{"id":76814,"date":"2020-11-11T14:33:17","date_gmt":"2020-11-11T13:33:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/?p=76814"},"modified":"2020-11-11T14:33:17","modified_gmt":"2020-11-11T13:33:17","slug":"d-o-fagunwas-translators-burdens-or-assets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/articles-opinions\/d-o-fagunwas-translators-burdens-or-assets\/","title":{"rendered":"D. O. Fagunwa\u2019s Translators: Burdens Or Assets?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
By Ugochukwu Ejinkeonye<\/div>\n
\n
\nWhenever the full history of Nigerian literature is written, Daniel
\nOlorunfemi Fagunwa (popularly known as D.O. Fagunwa), the Yoruba
\nlanguage novelist, would certainly occupy his rightful place as one of
\nits pioneers. Although literate in the English language, Fagunwa chose
\nto put his indigenous language in the limelight by employing it in the
\nwriting of his novels which not only enjoyed wide readership among the
\nYoruba-reading population of the then Western Nigeria, but also
\nattracted critical response from both Yoruba and non-Yoruba scholars.<\/p>\n

*D.O. Fagunwa<\/p>\n

Given Fagunwa’s education and exposure, it may be unfair to draw the
\nconclusion that he was blissfully unaware of the limitations he was
\nimposing on himself in terms of readership and critical appreciation
\nwhen he chose to write in Yoruba. What seems more likely the case is
\nthat he was willing to sacrifice on the altar of cultural and linguistic
\nnationalism the fame he would certainly have gained beyond his ethnic
\nblock and the hefty financial reward that would have come rolling to his
\ndoorstep had he chosen English as his medium of expression.<\/p>\n

According to Professor Ayo Bamgbose, although _\u201cFagunwa\u2026was quite
\nfamiliar with certain works in English literature, including
\ntranslations of stories from Greek mythology…two possibilities were
\nopen to him. He could use his knowledge of English literature to produce
\na European type of novel\u2026or he could create something of his own,
\ndrawing his inspiration from traditional material. It was the latter
\ncourse that Fagunwa chose. Fagunwa based his novels on the tradition of
\nthe Yoruba folk-tale_ (Bamgbose, 1974).\u201d<\/p>\n

And his decision came at a cost. After all, barely educated Amos Tutuola
\nwhose 1952 novel, _The Palmwine Drinkard_, which appeared sixteen years
\nafter the Church Missionary Society (CMS) had published Fagunwa’s first
\nnovel, _Ogboju Ode Ninu Igbo Irunmole,_ had achieved instant,
\nenthusiastic local and international readership and has since then
\nenjoyed serious study by literary scholars and students across the
\nglobe. It remains in doubt if Tutuola could have readily found a
\npublisher (especially, one with considerable stature as Faber and Faber)
\nif he had written his book, say, in the 1970s or even late 1960s. But
\ntoday, no historical account of Nigerian literature in English is
\ncomplete without Tutuola receiving a prominent mention despite the
\nwidespread strictures by critics of what many of them perceive as the
\ngrievous harm he inflicted on the English language and his penchant for
\nalmost confusing the reader with the several and mostly unrelated tales
\nhe appeared to have untidily lumped together to realise his novels.<\/p>\n

However, Chinua Achebe’s essay, “_Work and Play in_ _The Palmwine
\nDrinkard,” _published in _Critical Perspectives on Amos Tutuola_ (Bernth
\nLindfors ed.) represents not only the most significant effort by a very
\ninfluential and convincing literary voice to lift Tutuola from the
\ncritical dustbin where most critics had impatiently consigned him, but
\nit remains till date the most ambitious and persuasive endeavour to help
\nreaders and scholars alike make some really interesting meaning out of
\nwhat many had long dismissed as Tutuola’s medley of rambling, depthless
\ntales starring mostly flat characters in largely unconvincing scenes.
\nTutuola\u2019s work, however, continues to enjoy some prominence in the
\nAfrican literary landscape that Fagunwa\u2019s can only dream of despite
\nthe availability now of the latter\u2019s books in the English language and
\nsome extensive scholarly studies that have been undertaken on them.<\/p>\n

