Thanks pam. All one could ask for
ken
Kenneth Harrow
Dept of English and Film Studies
Michigan State University
619 Red Cedar Rd
East Lansing, MI 48824
517-803-8839
harrow@msu.edu
http://www.english.msu.edu/people/faculty/kenneth-harrow/
On 07/07/2017, 18:25, "Pamela Smith" <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com on behalf of pamelasmith@unomaha.edu> wrote:
>Haaaa! Igi da!
>One more mighty Iroko fallen -- this one, like everyone, felled sooner than you prepared us for, Lord!
>
>Armed in 1976 with elderly "traditional blessings" from Papa Chief Fabunmi in Ile-Ife to embark on an English translation project of D.O. Fagunwa's Igbo Olodumare, I needed some kind of "academic thermometer" in my arsenal, for those inevitable 'what-the-hell-are-you-doing' moments of doubt and loneliness in the translation process. I sought and found the best counsellor in Professor Abiola Irele, then a rising literary critic 'firebrand.' While he did not give an outright ringing endorsement for my daring, even after all my name dropping and touting of my credentials to date, he did not fall off his chair, laughing, either. He simply gave me a nugget: about 30 minutes of "do's and don'ts" and a quick-and-dirty rundown of the pitfalls/politics of the then contentious publisher-translator dynamic. Not formally asked to mentor me (he didn't need to be asked), but he did so for 40 years in subtle ways, commiserating with me, advising me almost lawyer-like, through the many years of wrangling with "permission to publish" with Nelson/Nelson-Pitman and the Fagunwa estate. When the "must-have chats" at ALA conferences in the US and abroad were not updates about my other successful translation projects, it was about him being a most reliable "courier/Western Union service" to my family via his friend, my sister (Dele) Margaret of NTA Ibadan, through whose friendship Prof Irele became simply known to us as "Egbon."
>
>There's no filling his shoes. Those shoes are too large to fill. Besides, he's worn them to answer the ancestors' call home. But he left footprints -- lots and lots of them for his legion mentees and colleagues to work with.
>
>To o, Egbon, e sun re o. All that's left now is for me to turn up Puccini and hear your booming, operatic voice from sunrise to sunset. Adieu!
>
>Awon aburo yin!
>--Olubunmi (Pam) & Dele (Margaret) Akintewe
>
>Pamela J. Olúbùnmi Smith, PhD.
>Professor, English, Humanities & Women Studies
>Secretary, Association of African Women Scholars (AWWS)
>The Goodrich Scholarship Program, CB 123H
>University of Nebraska @ Omaha
>Omaha, NE 68182
>402 554 3463 (Off); 402 554-3776 (Fax)
>URL: www.africanwomenstudies.org
> www.yorubadictionary.com
>
>
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com [mailto:usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Toyin Falola
>Sent: Monday, July 3, 2017 6:30 AM
>To: dialogue <USAAfricaDialogue@googlegroups.com>; ya <yorubaaffairs@googlegroups.com>
>Subject: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Obituary: Abiola Irele
>
>Professor Abiola Irele has joined the ancestors.
>
>
>Sent from my iPhone
>
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