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).