Foreword to Adeola Olutoyin Sonola New of Book of Poetry PANOPLY OF ROMANTIC VERSES.
By Prof Samuel Jide Timothy-Asobele Department of French Ibrahim Badamosi University Lapai, Niger State.
The Thematic Thrust of Panoply of Romantic Verses by Adeola Sonola introduces us into the douceur of Romantic love in the real sense of the word Romantic in use. Poetry that is marked by imaginative and emotional appeal of the heroic adventure, reminiscing about childhood like William Wordsworth’s PRELUDE of the emotional qualities of human experience, characterized by a strong personal sentiment, highly individualized feeling of affection or the idealization of the beloved or his love relationship. It can expouse a state when a broken love affair somehow seems noble.
Romantics frequently shared certain general characteristics: Moral enthusiasm, faith in the value of individualism and intuitive perception and a presumption that the natural world is a source of goodness and man’s society a source of corruption.
The romantic exaltation of the individual sounds like the Victor Higo and even America revolutionary heritage.
Transcendetialism exalted feeling over reason, individual expression over the restraint, of Law and custom. Romantic writers placed increasingly value on the free expression of emotion and displays increasing attention to the psychic state of man like manon lescaut specters by Abbe Prevout (1733). Romantic characters exhibit extremes of sensitivity and excitement before their lover and beloved. Like the writer of Harlem Beast, Beyond the Hago Gate where the novels of terror became literary staple. Gothic terror seeks to arouse in their readers a turbulent sense of the remote, the supernatural and the terrifying by describing CASTLES and landscapes illuminated by moonlight and haunted by specters and ghosts. A Dire preoccupation by the demonic and the mystery of evil marked the work of S.T Coleridmge, John Keats, Christabel, the Eve of St Agnes. There is that fascination with native and the simple life in the exaltation of love in the renewed interest in folk-tale and balladry.
The Panoply of Romantic Verses is entrapped in the gothic show and expression of love both agape and eroticous. Adeola Sonola has averred that poetry breaks boundaries where everyone experiences feelings emotions and experiences in varying degree. Poetry to Adeola in my heart, A spring in my steps, A smile on my face, A puppet in my hands, A delight in my spirit, A glint in my eyes, A song in my mouth.
The verses introduced as to the seven senses of touch, sight, hearing e .t. c. Poem T3 starts with Kiss me, Like a fragile petal. Close eye not to see cover nose, not to smell, shut heart. From the cold hands of love. In a nut shell, love is the main Thematic Thrust of Panoply of Romantic Verses.
What of you enslaves me in the shackles of your love in T13. The song I sing are from my heart in T20 you are my soul mate.
The upsurge of love wantintin in T.46 I and promise you the sky. When I count my blessing I count you-show-casing an emotion packed with sunshine of deja va statement of love in T49 page after page resound and resonate the odour and scent of love both agape and homoeroties.
The theme of tearful separation in broken home in T81 I dey waka come. You dey waka go.
A poem that relate to Sir Eton John’s 1976 “Don’t go breaking my heart appears in T.90”. I wonder what he will do if I say I have another man’s My Beloved T107 returns to the theme: the little you will do I’ll always. T11 with the image of love T119 making erotic’s its major theme with Eros appearing twice. The term babe in T122 is a terminology of those who are ultimately in love. The song love Ife n T124-T129 introduces the sonnet of love in Yoruba tongue.
The most poetically romantic of the piece is T144 loving you is a fact, wanting more is a fact T150 is a Christmas love seranade for the season of love heralded by Emmanuel incarnation as God of love with us. T157 releases the visit of the Angel of hope looking like something from a romantic novel. T160standing under the tree of love and wrapping your arms around me and kiss in the shadow of the night brings out Sonola most romantic verse in the piece and wishing this moment never pass to oblivion but eternal.
T164-165 rendered again in Yoruba tongue, shows the everlasting home of two beloved in Yoruba world.
The last verse T167 enthrones the importance of everlasting love as enshrined in Edenic love
Ire ta sun i Eden
Igbeyawo kini
And God made them one in the Garden of Eden to love and cherish. Well done Adeola Olutoyin Sonola for this your wonderful book of poetry devoted to romantic love.
