On Yoruba literature

Because of its popularity, because of its depth and because of its uniqueness, D.O. Fagunwa's writing is often regarded by many as the pioneer of Yoruba literature - especially the novel.
As demonstrated elsewhere, there had been a sizeable literary work before Fagunwa. And even while he held sway, he had contemporaries. Because we have dealt fairly extensively on how written literature began in Yorubaland in Yoruba Literature: Post Fagunwa, we are not going to regurgitate that here. It is however important to give a brief background to what is now generally (if bombastically) called the Yoruba Literature. This is with a view to be in a position to do a proper appraisal and more importantly to appreciate the current trend and what the future portends
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Yoruba writings: Before the Beginning
What is now known as Literature or Writing in Yoruba has its roots in the creation of Yoruba orthography and translation of the Bible into Yoruba by Bishop Ajayi Crowder. To facilitate the conversion of the people into Christianity, the missionaries and the then incipient colonial masters encouraged the local people to learn how to read and write albeit at elementary level. By so doing, they were gradually able to read Bible passages that were being translated into their local language - Yoruba. Over time, those of them who are becoming literate began to get jobs with the missionaries and with the colonial government just putting its foot on the ground here.
The first works in Yoruba language were those published by Henry Townsend and Samuel Ajayi Crowder respectively in 1848 and 1849. But the said works by the two writers were Christian songs and Biblical stories translated into Yoruba language. (Ogunsina: 2001).
To enhance his missionary work and widening the literacy environment, a Missionary, Bishop Henry Townsend of the Church Missionary Society, CMS, Abeokuta (now capital of Ogun State) established a printing press from which he was publishing the first newspaper in Nigeria. The newspaper was called Iwe Iroyin fun awon Egba ati Yoruba and was established in 1859. The emergence of this medium sort of democratized written words among the people for whom such was, up till then, unknown. The following year, in 1860, the newspaper published a poem in Yoruba titled ‘Igba Aro ati Igba Ayo' (Morning Period and Period of Joy). It was, in a manner of speaking, the first ‘original' creative work in Yoruba language to be published. ‘Igba Aro ati Igba Ayo' was the translation of an elegy for one late Arthur Frances Allen whose life created so much impression on the anonymous author of the poem.
The practice established by Iwe Iroyin was followed by Yoruba newspapers that came thereafter. This was the practice of publishing Christian poems - Biblical songs or lyrics in praise of Christian/western ideas. Among the papers were Iwe Iroyin Eko by A.M. Thomas in 1888; Iwe Eko by Rev. J. Vernal in 1891; In Leisure Hours/Nigba ti owo ba dile by the Church Missionary Society in 1910; Eko Akete by Adeoye Deniga in 1922; Eleti Ofe by E.A. Akintan in 1923; The Yoruba News by D.A. Obasa in 1924; Eko Osoose by T.H. Jackson in 1925; Eko Igbehin by E.M. Awobiyi in 1926; Akede Eko by Isaac B. Thomas in 1928; Ijebu Weekly News by J. A. Olusola in 1934 and The Ijebu Weekly Echo by J.A. Odufuwa in 1947.
Let us now focus on the ‘Turning Points'.
Establishment of D.A. Obasa's The Yoruba News in 1924
The first major turning point for Yoruba writing came in 1924 when D.A. Obasa established The Yoruba News at Ibadan. A literary artist and exponent, Obasa, from the onset, dedicated a whole page of his newspaper to the publication of poems in and of Yoruba people. He called it Awon Akewi (The Poets) or Yoruba Philosophy. Works in Awon Akewi, very much unlike their predecessors that were essentially on Biblical and Christian ideas, those published in Obasa's The Yoruba News were original works of the authors, written purely in Yoruba and consisting of majorly Yoruba ideas. In 1927, he gathered those together and brought them out as an anthology under the title ‘Yoruba Philosophy'.
Publication of the first Yoruba novel Itan Emi Segilola
The second milestone for Yoruba literature came in July 1930 with the publication by Isaac Babalola Thomas of a prose called Itan Emi Segilola Eleyinjuege. Before the publication of this novel, I.B. Thomas (as the author was popularly known) had been publishing the story that made up the book in series in his newspaper, Akede Eko established in 1928. Going by the instant success of the book, it is safe to conjecture that Thomas was actually encouraged to publish the story in book form as a result of how people were favourably reacting to the it when it was serialized in the newspaper.
One of the reasons that could account for the instant success could be the author's shift from earlier writings which were based on Bible stories and classical tales that were then popular in the western world. Among such classics was Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves which, in its Yoruba translation was titled Ali Baba ati Awon Ogoji Olosa.
Adegboyega Sobande followed Thomas' footstep when in 1949 he started the serialization of what later became Rigimo Obinrin Ko Se Tu (Women's Contrivances are Difficult to Unravel) in a Yoruba language newspaper appropriately named Irohin Yoruba. This latter newspaper was in the stable of the Nigerian Tribune, an Ibadan-based newspaper established in 1949 by Chief Obafemi Awolowo.
We need to do a quick flashback here.
The Fagunwa Phenomenon
In 1938, a school teacher, David O. Fagunwa came out with a book entitled Ogboju Ode Ninu Igbo Irunmale. In part because of its novelty, in part because of the richness of language, in part because it treated familiar themes and because it relied heavily on folklores with which people were familiar, Ogboju Ode was an instant success.
Also because of their classical nature, richness and because of the prolificity of its author, Fagunwa's books (he wrote four others after Ogboju Ode) became so prodigious that they, for a long time, seemed to overshadow other writings in the same genre. Indeed, it is only recently that many, outside the circle of the educated Yorubas, are beginning to realize that there were indeed some other literary works of note before and during Fagunwa's ‘reign'. Such was the intensity of leverage the Fagunwa's works wielded.
The books, in order of publication are:
1. 1938, Ogboju Ode Ninu Igbo Irunmale, Nelson, Edinghburg,.
2. 1940, Irinkerindo Ninu Igbo Elegbeje, Nelson, Lagos .
3. 1946, Igbo Eledumare, Nelson, Lagos .
4. 1949, Ireke Onibudo, Nelson, Lagos .
5. 1963, Adiitu Olodumare, Nelson, Lagos.
Besides assembling Yoruba folklores and weaving them together to form a composite narrative, Fagunwa, in each of his works, preaches ‘high morals' from Yoruba cultural perspective as well as Christian ethos. The five works (written between 1936 and 1961) essentially deal with Yoruba traditional society. The first two works centre on how life was lived in pre-colonial Yoruba society. His latter works also consider the traditional society. But this time taking cognizance of the fact that real social and political power has shifted from Obas or traditional chiefs to the colonialists. The Fagunwa phenomenon thus represented the third landmark in the evolution of Yoruba literature.
Being part of a paper presented at the Garden City Literary Festival at the University of Port Harcourt on December 9. Jare Ajayi, a writer, journalist, social worker, is an Executive Council member, Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA).