One Man, One Wife

by T.M. Aluko

This is a satirical novel about the conflict of Christian and Yoruba ethics.

Genres: Africa, African Literature

201 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1965

About the author

Timothy Mofolorunso Aluko was a Nigerian writer.

A Yoruba, Aluko was born in Ilesha in Nigeria and studied at Government College, Ibadan, and Higher College, Yaba, in Lagos. He then studied civil engineering and town planning at the University of London. He held a number of administrative posts in his home country, including Director of Public Works in Western Nigeria. He departed from civil service in 1966 and from then until his retirement in 1978 he pursued a career as an academic, earning a doctorate in municipal engineering in 1976. He received several awards and honours including Officer Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 1963 and Officer Order of the Niger (OON) in 1964.

His novels, including One Man, One Wife (1959), One Man, One Matchet (1964), Chief the Honourable Minister (1970) and His Worshipful Majesty (1973), are satirical in tone, and deal with the clash of new and old values in a changing Africa.

In 1994, he published his autobiography, My Years of Service, an account of his activities as an engineer and university teacher.

His most current autobiography, The Story of My Life, expounds on the story of his childhood and his work as a civil servant. Published in 2007, this expanded autobiography provides a more in depth look at his life.

T.M. Aluko died on 1 May 2010 in Lagos, aged 91.

Reviews

[Nathan "N.R." Gaddis]

Of course this will upset some folks who hold certain views--and naturally too there's a spoiler contained in my claim--but the ending of this story of this experience seems to fit rather well with Zizek's claim about the Christian legacy being something worth fighting for (fraught as it is). However, being in the midst of reading the Quran at the moment, I could see too how, with only slight changes to the story, it might make a similar claim about the Islamic legacy. Recommended as a companion to the far more well known Things Fall Apart.

[Khadija · Rating 3 out of 5]

“The sky was overcast with thick, grey clouds drifting in the direction of Idasa. That meant rain. It would come, as long as the clouds drifted in that direction. Lightning flashes momentarily parted the clouds...Shango, the god of lightning and thunder, was registering his anger as this strange talk of a new God is taking hold of simple folk who were once unquestioning votaries of his order. The new malady must be nipped in the bud.”

One Man, One Wife is one of the less celebrated postcolonial oeuvres by the Nigerian author T.M. Aluko. In May 1st 2010, Aluko passed away leaving behind more than ten Afrocentric novels. Before his death, in 1987, Aluko had a stroke that paralyzed his right leg and right hand. In his autobiography, The Story of My Life, he says,

"this meant that I could no longer write...This was a frustrating experience for me particularly as a writer. There was no alternative but to start learning how to write with my left hand like a child learning how to write the alphabet for the first time.”

He wrote two works after his stroke.

As the title suggests, the novels deals with Christian monogamy opposed to the polygamy of the Yuroba. It is an account of the village of Isolo’s reverting to old gods as a result of their struggle to understand the Christian faith. The Doctrin of the Virgin Birth and monogamy were “incomprehensible” writes Aluko. The novel, like most African novels, deals with heathenism vs. Christianity and Tradition vs. Modernity. One Man, One Wife is a display of the disillusionment with the Christian credo spread by its tenets in West Africa.

[Ifihan Olayanju · Rating 4 out of 5]

I can't read it

[Victor Chizi Ihunda · Rating 3 out of 5]

One Man, One Wife is a story of the "strange", "unfathomable" perhaps, "Bizarre" encounter of an African society (Yoruba tribe) with Europeans both Missionaries and colonial administrators. Hitherto the coming of these Europeans, the values, ideals, norms, laws, ethos and culture of this people reigned supreme regardless of how obnoxious or preposterous it might seem.
The entire story is based on this encounter with the European value system and the new emerging dynamics between the inhabitant of the village of Isolo.