Category: Literature – Myths
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Amos Tutuola; (1920-97) Novelist counted among a unique group of mythmakers who deployed significant aspects of oral tradition not just as a flowery tribute to literary distinctiveness, but as a culminated contribution to the Nigerian literary space with both a didactic and functional signature. Tutuola is known for novels that chronicle tales of marvels and…
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Daniel Olorunfemi Fagunwa; popularly called D. O. Fagunwa; Nigerian novelist of the Yoruba genre. With the publication of Ogboju Ode Ninu Igbo Irunmole in 1938, Fagunwa initiated the art of creative writing in Yoruba-language, which quickly generated a tradition within Nigeria and beyond the language. His other novels include Igbo Olodumare (1949), Ireke Onibudo (1949), Irinkerindo…
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Orunmila was a philosopher, and major intellectual personae of the Yoruba Ifa literary corpus which deals with subjects as diverse as history, geography, religion, or music. Orunmila together with his sixteen disciples is credited with the authorship of most of the four thousand and more verses attached to the Odu Ifa, a record of the…
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Atlantis is the fictional ancient civilization that became submerged under the ocean in the Greek philosopher, Plato’s dialogue, the “Timaeus” and the “Critias,” written about 330 B.C. Although the movement of the earth’s lithosphere, as described in the plate tectonic theory precludes the possibility of a lost continent in the recent geological past, Leo Frobenius,…
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Moremi was an important historical figure, wife of one of the ancient heroes of post-Oduduwa times, possibly Oranyan. Moremi is today reckoned as a Yoruba legend due to acclaimed moves she made to end the acts of terrorism that threatened the town of Ile-Ife. As a beautiful woman, Moremi tactically took the risk of allowing herself…
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The Scimitar-horned Oryx, Oryx dammah, which formerly existed in northern Nigeria and indeed throughout the Sahel, is an antelope species of the Oryx genus, which has long and curved horn. A few physiological peculiarities such as its ability to delay perspiration till it reach a temperature of 46.5 °C or kidney ability to minimize urine…
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Duro Ladipo was a playwright of international renown born in 1931 to a clergyman. Ladipo spent his childhood in Osogbo, acquiring primary and middle school education in a mission school. Through in-service training he qualified as a teacher in 1958; a considerable educational achievement in his time. Shortly after getting into trouble with his church…