A LITERARY REVIEW OF THE HARLEM BEAST
by
Adeola Sonola
Reviewer – Prof. Samuel Olajide Timothy-Asobele
Department of European Languages and Integration Studies, University of Lagos, Akoka-Yaba, LAGOS NIGERIA
E-mail: jtimothyasobele@yahoo.com
Website: www.jtimothyasobelebooks.com
Tel: 08023916547/080166613839
THE ADEOLA SONOLA LITERARY PHENOMENON
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 the disappearance 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.
OBSERVATION ON THE WRITINGS OF ADEOLA SONOLA
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 Zogi book one and two, a lack of Knowledge and Understanding of these mysteries not only bring trouble to an individual like King Bantu, Meena and Statish, but also spells doom for their destiny. This is why some people desperately and foolishly go after fortune tellers Stargazers, Magicians like the old woman who claim to have a “third eye”. But we all know that our creator God in heaven is the custodian of all mysteries and secret of life in the Harlem Society and we know that the secret things belong to the Lord our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children forever, >> Deuteronomy 29:29, But God occasionally reveals secrets and mysteries to us so that we can be in a vantage position to do God’s will.
Daniel in the Old Testament and his colleagues had access to the mysteries of heaven, so much so that they could reveal and interpret a dream that was forgotten by King Nebuchadnezzar. None of his best as Astrologers of their time could interpret these mysteries. The old war, the wise one and the coteries of knowledgeable wise men of The Kingdom of Harlem are rendered helpless as well as King Bantu.
STYLISTIC DEVICES
The work is couched in good English, the dialogue is expertly executed in a matter of fact narration, description and dialogue. Adeola with the magical wizardry of her writing Skills lured us into a willing suspension of our disbelief in the peregrination of the protagorusts in this gothic novel, where Prince Bantu and Princess Bibaje form the first cluster of intriguing characters that hold the narration together from their coming to life during the Hago Gate rescue mission in the Adventure of Zogi Book I to re-surface again in Book II. Adeola use of flashback that brings memories of King Bantu’s father and grandmother, the Old woman as well as the Hago Gate experience, the Harlem Beast and Creature as the focal points of the narration glued the readers to the plot all along. The reappearance of Zadua, Rikoh, Farah, Zadua, Nana’s friend in the Hago gate rescue mission is a masterpiece of the gothic novel Stylistic device. The uncanny description of the fourth-legged, fire-armed, wing monstrosity, called the Harlem, beast makes readers to want to read to the very end the Adventure of Zogi. The Prologue with its Startling portrayal of the Harlem Magical Playground “HMP” with its power of metamorphosis that the Elderly one Trudo of the Kingdom of Ekity called an astuce by the great grandparents of King Bantu used to force the Kingdom of Ekity to perpetual Slavery and Tribute payment, as well as the depopulation of their Kingdom through the Beast frequent act of insurgency and the Cartelling away of their citizens. The awe inspiring five years old Princess Bibaje, a constant threat to her father, makes readers shudder and query what the hell is the power of this Princess that send death threat to her Father?