Until very recently, Bamgbose’s 1974 book, _The Novels of D. O.
\nFagunwa_, had remained the most comprehensive work on Fagunwa’s novels.
\nIn addition to critical analysis of his novels, Bamgbose provides some
\nbackground details that enhance the reader’s appreciation of Fagunwa\u2019s
\nlife and work. For instance, it is from him that we learn that<\/p>\n

_”Fagunwa’s first novel, Ogboju Ode Ninu Igbo Irunmole, was written for
\na competition organised by Miss Plumber in 1936. The Church Missionary
\nSociety bought the manuscript for 20 (twenty pounds sterling) and
\npublished it in 1938. The book was an instant success, and was very
\npopular in the schools”_ (Bamgbose, 1974:3).<\/p>\n

If Fagunwa\u2019s target audience was the Yoruba, to achieve a wide
\nreadership among his own people, probably, after convincing himself that
\nhis story might be of little or no interest to the outside world, he was
\nthen a great success. German\/Jewish scholar, Professor Ulli Beier,
\nwriting in _Black Orpheus_ in 1965 reports that Fagunwa\u2019s _Igbo
\nOlodumare_ which he says is, in the consensus of many people, his most
\npopular novel \u201chad sixteen prints since 1947\u201d.<\/p>\n

Says Beier further:<\/p>\n

_\u201cwhen Chief Fagunwa died suddenly and tragically in an accident in
\nDecember 1963, few non-Yoruba speakers may have realized that with him
\nNigeria lost its most popular writer\u201d_ (Beier 1965:51).<\/p>\n

Prof Beier was a great admirer of Fagunwa. He had collaborated with
\nBakare Gbadamosi to translate the first chapter of Fagunwa’s _Igbo
\nOlodumare_, which was published in _Odu: Journal of Yoruba, Edo and
\nRelated Studies_ in 1963. One can therefore understand why he could
\ndescribe Fagunwa, a writer whose readership was restricted to the
\nYoruba-speaking people of Western Nigeria as the country\u2019s “most
\npopular writer” in 1963! And yet he added that only a “_few non-Yoruba
\nspeakers_” were aware of Fagunwa\u2019s popularity, if not existence. He
\nclearly overstated his point, obviously goaded by his overflowing
\nadmiration for Fagunwa and his work. By 1963, Nigerian writers like Amos
\nTutuola, Chinua Achebe, Wole Soyinka, Cyprian Ekwensi, Christopher
\nOkigbo, T.M. Aluko and some others were already well known all over
\nNigeria, across Africa and beyond and being widely studied in European
\nand American universities where, maybe, only an insignificant few might
\nhave some vague familiarity with Fagunwa\u2019s name and work; so he could
\nnot have been \u201cNigeria\u2019s most popular writer\u201d in 1963.<\/p>\n

Early critical works on Fagunwa were restricted to Yoruba scholars and
\nsome others who were, probably, on some kind of \u201cliterary
\nadventure,\u201d or \u201cexploration,\u201d especially, from Western countries,
\nwith some eager mission to \u201cdiscover\u201d new \u201ccuriosities\u201d in the
\nemerging literature from Africa. These had to collaborate with Yoruba
\nscholars to gain access into Fagunwa\u2019s work. It was, therefore, the
\nearnest hope of scholars outside the Yoruba enclave (whose appetite had
\nbeen whetted by the little they had read about Fagunwa) that Yoruba
\nscholars should rise to the challenge of making Fagunwa\u2019s five major
\nnovels available to the outside world by preparing their translations
\nin major languages like English or French. Interestingly, however, when
\nthis expectation began to be gratified, it created new problems for the
\nauthor.<\/p>\n

For instance, by 1968, when Wole Soyinka\u2019s translation of Fagunwa\u2019s
\nfirst novel, _Ogboju Ode Ninu Igbo Irunmole_ (as _The Forest Of Thousand
\nDaemons_) was issued by Nelson Publishers in London, Soyinka had already
\nattained considerable international status as a writer, a fact, it would
\nseem, Nelson had hastened to exploit. Unlike what is the standard
\npractice in many translated books, Soyinka’s name got undue prominence
\non the cover of the book, and given that he was already a known name
\namong readers of African literature in English, it tended, in the
\nopinion of some readers, to diminish that of the original writer. Of
\ncourse, that would be to the rich benefit of the publishers even though,
\nit grossly put the creator of the work at a great disadvantage. One
\nedition whose cover I am looking at as I write now tried to achieve some
\nform of balance. It announces \u201cWole Soyinka and D.O. Fagunwa\u201d as
\njoint authors of the book in that order.<\/p>\n

