D.O. Fagunwa’s Forest of a Thousand Daemons: A Hunter’s Saga. Being a Translation of Ogboju Ode Ninu Igbo Irunmale. Trans. By Wole Soyinka

Pamela J. Olúbùnmi Smith, University of Nebraska at Omaha

Abstract

It is fitting that this review of Forest of a Thousand Daemons: A Hunter's Saga, Wole Soyinka's English translation of Ogboju Ode Ninu lgbo Irunmale, Daniel Olorunfemi Fagunwa's premier Yoruba novel, comes on the heels of the continuing celebration of the 50th anniversary of Fagunwa's death. While not merely serendipitous, it is also important to note that Soyinka was the consummate keynote speaker at the august gathering of eminent scholars from Nigeria and the diaspora, with Governors Mirniko (Ondo Stale) and Fayemi (Ekiti State). and indigenous rulers in attendance in Akure, Ondo State, on August 8-10. 20 I J. To mark the well-choreographed celebration, planned and succcssfully excluded by the Fagunwa Study Group, Chams Publishers PLC of Nigeria made available an ample supply of their newly re-issued editions or Fagunwa 's the Yoruba clas­sics. Book sellers also were on hand as well with Soyinka's English translations of both Ogboju Ode and Igbo Olodumare, Fagunwa 's first and second novels.