The recurrent use of Birthmark in the strange narrative, at finding the male child of King Bantu, born out of wedlock, by Tiera, a royal maid pervades the narrative. Thus Harsha, Bibaje, Zogi had the royal Birthmark pointing to their royal blood. The fact that Most Elderly Jereco of the Kingdom of Ekity, which is at war of word against the Kingdom of Harlem, was the Saviour of Tiera child, Zogi. This way making the narration complex. The place of Dreams where the old woman is a recurrent figure is part of the literary device Adeola used to attract her reader to her weird story. The importance of Zogi transparent Apple which vibrates at odd times when danger in around, gives the reader a sustain interest in the magical power of the Zogi apple. This was shown to the reader in the adventure of Zogi Book one, at the Hago gate experiences and when the monster the beast was about to caged Zogi. The mystery of the Hago Home, the mystery pot and the Leitmotif of hidden treasure pervade the narration. The mystery door, bats at Hago House where Zogi gave vent to his. Reading culture is an amazing introduction to this society where the chronicles of ancestral scrolls were kept in the Library. The appearance of Pongo, Zadua, Nana, Loga, Zogi. I said to myself Zogi, must have read the adventure of Tom sawyer in the library. Here Loga and Nana, Zogi’s sister (surrogate) plays Becky Thatcher and Tom sawyer love adventure. The old woman also is a recurrent personage in the old house. The Harlem Beast comes to live again. The RED CODE is a theme of danger to the Zogi group. The Dragon is a mystery to the Harlem people. The king Bantu is tired of being king because of the Beast. What is more, the Ekity people are ready with war gongs on pages 33, 34,138. The old myth and dream pervades this eerie adventure of Zogi. The theme of Humiliation for King Bantu is a recurrent mythem in the narration also is the unconfessed love Tango between Tiera and King Bantu. Hence the theme of disappointment in marriage between Bantu and Tiera. The mytheme of curses and hunted palaces are and the leitmotif in this book. Wind, nature and the beast colluded to make life unbearable for King Bantu. The need for confession by king Bantu of his past lies was visited by the notion of crime and punishment. Finally Meena brought Zogi Birthmark as a proof of his royal birth but the story did not end there. Adeola Sonola introduces another story, fashion out by Elder Trudo of the kingdom of Ekity who wanted war, inspite of the most Elderly Jereco who sued for peace under The influence of Christian missionary sister Pauline Neafcy. There is every belief that Zogi possesses supernatural power. Zogi took on the Beast with the help of his apple which changed to a second beast that fought the great beast. Zogi was destined to be king but Alas! Adeola introduced yet another suspense declaration of war on the kingdom of Harlem by the kingdom of Ekity. This is an Anti- climax, a story in a story. The Harlem Beast came for king Bantu. Wonders shall never end.
CONCLUSION
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.
Prof. Samuel Olajide Timothy-Asobele
Department of European Languages and Integration Studies, University of Lagos, Akoka-Yaba, LAGOS NIGERIA
E-mail: jtimothyasobele@yahoo.com
Website: www.jtimothyasobelebooks.com
Tel: 08023916547/080166613839
A LITERARY REVIEW OF BEYOND THE HAGO GATE: THE ADVENTURES OF ZOGI
by Adeola Sonola
Reviewer Prof. Samuel Olajide Timothy-Asobele
Department of European Languages and Integration Studies,
University of Lagos, Akoka-Yaba, LAGOS NIGERIA
If I qualify Adeola Sonola, a British writer, many readers will concur, who, have gone through the British General Certificate of Education (GCE) Syllabuses of the colonial era; most especially, the English Literature Curriculum of Old. In Beyond the Hago Gate will be found represented some of the best narrative styles of British adventure works. The Hago Forest is entwined in the romantic and epic cast of thought. Beyond the Hago Gate is an admixture of the weird atmosphere Lewis Carol painted in Alice in Wonderland; Collodi’s The Adventure of Pinocchio; Stevenson’s Treasure Island; Daniel Defoe’s Robison Crusoe; Mark Twain’s Tom Sawyer; Sir H. Rider Haggard’s King Solomon’s Mine, and George Eliots Silas Mainer. All these travels and adventure children books, colonial British commonwealth overseas possessions or call them colonies subjects and pupils read with gusto and with rapt attention in the colonial days.
In The Adventure of Zogi, brightness and cruelty, love and hatred mingle just as we have in John Keats The Eve of Saint Agnes; John Keats love of old legendary and superstitions and love reappears in Zogi’s adventure into the old haunted mansion Beyond the Hago Gate. John Keats treatment of the Merlin Motif in The Eve of St Agnes line 171, a reference to the Legend that Merlin’s father was an evil spirit, to whom therefore he owed his life – a debt to be paid, re-echoed in Zogi’s adventure, where the Old Woman and her curse was a recurring decima in Adeola narrative. The Morpheus motif of Dreams and nightmares reappears in Zogi’s adventure, where morpheus, the God of Dream, was a constant presence. The atmosphere Adeola created in Zogi’s adventure not only reminds us of Alice in Wonderland of Lewis Caroll, but that found in S.T.C (Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s) poem titled Christabel, line 178, where supernatural happenings take place with some powerful unseen forces of evil à la Old Woman and her curse on King Bantu and Queen Binta, resulting in her childlessness/bareness. In The Adventure of Zogi the atmosphere is pervaded by the supernatural, weird frightful that admits that all is not well with Zogi and the Royal family.The Adventure of Zogi is cast therefore in the travel or calls it in adventures literature streak of Old British Empire, in which, the sun will never set, come rain or shine.
