In my book (2016) cataloguing the Nigerian literati and their works written entirely in French, with the title: LITTERATURE NIGERIANE: UNE ENCYCLOPEDIE EN FRANCAIS, a chapter was devoted to Nigerian Female writers. From (page 169-174.) we x- rayed the works of the DOYEN of Nigeria, Female Writers, to Wit: Mabel Segun, Rosina Umelo, Helen Obiviagele, Flora Nwapa, Buchi Emecheta, Prof Zulu Sofola, Molara Ogundipe. Leslie, Catherine Acholonu. These were the first and second generations of the Nigerian Female writers. Tess Onwumere, Adaro Ulasi, Ifeoma Okoye, Funmilayo Fakunle, Zainab Alkali. Zainab Alkali is the only female writer till date to emerge from Northern Nigeria followed by Mrs Abejirin of Kogi State Polytechnic, Lokoja’s, Department of English, Dr Miss Lola Akande from Kwara is also from the North. She and Dr Mrs Bosede Ademulua Afolayan teache English at the Department of English, University of Lagos. But Adeola Sonola irruption into the Nigerian Literary Scene at the beginning of the 21st Century is a welcome addition to the growing list of Nigerian Female Writers at the turn of the 20th Century. But her works are infused with multiculturalism and with poetic beauty. In the year 2014, across the road at Oriental Hotel, Victoria Island we witnessed the presentation of Beautiful Minds and Little Angels which I called then a Kaleidoscope of children poems designed to give children the visibility of the realism of the world in which they live. Honest
but not harsh, realistic, but always hopeful, Adeola creates a safe environment for children readers to truly discover the facets of Life. But the publication of The Adventure of Zogi I and II in 2016 and 2018 respectively, we are now enthralled by the magic genius of Adeola’s creative ingenuity introduced into the realm of the supernatural, the mystic and the legendary, in which the unreal merges into reality, thus leading readers to willingly suspend their unbelief. Adeola’s treatment of the supernatural in Zogi’s adventure is akin to thedisappearance of the weird sisters in Macbeth by William Shakespeare or that of the supernatural being, Geraldine in the mystical poem Christabel, written by Samuel Taylor Coleridge. In the Adventure of Zogi, book 2 titled The Harlem Beast which in sequel to Book 1 titled Beyond The Hago Gate Adeola plunged the Nigerian Yoruba phone readers into the realms of the Mysteries of the God which is Olu Obafemi’s rendering in English of D.O. Fagunwa’s book Adiitu Olodumare. Olu Obafemi wrote: “what has intrigued me mostly about the novel is its dream sequences. Before you get to the end of your marvel and fright at the adventures and idyllic stories, you find that you have been in the world of dreams: Ase Ala ni. Somehow, my secret affection for Adiitu—The love exchanges, the intrigues, The betrayals of friendship, of kinship, and the dream visitations to heaven and the flirtations with Esu/and/or The devil–>> It is true most Yoruba children of Adeola’s Age grade drank from the fountain of the literary genius of Ojogbon Olorunfemi Fagunwa novels written entirely in Yoruba Language. The Ogboju Ode ninu Igbo Irunmale, Igbo Olodumare, Ireke Onibudo, Irinkerindo ninu Igbo Elegbeje and of Course Adiitu Oldumare, works that have been given visibility in my Phd Thesis at the University of Paris 1979 pages 580-584, because of the Universal Chord of the novels and because the French also had in their theatre in the middle Age the same thematic thrusts akin to those of D.O. Fagunwa’s works. All these Novels have been translated into French by Prof John Abioye of the department of European Languages University of Lagos and a French Doctorat d’Etat was earned by the same Abioye in a French University where he compared D.O.Fagunwa’s works to those of the 17th Century French Fabulist, La Fontaine. Another Source of plausible literary influence on the Adventure of Zogi by Adeola Sonola is the works of another Yoruba Writer, Amos TUTUOLA who also is a spokesman of Yoruba Linguistic, literary as well as cultural heritage. His works include: My life in the bush of Ghost, The Palm Wine Drunkard in search of his Palm wine Tapster in the land of the dead, Simbi and the Satyre of the Dark Jungle, The brave African huntress, Feather woman of the Jungle, Ajayi and his inherited Poverty. All said and done, what we are witnessing in the Adventure of Zogi book One and Two is the fact that the dream world, the