Teeth marks: a close reading of the Translator’s Dilemma

ABSTRACT

Wole Soyinka was Africa’s first Nobel laurate in literature and is therefore without question a luminary and major force in African Literature. But so also is Daniel Orowole Fagunwa who is a luminary for the Literature produced in African languages. This paper examines the confluence of these two scribes in producing a single text–herein the English translation of Fagunwa’s monumental novel, Ògbójú Òdẹ nínú Igbó Irúnmalẹ (Forest of a Thousand Deamons: A Hunter’s Saga). The paper considers the complexities of translating such a distinct work of art, and the extent to which a writer may act as mere witness or collaborator who leaves their own signature footprints on the text.

Keywords:

• Wole Soyinka
• Daniel O. Fagunwa
• translation
• witness
• African literature

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Chigozie Obioma

Chigozie Obioma is writer from Nigeria. His first novel, The Fishermen, was published by Little, Brown in 2015, and has been translated into 26 languages. His second novel, An Orchestra of Minorities will be published in January 2019 by Little, Brown and co. He has an MFA in Fiction from the University of Michigan, and teaches at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.