I have had cause to write two forewords to her collection of poems titled: The Beautiful Minds and Little Angels. A collection of children’s poems published in the United Kingdom in 2014. Even then, and more in The Adventure of Zogi, I see in the writings of Adeola, a colleague in the world of literature – fine literature. Her works qualify to be called an assemblage of world literature. Didn’t she at Oriental Hotel, Lekki, Lagos on 31st of May 2014 write:“Poetry breaks boundaries, knows no barriers because wherever you are in the World, whatever your background or race; as human beings, we all share the same feelings, emotions and experiences albeit in varying degrees and under different circumstances” (Adeola Sonola)And I to agree with her by writing that, “if one wants to sojourn within pages of multiculturalism and poetic beauty, then, Beautiful Minds is where you must begin and to Little Angels, I called a Kaleidoscope of children poems designed to give children visibility of realism of the world in which they live. Honest, but not harsh; realistic, but always hopeful. Adeola creates a safe environment for children to truly discover the facets of life”.In the review that follows we are to suppose that by the magic genius of Adeola’s creative ingenuity, she casts a spell over her readers like S. T. Coleridge in his Christabel and the supernatural becomes possible where the unreal merges into reality, thus leading the readers to that willing suspension of disbelief. Adeola’s treatment of the supernatural in Zogi’s adventure is not akin to the disappearance of the Weird Sisters in Macbeth or that of the supernatural being, Geraldine, in Christabel.
The weird Old Woman in the Old Mansion, in Zogi’s adventure, is an omnipresent being, who wreak havoc in the life of not only Zogi and his adventurers Loga, Nana, Zadua, Ferado and Pongo but in the life of King Bantu and Queen Binta. In both S. T. Coleridge and John Keats, the haunted Castle forms part and parcel of the plot. In the story line of Beyond the Hago Gate: The Adventure of Zogi, we are introduced into an eerie landscape to which Prince Bantu was raised. The Prince and the Prince’s mother encountered an Old Woman who cast a spell on the prince, and whose curse, stuck to, all his life long – with her interminable ghostly appearances, whereby, making life difficulty for the prince.It was a battle sans merci, between Prince Bantu and the Old Woman, hell-bent in making life unbearable for the Prince.
Meanwhile, the story of Zogi and the escapade of his schoolmates to the Old Mansion in search of more treasures is laced with the occurrences of the weird, the supernatural and the unbelievable, which warrants our suspension of our disbelief. Because, as the story unfolds, Twinkle, the dog of Mr and Mrs Tombo, became an agent of the eerie atmosphere created in the storyline, along with the Transparent Apple, which added colour to the adventure of Zogi and his friends.
For, at every auspicious moment, the two intervened to bring about a joyful resolution of the quagmire the duo found themselves, in their treasure hunt, in the Old Mansion that was accursed.Adeola in her weird atmosphere creating called into action the forces of nature. The weird, spirits, flood, rain, dragon like mammals, surfaced and enveloped the young school pupils escapade toward Hago Region, the forbidden forest in search of treasures.At each obstacle, either against invasion of bats, self-replicating gates that bar their way to their treasure spot, the Transparent Apple turned to rope to ship them over their weird obstacles, thereby lifting them over to the other side of the gate. The Old Woman, a wrench of malicious verve, is a constant obstacle that obstructs their progress towards their mission. Her recurrent appearance to the Royal Family is a constant reminder to their cursed life of barrenness.
The royal family annual celebration or call it, festival, in which the whole citizens of Shakula are to converge, at Harlan Square, for the Female Dance competition in which, Meena, Zogi’s mother was tipped to win a prize, was thwarted by the absence of the kids now in the furlong Hago Forest in search of treasures. Here we are reminded of Tom Sawyer of Mark Twain’s creation in which Tom Sawyer was also absent, to reappear during his funeral bogey. Inspite of the weird atmosphere Twinkle, the dog, remains the guardian angels of the boys, with the collaboration of Zogi’s Transparent Apple. Inspite of the Ordeal of Zadua, Nana, Loga, Ferado etc Twinkle led them into the gate where it was written Danger turn back. They have at last found the King’s treasure but the Old Woman, their achillean heel appeared again to bar their way home.At the Harlam Square, the King and Queen emerged and the boys in supernatural carriages, in the full blown merriment of the annual celebration of the Royal family.
The carriages arrived at the venue of the celebration where the toys and other treasures were being distributed. We end this exposé on Beyond the Hago Gate (is a hidden secret who can uncover it?): The Adventure of Zogi with the Old Woman and the mysterious voice as on page 118 declared:‘Your fear tied you down. There was nothing behind the Hago Gate. This is not over yet, I know your family’s secret and until you confess, this is not over I tell you this is not over,’ thundered a scary voice.‘Who is that? My fear? What fear? What secret? What spell? Struggled King Bantu as he looked around to see where the voice was coming from.’The king ordered the boys locked up in prison, but Queen Binta, pleaded their cause. The Old Woman voice was heard asking the king to release the pupils and the closed field opened, to which the king acquiesced/agreed. The Old Woman ended by showing her spirit of vengeance again, but luckily, the Diviner declared the barren Queen Binta pregnant.
The diviner ended in a note of desperation, that, if only the King knew what awaits them! And Adeola with classical finish ended The Adventure of Zogi in what looked like the incomplete way S. T. Coleridge ended his Christabel. Christabel was never finished wrote S.T.C. and the reason he never finished it, is not that he did not know how to do it, for he had the whole plan entire from the beginning to the end in his mind. His reason being. “I fear I could not with equal success the execution of the idea, an extremely subtle and difficult one”. We were informed that STC intended to complete Christabel in two more cantos. I have written reviews and forewords to many Nigerian writers books, writing in English and in French to wit: A Treasure trove of poems (four volumes) by Olusanya A. S. Anjorin; Mrs Olorunfemi Bisi Quelle heure-est-il, Je Comple, Les alphabets (in the j’apprends le francais series); Drama and Theatre in Nigeria, Yemi Ogunbiyi; Oral Poetry in Nigeria, by Nigeria Magazine; Improvisation a fote in Yoruba Theatre by Biodun Jeyifor; Hausa Performing Art, by Zikky Kofoworola; The Igbo Mask, by Melodi Enekwe; Mloko by Sanmsdeen Amali; Mmonwu A Dramatic Tradition of the Igbo by Ugonna Nnambuenyin; (in French), by John Abioye; Ogboju Ode Ninu Igbo Irunmale; Basic English Grammar for Schools and Colleges by Paul B. Iluromi etc.
They all appeared in my book, Literature Review: A Compendium of African Literature in Nigeria (forthcoming). Adeola Sonola’s The Beautiful Minds and Little Angels were roundly given visibility in this work.Beyond the Hago Gate is in a genre of its own, written as it were by a British writer of Nigeria’s descent. I say British writer, because the couleur locale found in Kunle Akinsemoyin’s The Gold Digger and The Kings Picture; The Drum and the Flute by Chinua Achebe, The Passport of Malam Illia by Cyprian Ekweenzi, The Magical land of the Shadows, by Kola Omodipe; Esther the Queen, by Kola Akinlade; Toby’s Birthday by Patrick Mokay; The Magic Cooking Pot, by Elizabeth Good Care, that point to their Nigerianness, are absent in Adeola Beyond the Hago Gate. The landscape and the personages and their names make Adeola a citizen of the world, thus, writing world literature that strikes a universal chord. The dialogue is apt, and easy to follow, the descriptions are realistic and some are imbued with the supernatural.
The use of language and the quality of language and the command of the English language is superb.This is an excellent outing in the prose fiction genre by Adeola and we can expect her to climb the rungs of the ladder of world class writers and to one day win some of the numerous literary prizes that abound in the Western Hemisphere.CONCLUSION It is our hope that the mass-media will make a fair of Adeola books via video (Home video), adaptation for the theatre, on stage, as well as a cinematographic adaptation of Beyond the Hago Gate for the pleasure of British teeming youths. Noyllwood I am sure has a credible material for their spectators and home video viewers. Bravo Adeola the rising Nigerian writer domiciled in England.
Prof. Samuel Olajide Timothy-Asobele Department of European Languages and Integration Studies, University of Lagos, Akoka-Yaba, LAGOS NIGERIA