The Palm-Wine Drinkard

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