Amos Tutuola

'. . . brief, thronged, grisly and bewitching . . . written in English by a West African . . . Nothing is too prodigious or too trivial to put down in this tall, devilish story.' Dylan Thomas in the Observer

The Palm-Wine Drinkard

My Life In the Bush of Ghosts

My Life in the Bush of Ghosts

When Amos Tutuola's first novel, The Palm-Wine Drinkard, appeared in 1952, it aroused exceptional worldwide interest. Drawing on the West African Yoruba oral folktale tradition, Tutuola described the odyssey of a devoted palm-wine drinker through a nightmare of fantastic adventure. Since then, The Palm-Wine Drinkard has been translated into more than 15 languages and has come to be regarded as a masterwork of one of Africa's most influential writers. Tutuola's second novel, My Life in the Bush of Ghosts, recounts the fate of mortals who stray into the world of ghosts, the heart of the tropical forest. Here, as every hunter and traveler knows, mortals venture at great peril, and it is here that a small boy is left alone.

The Palm-wine Drinkard ; And, My Life in the Bush of Ghosts

Pauper, Brawler, And Slanderer

Because they have had no children after four years of marriage, a brave African hunter leaves his wife in search of the Witch-Mother, who can provide a cure for infertility

The Witch-herbalist of the Remote Town

Feather Woman of the Jungle

La mia vita nel bosco degli spiriti. Per le Scuole

The author ranks as one of the foremost living traditional African storytellers - as recognised by the acclaim of his first book, The Palmvine Drinkard. This book includes seven folktales especially for young adults, but of universal appeal. Beautiful black and white ink drawings illustrate the tales whose cast of characters include humans, a goddess, an elephant woman, a boa constrictor and a shell-man.

Yoruba Folktales

In Feather Woman of the Jungle, the people of a Yoruba village gather on ten memorable nights to hear the stories and wisdom of their chief. They learn of his adventures, among them his encounter with the Jungle Witch and her ostrich, his visit to the town of the water people and his imprisonment by the Goddess of Diamonds. Each night the people return, eager to discover if there is a happy ending. Amos Tutuola was born in Abeokuta, Nigeria, in 1920. His first novel, The Palm-Wine Drinkard, was acquired by T. S. Eliot and published by Faber in 1952.

Palm - Wine Drinkard and His Palm-wine Tapster in the Deads' Town

The palm-wine drinkard. My life in the bush of ghosts

CLASSICS

The Palm-wine Drinkard and His Dead Palm-wine Tapster in the Deads' Torn

Drawing on the Yoruba folk tradition, Amos Tutuola's tales combine the resonance of universal myth with reflections on a range of human vagaries. The leading characters of Pauper, Brawler and Slanderer are all forced to embark on journeys of no return, leading to incidents and adventures in classic Tutuola style. There is a ploughing competition for the hand of the beautiful Popondoro, and the reign of Pauper and Slanderer in the town of women is inevitably brief. This is Tutuola at his most vivid and funny, at his wisest and most imaginative.

Pauper, Brawler and Slanderer

The Palm-wine Drinkard and Dead Palm-wine Tapster in the Dead's Town

The Palm-wine Drinkard and His Dead Palm-wine Tapster in de Deads' Town

After four years of marriage, the brave hunter of the Rocky Town and his beautiful wife, Lola, are still without a child. Equipped with juju, sharpened machete, bow and poisonous arrows, flints and thunderbolts, he sets off in search of the Witch-Herbalist's medicine. For six years he journeys, conquering or escaping from such haunting characters as the Abnormal Squatting Man of the Jungle and the Crazy Removable-Headed Wild Man. Finally he reaches the Remote Town of the Witch-Mother and is given medicine for his wife, but on the way home he makes a decision with interesting consequences.

The Witch-Herbalist of the Remote Town

The Palm-wine Drinkard and His Head Palm-wine Tapster in the Deads'town

The Palm-wine Drinkard and His Dead Palm-wine Tapster

Simbi and the Satyr of the Dark Jungle is the fabulous tale of Simbi, a rich and beautiful girl with a wonderful singing voice. She tires of her comfortable lifestyle, and decides that she must come to know poverty and punishment. The story tells, with terrifying imagination and comic invention, of how she achieves this experience and how, in the end, she escapes from it. Amos Tutuola was born in Abeokuta, Nigeria, in 1920. His first novel, The Palm-Wine Drinkard, was acquired by T. S. Eliot and published by Faber in 1952.

Amos Tutuola

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