D. O. Fagunwa's Igbo Olodumare (The Forest of God) is a novel about the story of Olowo-aiye's adventure in the Forest of God. Olowo-aiye sets out to Igbo Olodumare (The Forest of God) out of sheer love for an adventure and a quest for an opportunity to prove himself as a powerfulhunter who cannot be daunted by the awe of the unknown--a basic characteristic of the traditional Yoruba hunters. Thus Fagunwa, in his characteristic vividness of imagination, artistic prowess, dazzling language, and a compelling descriptive skill, projects events and episodes around Olowo-aiye as he moves along on his journey to, in and from Igbo Olodumare. The events and the episodes are those of Olowo-aiye's struggle with the trolls, gnomes, weird creatures, and his visits to the sage, (Mr.) Death, and Miss Disease. After this experience-packed sojourn in the Forest of God, he finally returns home to join his family and to rejoice at the sight of his son Akara-ogun--who is now grown. Akara-ogun, of course, is the hero of Fagunwa's first novel Ogboju Ode minu Igbo Irunmale translated by Wole Soyinka as The Forest of a Thousand Daemons: A Hunter's Saga.This dissertation translates and annotates D. 0. Fagunwa's Igbo Olodumare with a critical introduction which is divided into seven parts. Part one deals with the literature review; while part two deals with a brief biography of D. 0. Fagunwa--the author whose Judeo-Christian background, his culture, and the tradition and the world-view of his ethnic group--Yoruba--shape his thought-pattern and his imagination. These cultural traditional and philosophical background strongly inform his work of art.Part three briefly comments on the thought-pattern that informs his works, emphasizes and explains the nature of Fagunwa's dichotomized world--a concept that emanates from his cultural and traditional background. Part four gives a synopsis of his (Fagunwa's) Igbo Olodumare with a brief comment on the structure and the symbolic aspects of the novel.Part five briefly discusses the structure, syntax and the tone of the language in which Fagunwa wrote--Yoruba--a linguistic parameter which makes the task of translating Yoruba literature to English a difficult task. As a corollary to that part, part six discusses Fagunwa's rhetorical prowess as evident in 1is esoteric use of Yoruba--a technique which saturates his entire novels, and makes him the master of his mother tongue, Thus it is the translator's task to adequately convey in English-a nontonal language--the rhythm and the verbal gymnastics which Fagunwa displays particularly in his Igbo Olodumare (The Forest of God).The last part, part seven, spells the translator's main objective, Philosophy, and the method of translation. The overriding objective, the note explains, is readability, intelligibility and an equivalent effect.In order to achieve this end, the translation is annotated; while the idea of narrative bridge is ventured as a mechanism which allows a smooth flow of the narratives in the translated edition. Furthermore, the translator's stylistic idiosyncrasy is sacrificed in order to unveil the author's meanings in his own words and style.
