By Ugochukwu Ejinkeonye
Whenever the full history of Nigerian literature is written, Daniel Olorunfemi Fagunwa (popularly known as D.O. Fagunwa), the Yoruba language novelist, will certainly occupy his rightful place as one of its pioneers. Although literate in the English language, Fagunwa chose to put his indigenous language in the limelight by employing it in the writing of his novels which not only enjoyed wide readership among the Yoruba-reading population of the then Western Nigeria, but also attracted critical response from both Yoruba and non-Yoruba scholars.
Given Fagunwa's education
and exposure, it may be unfair to draw the conclusion that he was blissfully
unaware of the limitations he was imposing on himself in terms of readership
and critical appreciation when he chose to write in Yoruba. What seems more
likely the case is that he was willing to sacrifice on the altar of cultural
and linguistic nationalism the fame he would certainly have gained beyond his
ethnic block and the hefty financial reward that would have come rolling to his
doorstep had he chosen English as his medium of expression.
According to Professor Ayo Bamgbose, although “Fagunwa…was quite familiar with certain works in English literature, including translations of stories from Greek mythology...two possibilities were open to him. He could use his knowledge of English literature to produce a European type of novel…or he could create something of his own, drawing his inspiration from traditional material. It was the latter course that Fagunwa chose. Fagunwa based his novels on the tradition of the Yoruba folk-tale (Bamgbose, 1974).”
