Amos Tutuola – författare

Historierna bestod av en blandning av eget skapande och material ur yorubafolkets muntliga berättartradition. När han hade sin andra längre berättelse klar, Palmvindrinkaren, skickade han den till ett engelskspråkigt bokförlag i Nigeria, Lutterworth Press, som refuserade men skickade den vidare till Faber and Faber i London, som publicerade den 1952. Boken blev omedelbart mycket uppmärksammad. Dylan Thomas skrev t ex en översvallande recension i The Observer. Den utkom strax också i USA, på Grove Press, och har tryckts i ständigt nya upplagor. Den har med några korta undantag aldrig varit out of print på över 40 år. Artur Lundkvist såg 1961 till att boken kom ut i svensk översättning på Tidens förlag, i Tellusserien. Det är denna översättning som Bakhåll nu återutger. "Jag har berusat mig med palmvin alltsedan jag var en tioårs pojke. Jag hade ingenting annat att göra i livet än dricka palmvin" inleds berättelsen. Huvudpersonen är äldst av åtta syskon, alla de övriga är flitiga i sitt arbete, själv duger han bara till att dricka palmvin, "från morgon till kväll och från kväll till morgon". Hans rike far är mycket förstående och skänker honom en plantage på 260 hektar med 560 000 palmer och anställer en palmvintappare som varje dag tappar hundrafemti kalebasser palmvin åt honom. "Men före klockan två på eftermiddagen hade jag druckit ur allihop. Då måste han gå och tappa sjuttifem kalebasser till, som jag drack ur till morgonen." Detta hejdlösa drickande fortsätter utan avbrott ända tills palmvintapparen en dag ramlar ner från sin stege och dör och leveransen av palmvin plötsligt uteblir. Huvudpersonen bestämmer sig då för att resa till de dödas land för att hämta tillbaka honom. Det blir en strapatsrik färd fylld av märkliga möten med udda existenser, spöken, skuggvarelser, osaliga andar. Tutuola skriver på engelska, alltså inte på sitt modersmål yoruba, utan på en mycket primitiv engelska (som Dylan Thomas kallade "young English") som skänker en alldeles speciell stämning åt hans historier. Det knaggliga språket gör tonen naiv, men berättelsens innehåll slår ändå fram med väldig kraft. Palmvindrinkaren (The Palm-Wine Drinkard and his dead Palm-Wine Tapster in the Deads' Town, 1952) och My Life in the Bush of Ghosts (1954) är Tutuolas mest kända böcker. Han skrev ytterligare åtta.

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, Observer'Tutuola's 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.

Yoruba legend and culture were the source of much of Amos Tutuola's 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 'Don't 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 hero's welcome.

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.

My Life in the Bush of Ghosts, Amos Tutuola's 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

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.

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.