Amos tutuola

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Amos Tutuola (born June 20, 1920 in Abeokuta , † June 8, 1997 in Ibadan ) was a Nigerian writer .

Life

Amos Tutuola, the son of a Christian family from the Yoruba ethnic group , worked as a coppersmith after six years of elementary school and as a mechanic for the Royal Air Force during the Second World War . He then worked as a clerk in the labor department and warehouse worker for the Nigerian radio. During this time, 1953, Tutuolas first novel, was published The Palm-Wine Drinkard ( The Palm wine drinkers ), in which a mysterious wanderer of the magical creatures reported that he met in his wanderings. The fairy-tale work, which takes up the mythology of the Yoruba, is committed to the traditions of oral storytelling, written in faulty English and disregards the rules of the modern novel, which is committed to realism. Nevertheless, or precisely because Tutuola's novel contradicted the goals of the African intellectuals fighting for international reputation, his main work was often quoted and had a stylistic effect on the literature of younger generations. In his home country Tutuola was often criticized for supporting the prejudices of the West against the supposedly primitives of Africa; only after his success did they begin to translate his works into Yoruba. In France, his work was initially attributed to his translator Raymond Queneau and Amos Tutuola was thought to be a new pseudonym.

In 1979 he was a research fellow at the University of Ile-Ife and a participant in the International Writing Program at the University of Iowa . He returned to Ibadan in 1980 and died there in 1997 of complications from high blood pressure and diabetes.

Works

  • The Palm-Wine Drinkard (1946, published in 1952, dt. The palm wine drinkers 1994)
  • My Life in the Bush of Ghosts (1954, dt. My life in the bush of ghosts 1991)
  • The Brave African Huntress (1958)
  • Simbi and the Satyr of the Dark Jungle (1962)
  • Feather Woman of the Jungle (1962)
  • Ajaiyi and his Inherited Poverty (1967)
  • The Witch Herbalist of the Remote Town (1981)
  • Yoruba Folktales (1986)
  • Pauper, Brawler and Slanderer (1987)
  • The Village Witch Doctor and Other Stories (1990, short stories)

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Tutuola, Amos
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Nigerian writer
DATE OF BIRTH June 20, 1920
PLACE OF BIRTH Abeokuta , Nigeria
DATE OF DEATH June 8, 1997
Place of death Ibadan , Nigeria