visitation of Ghosts that are the basic ingredients of the Works of D.O. Fagunwa and Amos Tutuola are found also in the works of Adeola Sonola. Hadn’t Adeola Sonola given us a correct grounding to the fact that, influence is not identity, when she catalogued for the readers the summary of The Harlem Beast? A work Very much akin to Amos Tutuola’s world of Ghosts, with duration and time which are not measurable by our chronometer, but which is resolutely phantasmagorical, a literary disposition that allows the writer to pile up details that makes reader to willingly suspend their disbelief that is: tales of the fantastic, gothic novel, incredible delineating of space, with a narrator who is also ghostly and fanthomatic. The description of strange creatures and magical occurrences pervade every page of The Harlem Beast. Let us listen to Adeola Sonola Synoptic rendering of the plot of The Harlem Beast. The Harlem Beast is a sequel to Book I, titled “Beyond the Hago Gate”. Zogi disobeyed King Bantu Banujala by going behind the Hago Gate. There were two outcomes to Zogi’s disobedience. One was the appearance of the Harlem Magical Playground, which on a good day brought excitement to the citizens of Harlem and people from neighbouring kingdoms. The second consequence was the appearance of the Harlem Beast, bent on disrupting the lives of the citizens of the Kingdom of Harlem and neighboring kingdoms. The citizens of Harlem cannot stop themselves from asking: who is to blame for the Harlem Beast? Is it Zogi, who had been determined to uncover the secrets behind the Hago Gate – and as result had defied King Bantu Banujala by going behind the Hago Gate? Or is it King Bantu Banujala, who in spite of his risky position refused to confess to his secret past? The citizens of Harlem are divided on this and only time will tell as events unfold in the Kingdom of Harlem. Meanwhile, King Bantu seems to have escaped the old woman from his troubled dream but the torment had been replaced by the distress caused by his daughter – Princess Bibaje. Having waited so long to have a child, King Bantu isn’t sure if princess Bibaje was indeed a blessing or a curse to him. Has the princess been sent by the old woman to torment him? Or has the old woman come back in the form of the princess to avenge his secret past? King Bantu must confess his secret past to the citizens of Harlem or face grave consequences one of which may result in his death. The Wise One, whom the King consults about his affairs, believes there is no other way out for King Bantu and that his confession will stop the Harlem Beast from causing further disruption. As events unfold in The Harlem Beast, the identity of the old woman from the King’s troubled past is revealed. Zogi discovers an unpleasant and bitter secret his parents are hiding from him. He must then decide whether he can embrace it and face up to his new identity and responsibility. These are the toiles de fond of this magical novel.
In my article devoted to Development of Children books and theatre in Nigeria>>Published in the Nigeria Magazine, the authoritative Cultural and Linguistic mouthpiece or call it megaphone /spokesman of Nigeria, I catalogued the peregrination of Nigerian Children Writers to which we can add the two early works of Adeola Sonola: Beautiful Minds and Little Angels. But The Adventure of Zogi Books I and II show clearly that there is evolution in the literary works of Adeola Sonola. There is certainly a twist into the realms of mytho-criticism that is myth and Literature. The Yoruba mythologies for example have a religion undertone where the myth of Yoruba “gods” deities and goddesses are given ample visibility in the literary cannon of the Yoruba. The Yoruba pantheon of “gods” plunges us into the myth of Shango, Ogun, Obatala, Esu, Oya. We shall not dwell into Tomachevski, Nellek and
Warren, A.J. Greimas, Levi-Strawn, Charle Van Lebergye, Orestie of Eschyle, Ovides Metamorphoses, Bucchae of Euripide, Marin Cementery of Paul Valery, Epode of Horace, Eneide of Virgile, Dan Juan, Faust, Cesar, Napoleon and Prometheus who literature have promoted and which literary Criticism has given Universal Visibility. Ancient Greece and Rome are the European Capital of those myths, just as the Yoruba nation considered as
the Greece of Africa, has nourished African Literary Landscapes with mythic personages and character that speaks to our generation today.