Now, many of us have read quite a number of Greek, German, French and
\nRussian works made available to us by some diligent English translators.
\nIn most cases, the name of the translators appear inside the books or
\neven when they appear on the covers, they are rendered in very small
\ntypes that one would not readily notice them.<\/p>\n

It is possible that many Nigerians may not even be aware that majority
\nof the novels, poems and plays they read in high school and college were
\nfirst written and published in French by French-speaking African
\nwriters, like, Sembene Ousmane, Camara Laye, Aminata Sow Fall, Mariama
\nBa, Mongo Beti, Ferdinand Oyono, David Diop, Leopold Senghor, etc.? How
\nmany people can readily remember the name of the translator of any of
\nthese books? And that is because their names were not placed in such a
\nway as to compete for prominence with or even dwarf out that of the
\nauthor.<\/p>\n

Other translations of Fagunwa\u2019s books I have encountered have allowed
\nthe Nelson Publishers\u2019 model to dictate their preference. Gabriel
\nAjadi’s translation of _Igbo Olodumare _(as _The Forest Of God_)
\npublished in 1995 by Agbo Areo Publishers in Ibadan went further than
\nNelson. Dr. Ajadi\u2019s name stood out in a far heavier type than
\nFagunwa\u2019s. In fact, he is presented as the author of the book. The
\nreader is only informed through an explanatory note on the cover that
\nthe book \u201cby Ajadi\u201d is an annotated translation of Fagunwa’s work.<\/p>\n

Only recently, I saw the cover of another of Fagunwa\u2019s novels
\ntranslated by Professor Olu Obafemi and it followed almost the same
\npattern set by Nelson and Ajadi\u2019s publishers.<\/p>\n

The danger then is that Fagunwa’s name, despite what is perceived as his
\nliterary success within the Yoruba-speaking nation, may continue to
\nsound unfamiliar to many people, even those who had read his translated
\nworks. His dilemma is compounded by the fact that his stories which drew
\nheavily from diverse traditional folk tales in form and content and
\nwhich he appeared to have lumped together in such a disjointed manner to
\nrealize his novels may have considerably reduced his appeal to
\ncontemporary audiences whose literary taste have already benefited from
\nimmense enhancement from a variety of well plotted works from many
\nAfrican writers they have been exposed to. He had a choice to extend the
\nreach of the traditional paradigm he drew heavily from to lend his
\nstories more depth and help his characters develop further and become
\nmore rounded, but he, probably, did not consider that necessary.<\/p>\n

Now, of all the novels written by Fagunwa, it is only Gabriel Ajadi\u2019s
\ntranslation of\u00a0 \u00a0_Igbo Olodumare_ as _The Forest of God _that I have
\nread. In an introductory note, Dr. Ajadi submits that _”Fagunwa’s world
\nis dichotomized: there is a world in which we live and move, and there
\nis a world which we cannot see. The former world is the world of man,
\nand the latter is the world of spirits, gnomes, trolls, fairies, ghosts,
\nghommids, and kobolds. These beings are perceived as being in
\ncompetition with men; they claim to be superior to man, and man in turn
\ntries to claim his primary place in the universe…”(_Ajadi, 1995: 8)<\/p>\n

The main issue with this Fagunwa novel is not that it looks more like a
\ncluster of fairy tales, as some critics have argued,\u00a0 which are made to
\nrelate in some way to the protagonist who is a great hunter, and who had
\ngone into a strange, dreaded forest armed with weapons and charms for
\noutlandish encounters with strange spirits, even though such a tale,
\ncoupled\u00a0 with its peculiar style of rendition, cannot be relied upon to
\ndemonstrate an ability to greatly appeal to many readers since it would
\nmost likely prove incapable of fitting into their long-settled
\nperception of reality.<\/p>\n

But even if this was the only issue, it would not even have mattered
\nsufficiently. Magical realism, after all, has over the years shed the
\nshocks it used to elicit and now enjoys widespread acceptance as a valid
\ngenre in literature. That Fagunwa, therefore, so casually, collapses the
\n\u201cwall\u201d demarcating the world of spirits and man and causes them to
\ninteract freely is certainly not enough to earn him isolation from
\ncontemporary readers. After all, there are literary masterpieces that
\nfeed readers with strange tales about ghosts and diverse spirits having
\nboth healthy and adversarial interactions with humans. Apart from the
\nobvious examples in William Shakespeare\u2019s _Julius Caesar_, _Macbeth_,
\n_Hamlet_, etc., Ben Okri\u2019s well received masterpiece, _The Famished
\nRoad,_ for instance, also has such scenes of human interactions with the
\nother world. But what makes the difference at all times is the craft,
\nthe artistic quality that tickles and thrills the imagination of the
\nreader and easily draws him out of the world his natural senses have
\nbecome too familiar with and compels him to easily identify with and
\neven (imaginatively) inhabit the outlandish world the writer has
\ncreated. Unfortunately, Fagunwa\u2019s novel could only demonstrate
\ninability to lure the reader into this otherwise very rewarding
\nexperience.<\/p>\n

Ajadi claims that in his translation, he endeavoured to retain
\nFagunwa\u2019s peculiar style and allowed him to speak for himself instead
\nof trying to impose his own interpretations on his sentences. A note
\nexplaining what he referred to as the philosophy of his translation is
\nserved the reader before he is allowed to delve into the novel. Ajadi
\nwrites:<\/p>\n

\u201cThe main purpose of this work is to provide an annotated translation
\nof Fagunwa\u2019s _Igbo Olodumare_, a translation which respects the style
\nof the original and the intention of the author, thereby affording a
\ncritical access to the novel by literary scholars and students of
\nletters as well as general English readers\u2026My task as a translator is
\nnot to rewrite Fagunwa\u2019s _Igbo Olodumare _in English in my stylistic
\nidiosyncrasy but to unveil his meaning through his own words and style
\nin the translated edition (p. 21)\u201d.<\/p>\n

Some eminent critics of African literature have tried to insist that
\nFagunwa is indeed a writer of note despite some reservations the people
\nthey describe as \u201cEuro-centric\u201d critics have expressed about his
\nwork. Chiwenizu, Onwuchekwa Jemie and Ihechukwu Madubuike, in their
\nbook, _Toward The Decolonization Of African Literature _(1980:272)
\npraised Fagunwa\u2019s depiction of characters _\u201cby use of symbols, by
\nuse of appropriate names that sum up a character or give a clue to his
\nbehavior, and by use of historical sketches that give either the
\ngenealogy of the character or an account of his past deeds, or of
\nsignificant incidents in his life\u201d._<\/p>\n

__<\/p>\n

On his part, Abiola Irele argues in his book, _The African Experience In
\nLiterature And Ideology_ (1981:77), that because Fagunwa _\u201cwas the
\nfirst to make a new and significant literature of the (Yoruba) language,
\nto have given the oral tradition an extended literary form, he was a
\npioneer\u201d._<\/p>\n

According to Prof Irele, Fagunwa _\u201cdid more than give new life and
\neffect to the oral tradition which he inherited from his culture; he
\nalso created out of the communal material it offered him a distinct
\npersonal statement in artistic terms upon the issues of human life\u201d._<\/p>\n

Irele insists that \u201cit would be a grave error to dismiss his works as
\nsimple fantasies, or more seriously, as na\u00efve childish productions\u201d
\nsince in Fagunwa\u2019s works one can easily see \u201cmaturity of expressions
\nand of visions\u2026which is as fully adult as the most modern novel\u201d.<\/p>\n

Prof Beier (1965:52), on his part, is full of praises for Fagunwa\u2019s
\nlanguage. According to him:<\/p>\n

\u201cFagunwa is fond of rhetoric. He likes words. He likes to pile them
\nup, say the same thing over and over again in infinite variation. He is
\na master of rhetoric, who can make repetitions and variations swing in a
\nmounting rhythm, like Yoruba drums.\u201d<\/p>\n

