Amos Tutuola

Total words: 266
Amos Tutuola (June 20, 1920 - June 8, 1997) was a Nigerian writer famous for his books based in part on Yoruba folk-tales.

Despite his short formal education, Tutuola wrote his novels in English. His most famous novel, The Palm-Wine Drinkard and his Dead Palm-Wine Tapster in the Deads' Town, was written in 1946, published in 1952 in London by Faber and Faber, and translated and published in Paris as l'Ivrogne dans la brousse by Raymond Queneau in 1953. The noted poet Dylan Thomas brought it to wide attention, calling it "brief, thronged, grisly and bewitching". Although the book was praised in England and the United States, it faced severe criticism in Tutuola's native Nigeria. Part of this criticism was due to his use of "broken English" and primitive style, which supposedly promote the Western stereotype of "African backwardness". The Palm-Wine Drinkard was followed up by My Life in the Bush of Ghosts in 1954 and then several other books in which Tutuola continued to explore Yoruba traditions and folklore. However, none of the subsequent works managed to match the success of The Palm Wine Drinkard. Many of Tutuola's papers, letters, and holographic manuscripts have been collected at the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center at the University of Texas, Austin. "My Life in the Bush of Ghosts" later became an inspiration for the experimental musician Brian Eno, and led to his recording My Life in the Bush of Ghosts in 1981. In retirement he divided his time between residences at Ibadan and Ago-Odo. Tutuola died at age 77 on June 8, 1997 from hypertension and diabetes.

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