~~~ THE LAND OF BINGO ~~~
 
 TRANSLATOR'S INTRODUCTION



    Ala Bingo is an early work of Igbo literature about which I have no information except that many of my Igbo acquaintances are familiar with it from their school days. An Igbo-English glossary is provided on pages 36-38.

    According to the “Catalogue of Nigerian Pamphlets on Microfilm” published by Yale University Library, the third edition of this work was published in 1950.

    All information in square brackets has been inserted by me. 

    The exact intervals between the chief’s travels to and from Bingo Land are not perfectly clear to me, but I will try to get more information on this.

    Translation assistance came from one of my first helpers, Cletus Onyeka, with whom I studied during 1978-79. Cletus loaned me his copy of the book, and I photocopied it. His copy is inscribed: “Okongwu Memorial Sec. Sch., P.M.B. 12, Nnewi, 10/11/74.”
 

Frances W. Pritchett
Little Rock, Arkansas
January, 2004

 


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