Contemporary readers of Fagunwa will readily discern (although, in a
\nlesser degree) in _The Forest Of God_ the quest motif which they had
\nalready seen in Amos Tutuola\u2019s _The Palm-Wine Drunkard_. Tutuola\u2019s
\nhero goes in search of his dead \u201ctapster\u201d who supplied him excellent
\npalm wine but who had died after falling from a palm tree, while in
\nFagunwa\u2019s narrative, Olowo-aiye sets out in search of adventure, to
\nhunt in the forest of the great spirit called _Igbo Olodumare_.<\/p>\n

Due to these similarities in themes, background and even
\ncharacterization, some critics have come up with suggestions about
\nTutuola\u2019s indebtedness to Fagunwa. In an article for _The Journal Of
\nCommonwealth Literature_ (1970:58) for instance, Bernth Lindfors sums up
\nthe view of these critics by stating that Tutuola<\/p>\n

_\u201chad stolen most of his material from Yoruba folk-tales and the
\nYoruba novels of Chief Daniel Orowole Fagunwa. He was a plagiarist pure
\nand simple and not an untutored genius gleaning from his own teeming
\nbrain\u201d._<\/p>\n

There is no intention here to wade into this needless controversy, but
\nit would appear that in his haste to \u201cdiscover\u201d the source of
\nTutuola\u2019s material, Professor Lindfors seems to have turned a blind
\neye to a simple caution on source analyses supplied by R.D. Altick in
\nhis book, _The Art of Literary Research _(1975:95). Says Altick:<\/p>\n

_\u201cOne commonsense question should accompany all attempts to establish
\nthe direct indebtedness of one author to another on the grounds of
\nverbal similarities; might not the resemblances be attributable to the
\nfact that both Author A and Author B were nourished by the same
\nculture?\u201d_<\/p>\n

_The Forest Of God_ has been described as a Yoruba national epic, that
\nis, if we understand an epic as a long narrative on the life and heroic
\nexploits of a great character. This novel serves the weird tale of a
\nhunter, Olowo-aiye, who sets out on a hunting expedition in the dreaded
\nforest, _Igbo Olodumare_, armed to the teeth with charms and weapons. He
\nsays:<\/p>\n

_\u201cToday is the day that I go to the place where the powerful ones go,
\nto the abode of the strange beings, to the place that is very dark in my
\neyes; I will leave peace behind; I shall go in to meet trouble; but
\ndifficulty is the father of treasure; good name is better than a new
\nbride; if I endure the trials of today, I shall reap the treasure of
\ntomorrow; if I joyfully return from Igbo Olodumare, my name shall surely
\nendure in the world.\u201d_<\/p>\n

Olowo-aiye engages in several fights that are so fierce he thinks he
\nwould give up. But like the epic hero he is, he emerges from all his
\nfights very victorious. His first fight with Esu-kekere-ode, the demon
\nthat lives under the anthill, ends amicably when he reaches for his
\nflute and plays an enticing tune on the greatness and magnanimity of the
\nGod, Almighty. This was at the Jungle of Silence.<\/p>\n

His next encounter is with Ajediran, the exiled witch, with her elder
\nsister. He later marries Ajediran at the palace of the king of _Igbo
\nOlodumare_ after he defeated Ajonnu-Iberu the vicious gnome who keeps
\nthe gate of _Igbo Olodumare_, in a very fierce battle that was watched
\nby animals, weird creatures and gnomes of _Igbo Olodumare_.<\/p>\n

After being lost in the \u201cforest of God\u201d for three years, Olowo-aiye
\ncommences his search for his home route and this brings him in contact
\nwith his dead mother who gives him a bean cake that would never finish
\nno matter how much he ate from it. Later, he goes to the house of the
\nkind host and master story-teller, Baba-Onirungbon-Yeuke who takes him
\non a visit to Death\u2019s house.<\/p>\n

He later sets out with some of his countrymen who join him at
\nBaba-Onirungbon-Yeuke\u2019s house and had to be taken prisoner in the town
\nof the snakes by Ojola-Ibinu, the head of all the snakes in the world.
\nThey had to device a way of killing this snake-king and passing the
\nvalley of the vicious ladies before they could peacefully go home,
\nsignaling the end of the very hazardous adventure.<\/p>\n

