Amos Tutuola

Drawing on the Yoruba folk tradition, Amos Tutuolas 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.

Yoruba legend and culture were the source of much of Amos Tutuolas writing and the stories collected here are no exception. They feature characters from folklore, archetypal figures from Yoruba society, supernatural or magical happenings, acute human observation and often a moral point. Their very titles - from The Duckling Brothers and their Disobedient Sister to Dont Pay Bad for Bad - are evocative of a unique blend of tradition and imagination, which belongs to the same universal culture as Aesop and the Brothers Grimm.

This is the story of Adebisi, a brave African huntress who sets out for the Jungle of the Pigmies to rescue her four brothers. Along the way, she conquers a giant, serves as the barber to a king and endures the horrors of the pigmies prison. Yet she will not give up. By employing her strength and intelligence, she finds a way to release her brothers and returns home to a heros welcome.

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.

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.

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-Herbalists 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.

My Life in the Bush of Ghosts, Amos Tutuolas second novel, was first published in 1954. It tells the tale of a small boy who wanders into the heart of a fantastical African forest, the dwelling place of innumerable wild, grotesque and terrifying beings. He is captured by ghosts, buried alive and wrapped up in spider webs, but after several years he marries and accepts his new existence. With the appearance of the television-handed ghostess, however, comes a possible route of escape.Tutuola ... has the immediate intuition of a creative artist working by spell and incantation. V. S. Pritchett, New Statesman

This classic novel tells the phantasmagorical story of an alcoholic man and his search for his dead palm-wine tapster. As he travels through the land of the dead, he encounters a host of supernatural and often terrifying beings - among them the complete gentleman who returns his body parts to their owners and the insatiable hungry-creature. Mixing Yoruba folktales with what T. S. Eliot described as a creepy crawly imagination, The Palm-Wine Drinkard is regarded as the seminal work of African literature.Brief, thronged, grisly and bewitching. Dylan Thomas, ObserverTutuolas art conceals - or rather clothes - his purpose, as all good art must do. Chinua Achebe

This is the story of Ajaiyi, a man born into poverty who is determined to improve his situation. In the hope of finding the money he needs, he travels through unfamiliar lands filled with strange creatures. He meets the Spirit of Fire with its huge feathered head and flaming body, and receives assistance from a wizard and a unicorn. Yet, in the end, the answer to his woes is not far from home.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.

En el curs del viatge a la Ciutat dels Morts, en el cor d'una selva africana plena avessar de fantasmes, monstres i "éssers curiosos", l'heroi i l'heroïna d'El bevedor de vi de palma s'enfronten a pr

El bebedor de vino de palma narra las andanzas de un bebedor empedernido en busca del paradero de su sangrador de vino, fallecido repentinamente, en la tierra de los muertos. Un periplo por bosques, montes y aldeas en el que nos adentramos en un territorio magico poblado de espiritus, seres maravillosos y animales feroces. El bebedor debera enfrentarse a multitud de peligros y obstaculos, que superara gracias a su astucia y al uso de todo tipo de hechizos y ardides. Nutriendose de las fabulas yoruba, Tutuola forja una traviesa parodia epica narrada con un estilo directo y fresco. Una magnifica novela, ya convertida en clasico, con la que el autor se erigio en precursor de los maestros del realismo magico y del realismo animista africano.

Je me soulais au vin de palme depuis l''age de dix ans. Je n''avais rien eu d''autre a faire dans la vie que de boire du vin de palme. C''est ainsi que le narrateur, qui se nomme lui-meme Pere-Des-Dieux-Qui-Peut-Tout-Faire-En-Ce-Monde , se presente. Les 560 000 palmiers de sa plantation lui fournissaient suffisamment de vin de palme pour en boire quotidiennement plus de deux cents calebasses. Mais un jour son malafoutier , l''homme qui lui preparait son vin de palme, tombe du haut d''un arbre et se tue. Voila un bien grand malheur ; impossible de trouver un malafoutier aussi expert que le defunt, et la soif se fait sentir. Le narrateur decide donc d''aller chercher son malafoutier dans la Ville-des-Morts, et ce sont ses aventures dans la Brousse et le Monde des Etres Etrangers et Terribles, qui constituent le sujet de ce recit ecrit directement en anglais par Amos Tutuola, Yoruba de l''ancienne Nigeria britannique. Raymond Queneau s''est efforce de rendre le caractere d'' art brut de ce conte et les contradictions d''un des tout premiers romans africains.

Se trata de un libro basado en narraciones tradicionales de la mitología africana; es la aventura de un niño que se adentra en un territorio poblado de seres que han fallecido a deshora y que esperan que llegue su momento para trasladarse definitivamente a la tierra de los muertos. Pocas veces el lector occidental se enfrenta de forma tan descarnada e imaginativa a la esencia del miedo: el pavor del hombre solo en la naturaleza, del hombre postrado ante los dioses, convertido a su vez en dios y siempre dispuesto a impregnar su alma de nuevas creencias.

Eliot described as a creepy crawly imagination, The Palm-Wine Drinkard is regarded as the seminal work of African literature. Brief, thronged, grisly and bewitching. Dylan Thomas, ObserverTutuolas art conceals - or rather clothes - his purpose, as all good art must do. Chinua Achebe