ISSUE FIVE/2000 • << women. To this end. she convened a meet- ing of all women's organisations under the Federation of Nigerian Women's Societies (FNWS) with the aim of consolidating her political agenda of obtaining franchise for women as well as proportional representa- tion of women in government. She. however, fell prey to her ideals of universal feminism and loyalty based on gender solidarity and failed to win the support of all the women's organisations including her bid for one of the Egba constituencies in the 1959 federal elec- tion. Undeterred, the indefatigable FRK went on to form The Commoners People's Party, a mainly feminist party which failed to take off properly. It would appear - as the authors rightly note that - 'FRK was more effective in the politics against the colonial regime than in the ethnicised party politics of indepen- dent Nigeria.' Nonetheless, FRK will always be remembered in the annals of Nigerian his- tory as being one of four female members of the Abobuta Urban Council (AUDC) created in 1950 as well as the only female candidate in the 1951election. She was also the only woman selected to be part of the delegation to Britain to protest the Richards constitu- tion. Perhaps, what is most remarkable in FRK's political life is the fact that she showed herself to be an astute and pragmatic politi- cian whose skillful manouvers in the inter- national political arena helped to mobilise public opinion in her campaign against the payment of water rates imposed on women in Abeobuta. She was a principled person until the end of her life, but this did not pre- vent her soliciting help from organisations of different ideological persuasions in the attempt to further her political campaigns. FRK left a legacy not only for her chil- dren - particularly Koye. Fela and Bebo who embraced her ideals - but also for Nigerian women. Yet two decades after her death, FRK's vision for Nigerian women has not fully been realised as the political horizon contin- ues to be clouded by men without mettle. For Women and the Nation would appear to be a boob about the past, it however con- tains facts that are even more relevant for the future. Segun, a librarian, is also a novelist. Dripping with fire and gutter BY ANKE WEILER-ODUNTAN Toyin Adewale (German translation by Bettina Obrecht) DIE AROMAFORSCHERIN (EXPLORER OF AROMAS), POEMS AND SHORT STORIES. Edition Solitude. Stuttgart. 1998. 100pp. I NDEED. this collection of about thirty po- ems and three short stories throws us into a world of rich imagery and exploration, not only of aromas but also colours and visions. The collection deals with manifold topics such as womanhood {Woman ofCush) exile and experiences abroad, civil unrest and dis- order (A Tale of Two Vultures. Ken Wails). experiences with fellow writers but also with getting to term with failed relationships ( House Cleaning and. on a more philosophi- cal level, with hope. This review is basically going to focus on the aspects of the image, aroma, as men- tioned in the title of boob and the transla- tion of the poems into German language. The three short stories are only in German and therefore are not discussed here. It has to be mentioned, however, that they are rather weab in comparison to the poems which might be due to the translation. Aroma and Smells The colourful and nearly impressionistic intensity of smells into which the reader is thrown reminds us of the streaming of imaginists. The topic of exploration of aro- mas is introduced in the first poem of the collection 5a/a/v(dedicated to the writer and human rights activist Ogaga Ifowodo). When Adewale writes 'through the dust searching for your aroma/your safari heart, that curi- Glendora Books Supplement 21 ISSUE FIVE/2000 • ous joy' she does not only talk about the physical smell but also about the essence of Ifowodo's writing. The meaning of the word, the mere superficial scent is broken up here and widened to accommodate a broader context. In Eguono the taste of pineapple, baked guavas, periwinkles and mud skippers' add up to the smell of the market in Warri. In Song of an Exile 'half-truths bitter-sweet dreams' haunt the hiding places of the ex- iles. The juxtaposition of 'half-truths' and 'bitter-sweet' leads to a very impressive and intense image here. In the ten couplets of the title poem the Explorer of Aromas sets out for an odyssey of smells, decay and waste, exploring heaps of waste, the remnants of the feasts of the rich. In Olayimika. the first born daughters is the first fruit of the loins 'that is seasoned with grace/seasoned with salt..../ your scented one (last stanza). And in House Cleaning Adewale gets rid of memories of a past relationship because 'the bedsheet is cured of the smell'. On Solitude I Adewale compares the guest of this castle to a spicy mixture ('like an aromatic spice shop'), they are 'smoked English tea'. And again the im- age of spice comes up when Toyin Adewale writes 'I will be sweet to you/like old spice' in Answer Back. Translation The German translation generally cap- tures the intense mood of the poems. How- ever, there are a lot of inaccuracies in most parts of the translation that may even change the message of the text. Also the rhythm of the verses is not always kept and the transla- tion is clumsy in some places. Below some examples of the translation from German into English by re-translating the German ver- sion into English: In Safari 'in this land we love with pain' becomes 'in this land love is pain'. 