In this novel, though the narrative remains in the first person point of
\nview, we have in fact three narrators. This is arranged in a linear
\nprogressive form to commence with the unidentified narrator who then
\nencounters his old friend, Akara-ogun, the son of Olowo-aiye, born to
\nhim in his absence, after he had left for the adventure in _Igbo
\nOlodumare_. It was he that now tells the story of his father\u2019s
\nexploits until he feels it is time to let his father\u2019s diary speak for
\nitself. And when this is done, he reemerges and then allows the first
\nnarrator to indulge in his valedictory speech replete with diverse
\ninstructions on how to lead a purposeful, exemplary and morally sound
\nlife before the book finally ends.<\/p>\n

_The Forest Of God_ is made up of 172 pages. It commences with a brief
\nintroduction, a literature review that chronicles the most perceptive
\ncomments made about Fagunwa\u2019s works by scholars over the years. There
\nare also chapters devoted to some biographical information about
\nFagunwa, his works, his use of the Yoruba language and his rhetoric.<\/p>\n

The notes at the end of the novel (p. 148) offer insightful explanations
\non some complicated idioms or other forms of language use and provide
\nquite a number of privileged information from the translator that aid
\nthe reader\u2019s appreciation of the work. Some terms describing Yoruba
\nfood items,\u00a0 \u00a0cultures and some other life preferences peculiar to them
\nare also made clear to the reader by the translator through the notes.<\/p>\n

It would be futile denying the pride of place Fagunwa\u2019s pioneering
\neffort has earned him in the African literary landscape. His work will
\nalways be studied due largely to its very historical and even cultural
\nsignificance. But one may not always help nursing the feeling that his
\nwork is akin to some dish which people are often compelled to take as
\nopposed to some really sumptuous delicacies which they go all out to
\nsecure and savour. The book\u2019s strength, however, lies in its ability
\nto raise the hope of the reader and encourage him to follow in the quest
\nwith a promise that a great discovery will come as a reward for the
\nquite unentertaining journey. But at the end of the day, the reader is
\nleft with this deflating feeling of having been duped \u2013 and by someone
\nwho had no intention of doing so.<\/p>\n

_*Ugochukwu Ejinkeonye, a literary scholar and journalist, is the author
\nof the book, “Nigeria: Why Looting May Not Stop [1]”
\n(scruples2006@yahoo.com<\/a>\u00a0[2]). _<\/p>\n

References:<\/p>\n

Achebe, Chinua, \u201c_Work and Play in_ _The Palmwine Drinkard, Critical
\nPerspectives on Amos Tutuola_ (Bernth Lindfors ed.),Washington DC:
\nThree Continents, 1975<\/p>\n

Ajadi, Gabriel A. (trans): D.O. Fagunwa, _The Forest Of God_, Ibadan:
\nAgbo Areo Pub., 1995.<\/p>\n

Altick, Richard D., _The Art of Literary Research__,_ New York: Norton,
\n1975.<\/p>\n

Bamgbose, Ayo, _The Novels of D.O. Fagunwa_, Benin City: Ethiope Pub.
\nCorp., 1974.<\/p>\n

Beier, Ulli, _\u201cFagunwa: A Yoruba Novelist,\u201d_ _Black Orpheus_ No. 17,
\nUlli Beier and Abiola Irele (eds), 1965.<\/p>\n

Chinweizu, Onwuchekwa Jemie and Ihechukwu Madubuike, _Toward The
\nDecolonization Of African Literature_, Enugu: Fourth Dimension, 1980.<\/p>\n

Irele, Abiola, _The African Experience In Literature And Ideology_,
\nLondon: Heinemann, 1981.<\/p>\n

Lindfors, Bernth, _\u201cAmos Tutuola And D.O. Fagunwa\u201d,_ The _Journal Of
\nCommonwealth Literature_, No. 9, Arthur Ravenscroft (ed), July 1970.<\/p>\n

Links:
\n——
\n[1]
\nhttps:\/\/www.amazon.com\/NIGERIA-Why-Looting-May-Stop-ebook\/dp\/B08K3RPS5P<\/a>
\n[2]\u00a0http:\/\/scruples2006@yahoo.com\/<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Ugochukwu Ejinkeonye Whenever the full history of Nigerian literature is written, Daniel Olorunfemi Fagunwa (popularly known as D.O. Fagunwa), the Yoruba language novelist, would certainly occupy his rightful place…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":76815,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-76814","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles-opinions"],"yoast_head":"\nD. O. 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