My Life in the Bush of Ghosts (novel)
My Life in the Bush of Ghosts , published in 1954, was the second novel by the Nigerian author Amos Tutuola . The text, written in its own version of English reminiscent of Pidgin English , is regarded as an early representative of African magical realism. The relationship between the spirit world and the real world is often discussed. The tone of the text is strongly reminiscent of Tutuola's first work, The Palm-Wine Drinkard , and was published in 1991 in German translation under the title Mein Leben im Busch der Geister . He was also the title of an album by David Byrne and Brian Eno , released in 1981 .
history
The nameless first-person narrator finds himself on the run from slave traders, and since he is too young to distinguish between good and evil, he finds himself in a forbidden or inaccessible bush of spirits. There he met numerous ghosts, was constantly transformed, married twice, learned the language of ghosts and finally became the first police chief in the city to which one of his deceased cousins brought Christianity. With the help of a ghost woman with television hands, whom he can cure of a painful illness instead of the long, unpleasant ghost kind within a few days based on a medicine recipe from his mother, he gets back into the world of mortals, in which he comes to under the tree , from which he first fled into the bush of the spirits, is immediately enslaved. Finally he is bought by his long lost brother and, after the latter wants to sacrifice him as useless because sick slaves to the gods, he is recognized.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Archived copy ( Memento of the original from July 19, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ https://www.academia.edu/2589676/Everyday_Ghosts_and_the_Ghostly_Everyday_in_Amos_Tutuola_Ben_Okri_and_Achille_Mbembe
