Amos Tutuola’s first novel – a ludic, irreverent tall tale of weird encounters inspired by Yoruba folklore – immediately brought him to (divergent) critical attention, and rapidly achieved cult status, “creating its own genre, setting its own rules, and enthralling its expanding coterie” (Soyinka, 2014). Occupying a contentious position in the canon of African literature(s), The Palm-Wine Drinkard has been subject to various interpretations, from “an extended folktale in search of syntax” to a forerunner of magical realism, a linguistic experiment apt for a nation struggling towards independence to a science fiction novel.
The British economist and educator, Walter Newlyn (1915-2002), was known for his work on monetary theory and with African nations. It is unlikely that the Newlyns ever met Tutuola, being only briefly based in Ibadan, then Nigeria’s largest and most populous city, during 1953, while the author moved to Ibadan three years later to work for the Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation.
Wole Soyinka (2014) ‘Introduction’. The Palm-Wine Drinkard. London: Faber & Faber.