Ìpilẹ̀ṣẹ̀

Amos Tutuola · Ìpilẹ̀ṣẹ̀

Amos Tutuola na Nigerian novelist wey im 1952 book, The Palm-Wine Drinkard and His Dead Palm-Wine Tapster in the Deads' Town, become di first full-length Nigerian story wey dem write for English wey gain international critical recognition . Dem born am to Christian Yoruba parents for rural Wasinmi, and Tutuola combine traditional Yoruba folklore, mythic episodic quest forms, and modern Western imagery using one special, non-standard English syntax . Im work bring up big debate for African literary studies about di politics of language, di ethics of colonial publishing, and di boundary between oral tradition, translation, and individual author craft .

Biography and Early Life

Amos Tutuola, wey im original name na Amos Olatubosun Tutuola, dem born am for Wasinmi, one village near Abeokuta for southwestern Nigeria . Im parents na Charles Tutuola Odegbami, wey be cocoa farmer, and Esther Aina, and di two of dem na Christian Yoruba . Di exact year wey dem born am no dey inside colonial civil and baptism records of dat period. Di date wey biographers dey cite pass na June 20, 1920, even though earlier reference directories, biographical surveys, and literary records dey often put am as 1922 .

Tutuola do roughly six years of formal primary education . Im schooling start for Abeokuta, where e go Salvation Army School and Anglican Central School, before e complete additional study for Lagos High School . Im formal education stop sudden for 1939 after im papa die, wey make di family no get financial support again for school fees .

After im schooling stop, Tutuola train as blacksmith . During World War II, between 1942 and 1945, e serve as coppersmith for British Royal Air Force for Nigeria . After demobilization after di war, lack of metalworking job make am secure work as messenger for Nigerian Department of Labour for Lagos . Na during im spare time as messenger Tutuola start to write long narrative prose .

For 1956, Tutuola move go Ibadan to work as storekeeper with Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation, position wey e hold for twenty years . Later for im career, as international recognition of im literary contribution dey grow strong, e hold visiting appointments for major institutions: e be associate for University of Ife for 1979 and e participate for di International Writing Program for University of Iowa for 1983 . Tutuola die for Ibadan on June 8, 1997, from complications of hypertension and diabetes .

Major Works and Literary Output

Tutuola literary works mostly consist of episodic quest romances wey dey structured around di journey, trials, and transformation of mythic wanderers wey dey encounter spirits, monsters, and deities from Yoruba cosmological landscape .

The Palm-Wine Drinkard and His Dead Palm-Wine Tapster in the Deads' Town (Faber and Faber, 1952): Tutuola breakthrough novel. E record di journey of one drinkard wey no dey ever belleful, wey travel go di town of di dead to recover im palm-wine tapster wey don die, dey cross terrifying supernatural territories and dey complete dangerous tasks .
My Life in the Bush of Ghosts (Faber and Faber, 1954): Novel wey narrate di waka-about of one small boy wey separate from im family during slave raid or tribal war, wey come trap for inside di forbidden Bush of Ghosts for decades, dey find way pass through plenty ghost towns .
Simbi and the Satyr of the Dark Jungle (Faber and Faber, 1955): Episodic quest wey center on Simbi, one rich and sheltered girl wey run comot from house to experience poverty and punishment, wey later confront plenty mythic beasts and supernatural dangers .
The Witch-Herbalist of the Remote Town (Faber and Faber, 1981): Later quest romance wey narrate one hunter dangerous expedition to get herbal cure for im wife barrenness from one far supernatural healer .

Dese works dey unified by one episodic structure: main character go leave human settlement, cross boundary enter enchanted or terrifying wilderness wey spirits full, endure physical and psychological tests, collect special talismans or powers, and return to human community with transformative knowledge or gifts .

Primary Archives and the Material Text

Di archival record of Tutuola writing life dey preserved across two main institutional repositories:

The Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas at Austin: Dis repository dey house di Amos Tutuola Collection (1940–1997) and di Bernth Lindfors Collection of Amos Tutuola . Dese collections keep Tutuola handwritten drafts, typed manuscripts, author corrections, and plenty personal and professional letters .
The Faber and Faber Archives in London: Dis corporate archive dey preserve publisher correspondence, internal reader evaluations, production files, and editorial exchanges concerning Tutuola publications from 1950 go forward .

