted them to print it. He asked them how much they wanted to pay him.

After a little bargain, they offered him £20, which he declined. They however settled for £25. They asked him, “Do you want cash or cheque?” He said cash, because cheque wasn’t popular. In Ibadan, there were only two banks – Barclays Bank and Bank of British West Africa, BBWA, which have now metamorphosed into First Bank plc and Union Bank plc. So, they told the cashier to pay him. He said even when he was coming down from the building, he was looking back, feeling that they would call him back to say, “You thief, what have you done to earn £25?”

From that £25, he prepared for his wedding to his first wife. He bought a Raleigh bicycle, a gramophone, some records, iron bed, mattress and so many other things. He was able to hire a vehicle from Lagos to bring him to Oyo. When he got to Oyo, his fiancée asked him where he got money to buy those things.

He said that was how he wrote his first book. Then he started planning to write another one. By the time he wrote Igbo Olodumare or so, he said he had an idea about publishing. He gave the book to Thomas Nelson who published it and paid him royalties. He then felt that, so one could sit down and earn money without writing every day. He said at that time Ogboju Ode Ninu Igbo Irumale, which was published by CMS, was out of circulation. Following what he was getting from Nelson, he asked himself why Ogboju Ode…, the first book, was yielding no money. So, it occurred to him to go and ask why it was no longer circulating. He said they told him that they were book sellers and that they had stopped combining book selling with publishing. He then told them to return his manuscript. The general manager returned it to him. He sent it to Nelson again for publishing. That’s was how Nelson became publisher of Ogboju Ode.