Hence the Mytho-criticism that we have chosen to Search the mythical qualities of The Adventure of Zogi Books I and II. Myth analysis and mytho criticism will certainly go well in the critical analysis of the two books. Thus in The Adventure of Zogi we are introduced into the eerie landscape to which prince Bantu was raised, the land of Spell and Hex, of curse, of ghostly appearance, of metamorphoses and enchanting apple and apple trees which are the archetypical of Refuge-Home with Mystical and enchanting décor and settings where the imagination of the Reader is awaken to the realities of images and symbols that are akin to the enigmatic beast and creature with seven eyes in the book of Revelation. Thus in The Adeventure of Zogi, Adeola
Sonola unleasahed on the Readers Vocabularies of the “Imaginaire”, ancestors, ascension, aster, forest, epiphany, quest of graal, jungle, legend, magic, death, mysteries, nostalgie, obsession, obstacles, odour, shadow, birds, treasure hunt, old mansion, The weird, Spirits, flood, rain, dragon like mammals, strange creatures supernatural carriages. The theme of Dream and the Supernatural pervade the pages of The Adventure of Zogi and The Harlem beast took control, bats, monsters, bubbling streams and flying truck and moving pot. The Adventure of Zogi book I and II is crowded with a lot of mystery and the secrets of these mysteries are in the hand of our God who created the world. Many times in The Adventure of In my article devoted to Development of Children books and theatre in Nigeria>>Published in the Nigeria Magazine, the authoritative Cultural and Linguistic mouthpiece or call it megaphone /spokesman of Nigeria, I catalogued the peregrination of Nigerian Children Writers to which we can add the two early works of Adeola Sonola: Beautiful Minds and Little Angels. But The Adventure of Zogi Books I and II show clearly that there is evolution in the literary works of Adeola Sonola. There is certainly a twist into the realms of mytho-criticism that is myth and Literature. The Yoruba mythologies for example have a religion undertone where the myth of Yoruba “gods” deities and goddesses are given ample visibility in the literary cannon of the Yoruba. The Yoruba pantheon of “gods” plunges us into the myth of Shango, Ogun, Obatala, Esu, Oya. We shall not dwell into Tomachevski, Nellek and Warren, A.J. Greimas, Levi-Strawn, Charle Van Lebergye, Orestie of Eschyle, Ovides Metamorphoses, Bucchae of Euripide, Marin Cementery of Paul Valery, Epode of Horace, Eneide of Virgile, Dan Juan, Faust, Cesar, Napoleon and Prometheus who literature have promoted and which literary Criticism has given Universal Visibility. Ancient Greece and Rome are the European Capital of those myths, just as the Yoruba nation considered as the Greece of Africa, has nourished African Literary Landscapes with mythic personages and character that speaks to our generation today. Hence the Mytho-criticism that we have chosen to Search the mythical qualities of The Adventure of Zogi Books I and II. Myth analysis and mytho criticism will certainly go well in the critical analysis of the two books. Thus in The Adventure of Zogi we are introduced into the eerie landscape to which prince Bantu was raised, the land of Spell and Hex, of curse, of ghostly appearance, of metamorphoses and enchanting apple and apple trees which are the archetypical of Refuge-Home with Mystical and enchanting décor and settings where the imagination of the Reader is awaken to the realities of images and symbols that are akin to the enigmatic beast and creature with seven eyes in the book of Revelation. Thus in The Adeventure of Zogi, Adeola Sonola unleasahed on the Readers Vocabularies of the “Imaginaire”, ancestors, ascension, aster, forest, epiphany, quest of graal, jungle, legend, magic, death, mysteries, nostalgie, obsession, obstacles, odour, shadow, birds, treasure hunt, old mansion, The weird, Spirits, flood, rain, dragon like mammals, strange creatures supernatural carriages. The theme of Dream and the Supernatural pervade the pages of The Adventure of Zogi and The Harlem beast took control, bats, monsters, bubbling streams and flying truck and moving pot. The Adventure of Zogi book I and II is crowded with a lot of mystery and the secrets of these mysteries are in the hand of our God who created the world. Many times in The Adventure of
In my article devoted to Development of Children books and theatre in Nigeria>>Published in the Nigeria Magazine, the authoritative Cultural and Linguistic mouthpiece or call it megaphone /spokesman of Nigeria, I catalogued the peregrination of Nigerian Children Writers to which we can add the two early works of Adeola Sonola: Beautiful Minds and Little Angels. But The Adventure of Zogi Books I and II show clearly that there is evolution in the literary works of Adeola Sonola. There is certainly a twist into the realms of mytho-criticism that is myth and Literature. The Yoruba mythologies for example have a religion undertone where the myth of Yoruba “gods” deities and goddesses are given ample visibility in the literary cannon of the Yoruba. The Yoruba pantheon of “gods” plunges us into the myth of Shango, Ogun, Obatala, Esu, Oya. We shall not dwell into Tomachevski, Nellek and Warren, A.J. Greimas, Levi-Strawn, Charle Van Lebergye, Orestie of Eschyle, Ovides Metamorphoses, Bucchae of Euripide, Marin Cementery of Paul Valery, Epode of Horace, Eneide of Virgile, Dan Juan, Faust, Cesar, Napoleon and Prometheus who literature have promoted and which literary Criticism has given Universal Visibility. Ancient Greece and Rome are the European Capital of those myths, just as the Yoruba nation considered as