Archival study don correct several major myths about how dem take produce Tutuola books:

The Earliest Manuscript

For many decades, plenty people believe say The Palm-Wine Drinkard na di first text wey Tutuola write . But wetin dem find for archive show say di earliest long manuscript wey im finish na The Wild Hunter in the Bush of the Ghosts, wey im write for late 1940s . Tutuola post this handwritten manuscript go Focal Press, one London publisher wey dey focus on photography manuals, afta im see dia advertisement . Focal Press pay small money buy di manuscript, decide say dem no go publish am, and keep am for dia company files till scholar Bernth Lindfors edit and publish am for 1982 .

Wetin Faber and Faber Editors Change

One strong colonial talk wey tey be say Faber and Faber leave Tutuola manuscript completely untouched as raw, primitive something wey strange, or for anoda angle, say Western editors rewrite and polish di English well-well . Wetin Gail Low discover when im check di editorial files for archive show say none of di two claim correct . Faber editors deliberately decide to keep Tutuola special Nigerian English syntax, vocabulary, and im own kind of grammar structure, but dem only touch punctuation, how paragraphs divide, and simple typing mistakes so dat people go fit read am easily .

Manuscript Creation & Editorial Transmission (1948–1952)
[Late 1940s: Tutuola writes "The Wild Hunter"]
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[Sent to Focal Press, London]
(Purchased, shelved, unpublished until 1982)
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[1950: Composes "The Palm-Wine Drinkard"]
│
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[Sent to Faber and Faber, London]
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[Editorial Review: Deliberate retention of
vernacular Nigerian syntax; selective copyediting
of punctuation, paragraphing, and typos]
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[1952: Publication of "The Palm-Wine Drinkard"]

Di Big Difference for How People Receive di Book

As The Palm-Wine Drinkard come out for 1952, e immediately bring serious disagreement between Western reviewers and educated West African readers, and this one turn to one of di major debates for twentieth-century African literature .

The 1950s Reception Divergence
Western Literary Circles                  Early Nigerian Intellectuals
(e.g., Dylan Thomas, 1952)                (e.g., Babasola Johnson, 1954)
│                                               │
▼                                               ▼

Acclaimed as "naive genius"             * Denounced as "bad English"
Praised as "grisly and bewitching"      * Feared reinforcement of colonial
Viewed as pure, primitive folklore        stereotypes of African illiteracy

How People for Western Countries Praise Am

For Britain and United States, big literary figures praise di novel well-well. Di review wey get di biggest power na di one wey Welsh poet Dylan Thomas write for The Observer on July 6, 1952 . Thomas describe di novel as "thronged, grisly and bewitching story" wey dem write in "young English," and im praise Tutuola sharp imagination, frightening imagery, and di free way im voice flow for di story . Generally, Western critics see Tutuola as natural, uneducated genius wey im work carry di direct, raw expression of exotic African oral mind .

How African People React with Worry and Vex

For di oda side, early Nigerian critics and university-educated intellectuals receive di book with bad belle, shame, and total anger . For one review wey represent this mind for 1954 wey dem publish for West Africa, Babasola Johnson condemn di work, argue say Tutuola write wrong English and say di reason why Western people dey shout praise di book na because dem like di kind look wey dey treat Africa as primitive people .

Nigerian commentators dey worried about how things go look for political side during colonial period: as Nigerian nationalists dey campaign for independence and dey show say dem get administrative and academic capacity, British critics dey praise writer wey go primary school for only six years and wey write non-standard English, while dem dey ignore African writers wey go school proper .

Di Fagunwa Controversy and Originality of Folktales

Di main debate about Tutuola artistic position for Nigerian literary history dey around how im work connect with Yoruba oral tradition and di books wey Chief D. O. Fagunwa publish .

For 1938, D. O. Fagunwa publish Ògbójú Ọdẹ nínú Igbó Irúnmọlẹ̀, di first novel wey dem write for Yoruba language . Fagunwa work take plenty things from local folktales (àlọ́), hunter mythologies, moral lessons, and Yoruba spoken arts, to form one distinct journey-quest style .

When The Palm-Wine Drinkard come out for 1952, readers wey understand both English and Yoruba notice serious similarities for plot motifs, encounters with spirit things, and thematic structure between Tutuola English story and Fagunwa Yoruba books .

