The Palm Wine Drinkard

Author: Amos Tutuola; Wole Soyinka (Introduction by)

Stock information

General Fields

  • : $19.99 AUD
  • : 9780571311538
  • : Faber & Faber, Limited
  • : Faber & Faber, Limited
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  • : 0.117934
  • : July 2014
  • : 198mm X 126mm
  • : United Kingdom
  • : August 2014
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  • : books

Special Fields

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  • : Amos Tutuola; Wole Soyinka (Introduction by)
  • : Paperback
  • : 2
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  • : English
  • : 823.914
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  • :
  • : 144
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Barcode 9780571311538
9780571311538

Description

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

Promotion info

A stunning reissue of Amos Tutuola's debut novel, first published by Faber in 1952, along with the release of Tutuola's complete works into ebook for the first time.

Author description

Amos Tutuola was born in Abeokuta, Nigeria, in 1920. The son of a cocoa farmer, he attended several schools before training as a blacksmith. He later worked as a civil servant. His first novel, The Palm Wine Drinkard, was published in 1952 and brought him international recognition. From 1956 until retirement, he worked for the Nigerian Broadcasting Company while continuing to write. His last book, The Village Witch Doctor and Other Stories, was published in 1990. He died in Ibadan in 1997.