the Greece of Africa, has nourished African Literary Landscapes with mythic personages and character that speaks to our generation today. Hence the Mytho-criticism that we have chosen to Search the mythical qualities of The Adventure of Zogi Books I and II. Myth analysis and mytho criticism will certainly go well in the critical analysis of the two books. Thus in The Adventure of Zogi we are introduced into the eerie landscape to which prince
Bantu was raised, the land of Spell and Hex, of curse, of ghostly appearance, of metamorphoses and enchanting apple and apple trees which are the archetypical of Refuge- Home with Mystical and enchanting décor and settings where the imagination of the Reader is awaken to the realities of images and symbols that are akin to the enigmatic beast and creature with seven eyes in the book of Revelation. Thus in The Adeventure of Zogi, Adeola
Sonola unleasahed on the Readers Vocabularies of the “Imaginaire”, ancestors, ascension, aster, forest, epiphany, quest of graal, jungle, legend, magic, death, mysteries, nostalgie, obsession, obstacles, odour, shadow, birds, treasure hunt, old mansion, The weird, Spirits, flood, rain, dragon like mammals, strange creatures supernatural carriages. The theme of Dream and the Supernatural pervade the pages of The Adventure of Zogi and The Harlem
beast took control, bats, monsters, bubbling streams and flying truck and moving pot. The Adventure of Zogi book I and II is crowded with a lot of mystery and the secrets of these mysteries are in the hand of our God who created the world. Many times in The Adventure of In my article devoted to Development of Children books and theatre in Nigeria>>Published in the Nigeria Magazine, the authoritative Cultural and Linguistic mouthpiece or call it megaphone /spokesman of Nigeria, I catalogued the peregrination of Nigerian Children Writers to which we can add the two early works of Adeola Sonola: Beautiful Minds and Little Angels. But The Adventure of Zogi Books I and II show clearly that there is evolution in the literary works of Adeola Sonola. There is certainly a twist into the realms of mytho- criticism that is myth and Literature. The Yoruba mythologies for example have a religion undertone where the myth of Yoruba “gods” deities and goddesses are given ample visibility in the literary cannon of the Yoruba. The Yoruba pantheon of “gods” plunges us into the myth of Shango, Ogun, Obatala, Esu, Oya. We shall not dwell into Tomachevski, Nellek and Warren, A.J. Greimas, Levi-Strawn, Charle Van Lebergye, Orestie of Eschyle, Ovides Metamorphoses, Bucchae of Euripide, Marin Cementery of Paul Valery, Epode of Horace, Eneide of Virgile, Dan Juan, Faust, Cesar, Napoleon and Prometheus who literature have promoted and which literary Criticism has given Universal Visibility. Ancient Greece and Rome are the European Capital of those myths, just as the Yoruba nation considered as the Greece of Africa, has nourished African Literary Landscapes with mythic personages and character that speaks to our generation today. Hence the Mytho-criticism that we have chosen to Search the mythical qualities of The Adventure of Zogi Books I and II. Myth analysis and mytho criticism will certainly go well in the critical analysis of the two books. Thus in The Adventure of Zogi we are introduced into the eerie landscape to which prince Bantu was raised, the land of Spell and Hex, of curse, of ghostly appearance, of metamorphoses and enchanting apple and apple trees which are the archetypical of Refuge- Home with Mystical and enchanting décor and settings where the imagination of the Reader is awaken to the realities of images and symbols that are akin to the enigmatic beast and creature with seven eyes in the book of Revelation. Thus in The Adeventure of Zogi, Adeola Sonola unleasahed on the Readers Vocabularies of the “Imaginaire”, ancestors, ascension, aster, forest, epiphany, quest of graal, jungle, legend, magic, death, mysteries, nostalgie, obsession, obstacles, odour, shadow, birds, treasure hunt, old mansion, The weird, Spirits, flood, rain, dragon like mammals, strange creatures supernatural carriages. The theme of Dream and the Supernatural pervade the pages of The Adventure of Zogi and The Harlem beast took control, bats, monsters, bubbling streams and flying truck and moving pot. The Adventure of Zogi book I and II is crowded with a lot of mystery and the secrets of these mysteries are in the hand of our God who created the world. Many times in The Adventure of
With the Crafting of The Adventure of Zogi series by Adeola Sonola, She has plunged us into the literature of the absurd just as Albert Camus, the Algerian French Writer, wrote in his work The myth of Sisyphus 1942: <<In a Universe that suddenly deprived of illusions and of light, man feels a stranger. He is in an irremediable exile….This divorce between man and his life, the actor and his setting, truly constitute the feeling of Absurdity.>> Here, in The Adventure of Zogi series King Bantu is estranged not only from his daughter Bibaje, but also from his Citizens, who wished him banished from their Kingdom. The plight of King Bantu is what we can call work in progress, because Adeola has weaved yet another Sequence to the unending search series. Isn’t life itself an unending series of trying to give our life a meaning? In this Score we welcome Adeola into the pantheon of new women writers of Nigeria.