The Originality Debate
Position A: Unacknowledged Indebtedness       Position B: Independent Synthesis / Translation
(Early Critics / Bernth Lindfors, 1970)     (Abiola Irele, 1975; Oyekan Owomoyela, 1999)
│                                                │
▼                                                ▼

Tutuola borrowed direct plot motifs       * Both authors drew freely from shared
from Fagunwa's 1938 Yoruba novel.           Yoruba oral folklore (àlọ́).
Structurally dependent on existing       * Tutuola translated Yoruba narrative
vernacular printed texts.                   forms and aesthetics into global English.

Scholars still divide into two main analytical sides:

Direct Borrowing and Structural Dependence: Scholars like Bernth Lindfors show direct parallels between particular episodes inside Tutuola texts and di ones inside Fagunwa earlier Yoruba novels wey don publish, wey show say Tutuola no just pick from oral tori alone, but e also copy directly from Fagunwa printed stories without to credit am formally .
Shared Heritage and Creative Translation: Other scholars, especially Abiola Irele and Oyekan Owomoyela, argue say to look Tutuola as ordinary copycat dey misunderstand how traditional Yoruba oral composition dey work . Dem talk say both Fagunwa and Tutuola freely draw from di same communal pool of Yoruba folklore, proverbs, and mythic structures . Irele argue say Tutuola do serious creative re-interpretation wen e carry di aesthetic world of Fagunwa and Yoruba oral tradition enter English language, wey create original synthesis wey people across di whole world fit access .

Critical Re-Evaluation and Canonization

By di late 1960s and 1970s, di way critics dey look Tutuola change well-well. Instead make dem dey see am as illiterate primitive (how early European people take read am) or as person wey no go school wey dey shame dem (how early Nigerian people take read am), big African writers and literary theorists begin re-evaluate Tutuola as person wey know wetin e dey do, innovative craftsman and mythmaker .

One major milestone for inside dis critical recovery na Chinua Achebe essay, "Work and Play in Tutuola's The Palm-Wine Drinkard" Achebe reject di idea say di book na just scatter-scatter collection of strange folklore pieces; instead, e show say di book dey work as disciplined moral allegory . Achebe analyze di journey of di Drinkard, wey start as person wey no dey productive, wey just dey follow enjoy-ment and dey drink palm-wine only, but through suffer-suffer, trials, and hard work inside di spirit world, e turn to caring leader wey fit save im community from drought and hunger .

Di same way, Abiola Irele frame Tutuola as natural extension of Yoruba storytelling tradition, wey connect oral verbal art to di modern African novel inside English .

Documented Reality Versus Critical Claims

Di historical record allow clear difference between verified archival facts and di critical myths wey follow Tutuola throughout im career:

Category	Early Critical Myth / Claim	Documented Archival Fact
Literacy & Craft	Dem frame am as person wey no go school, naive primitive wey dey just produce oral speech without change .	E complete six years of formal school for different institutions; archival drafts for Harry Ransom Center show say e systematically correct and deliberately revise im work .
First Manuscript	Na The Palm-Wine Drinkard (1952) be di first text wey e write .	Na The Wild Hunter in the Bush of the Ghosts e first write for late 1940s and e sell am to Focal Press .
Editorial Alteration	Faber and Faber either rewrite di text heavily or dem leave am raw without touching am at all .	Faber editors deliberately keep Tutuola non-standard Nigerian English syntax while dem select some punctuation, paragraphing, and mechanical errors correct .
Birth Date	Dem state am strictly say na June 20, 1920, inside different reference books .	Colonial birth records no dey; Tutuola self give different dates from 1920 to 1922 .

Language, Craft, and Archival Silences

Di main question wey dem never resolve for Tutuola scholarship na whether im linguistic style na something wey e deliberately do . Scholars still dey debate whether im grammar na conscious aesthetic choice wey e design to copy Yoruba syntax inside English, or whether na just di natural limit of im formal primary education .

Because Tutuola no leave any systematic theoretical essays or self-analysis wey explain im exact linguistic philosophy, dis question still dey open inside critical literature .

Apart from dat, archival gap dey regarding some middle manuscript drafts from di 1970s, wey dem lend to local colleagues for Nigeria and dem never trace dem for public institutional repositories .

Amos Tutuola