'Bones sold into bank accounts/ a deposit, waiting for barbarians' is translated as 'bones, that lie on bank accounts/ a deposit is waiting for bar- barians'. In the original version it is actually the bones that are deposited into the account and are waiting whereas in the translation the deposit is separated from the bones. In Mitaire 'you are like a cloud' becomes 'you are a cloud'. 'Like crushed eggshells/the yolk flees their hands is turned into crushed egg- shells/the yolk flees their hands' (Song of an Exile). Here, the comparison between the shells and the yolk is invalidated. The pas- sive part becomes active in A prayer 1 /when 'a woman you cannot/feed with bread alone' is translated as 'a woman does not feed/on bread alone'. The message of the poem A Toyin Adewale on the steps of the Akademie Schloss Solitude Glendoro Books Supplement 22 ISSUE FIVE/2000 Tale of Two Vultures is completely changed when 'impaled on the moon/a boy's head is banging for justice' is turned into 'impaled by the moon/he bangs a boy's head, demand- ing justice'. The 'he' referred to can only be the 'gongbearer' introduced in verse 1 part 11 of the poem which does not mabe sense in this context. Nearly embarrasing is the quotation from stanza iv of Naked Testimo- niesthat is also printed on the cover page: 'it is I/Striding upon my high places/Shield my voice/I walfe in fire' the penultimate line is turned into 'my voice my shield'. Here the meaning of the line is changed from a voice that needs to be protected to a weapon that protects. Also notable are inaccuracies in the punc- tuation through which certain phrases are grouped together where they should not (for example in Answer Bach). Altogether it can be said that it is very laudable to mabe Adewalc's impressive col- lection available for a readership that is not firm enough in English to read an exclusively English edition. However, it must be stated - and this is valid for basically all translations - that the translation should only serve as a guide and if possible, should be compared with the original. It is also unfortunate that this carefully produced boob is basically only distributed in Germany. It would be desir- able for the author that this fine collection of poetry and short stories be accessible to a wider readership. Anke Weiler-Oduntan until recently was project coordinator for the Heinrich Boll Foundation in Nigeria. Commitment to biography BY NINA MBA Chubs Iloegbunam. IRONSIDE: THE BIOGRAPHY OF GENERAL AGUIYI- IRONSI. NIGERIA'S FIRST MILITARY HEAD OF STATE. Press Alliance Network Limited. London. 1999. 250pp NEITHER in the biography nor at the launch of the boob in Lagos on October 28, 1999 was any explanation given as to the meaning of the title of the boob or when/how Ironsi was bestowed with the title Ironside, although there were many references to it and to the word 'warlord' at the launch. Ironside' was not created as a nicbname for Ironsi. It is a word of ancient lineage in England (and in English). In 1642 when the English parliament and King Charles 1 were at war, Oliver Cromwell a devout Puritan and parliamen- tarian organised a new and more effective military force. This army imbused with strict discipline, high morale, religious fervour and advanced democratic ideas came to be bnown as the 'Ironsides' and played a signifi- cant role in the victory of the parliamentary force (bnown as the Roundheads). However when parliament hesitated to execute the King, Cromwell (also bnown as Ironside) turned on parliament, divided it and it was the Rump of that parliament which executed King Charles in 1649. England then became a republic bnown as the Commonwealth and Cromwell ruled it as a dictator as the Lord Protector until he died in 1658. In 1660 Charles 11 was restored and sometime early next century the UK may expect the ascen- sion of Charles 111. One may speculate on certain interest- ing ironies in attaching Ironsides to General Aguiyi Ironsi (for instance, it was the rump of the Nigerian parliament which handed over' the government to Ironsi and the Janu- ary 1966 coup leaders did possess a moral fervour and advanced ideas abin to the origi- nal Ironsides but the point is simply that the reader is entitled to that information. Pini Jason, the reviewer of the biography at the Glendora Books Supplement 23