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Critical Perspectives on Amos Tutuola
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318 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1975
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About the author
Bernth Lindfors
77 books1 followerBernth O Lindfors is professor emeritus of English at the University of Texas.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
February 18, 2022
In many ways, Amos Tutuola was a special African writer as well as a pioneer, one of the first from west Africa to publish imaginative works heralded overseas; certainly the first from Nigeria. From the very beginning (1952), with the publication of his The Palmwine Drinkard, he was celebrated more or less globally.
Tutuola was a "semi-literate", though these things can be relative; he had like 6 or 7 years of formal education, yet he wrote his books in English, and western critics were very much enamoured with his "folkloric" books
Tutuola had a long literary career despite a lot of criticism (ironically from his own fellow Yorubas/Nigerians) as his own brethren found it difficult to appreciate his style of writing, allusions, grammar etc. But the man kept on writing, and the proliferating reviews and literary criticism of his books kept on rising over the decades.
Hence this particular book which magnificently traces the progress of Tutuola from inception, and records virtually all the literary evaluation re his works, not only in the Eurocentric world, but also in Africa.
It seems incredible that exalted literary scholars all over the world could have been so interested in Tutola's writings; the pantheon of "white" reviewers and critics like Dylan Thomas, Kingsley Amis, Gerald Moore, Harold Collins, Ulli Beier, Charles R Larson, and the author/editor of this book, Bernth Lindfors himself...
And not only Eurocentric critics. Top notch African scholars like E. Obiechina, Chinua Achebe, Omolara Ogundipe Leslie, Eldred Jones, Taban lo Liyong, A Afolayan, etc wrote substantial literary essays on Tutuola. And even a young Wole Soyinka evaluated the significance of Tutuola and his book(s).
This and much more is highlighted in this comprehensive laudable work. Scores of contributions on Tutuola and his work are published here, with so many gems coming to the surface. For example, we read on page 27:
"Since then, this eager author (ie Tutuola just after the publication of his second book) has sent some short stories, based on folk lore to the BBC. Three have been broadcast: interesting, when you remember that a convention has been established that script writing is quite a different art form from written matter meant to be read silently. Tutuola has succeeded in both fields, using precisely the same technique..."
Tutuola was a "semi-literate", though these things can be relative; he had like 6 or 7 years of formal education, yet he wrote his books in English, and western critics were very much enamoured with his "folkloric" books
Tutuola had a long literary career despite a lot of criticism (ironically from his own fellow Yorubas/Nigerians) as his own brethren found it difficult to appreciate his style of writing, allusions, grammar etc. But the man kept on writing, and the proliferating reviews and literary criticism of his books kept on rising over the decades.
Hence this particular book which magnificently traces the progress of Tutuola from inception, and records virtually all the literary evaluation re his works, not only in the Eurocentric world, but also in Africa.
It seems incredible that exalted literary scholars all over the world could have been so interested in Tutola's writings; the pantheon of "white" reviewers and critics like Dylan Thomas, Kingsley Amis, Gerald Moore, Harold Collins, Ulli Beier, Charles R Larson, and the author/editor of this book, Bernth Lindfors himself...
And not only Eurocentric critics. Top notch African scholars like E. Obiechina, Chinua Achebe, Omolara Ogundipe Leslie, Eldred Jones, Taban lo Liyong, A Afolayan, etc wrote substantial literary essays on Tutuola. And even a young Wole Soyinka evaluated the significance of Tutuola and his book(s).
This and much more is highlighted in this comprehensive laudable work. Scores of contributions on Tutuola and his work are published here, with so many gems coming to the surface. For example, we read on page 27:
"Since then, this eager author (ie Tutuola just after the publication of his second book) has sent some short stories, based on folk lore to the BBC. Three have been broadcast: interesting, when you remember that a convention has been established that script writing is quite a different art form from written matter meant to be read silently. Tutuola has succeeded in both fields, using precisely the same technique..."
January 7, 2008
So much of what you want to know about Amos Tutuola collected by Bernth Lindfors, whose authority demands the greatest respect.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews