8 things you should know about 'The Palmwine Drunkard' by Amos Tutuola [First African novel published in English]

Did you know:

1. The first African Novel published in English

The Palm Wine Drunkard is the first African novel published in English outside of Africa. It is written in a modified Yoruba English or Pidgin English.

2. It went Viral

The Palmwine Drinkard is the first African novel to go viral. It’s the first to be published in London. The following year, an American edition was released. Soon after a French translation was published in Paris. The novel was so popular that Vogue Magazine gave it a mention in a 1953 issue, in a column called “People Are Talking About…” Here is the quote:

"People are talking about…The Palm-wine Drinkard by Amos Tutuola, a West African novelist whose English is almost as vivid as his flaring imagination, which makes for a book about a journey to the dead that is even more odd than those best-sellers on climbing a mountain or diving deep into the sea."

Read: 6 Reasons to revisit the crazy 1960s 'Our Husband Has Gone Mad Again' by Ola Rotimi

3. Movie Adaptation

Thinking of Doing a Palmwine Drinkard Movie? You might need to contact Disney, who bought the film rights in 1964.

4. Written in 3 days!

The Palmwine Drinkard was written in three days, followed by a three-month revision. When Tutuola revised, he didn’t tinker with the text. He simple rewrote passages that he thought did not work well.

5. Despite its flaws, it was seen as original

The lack of resolution in the novel was also seen as more authentic, meant to enable group discussion in the same way that African riddles, proverbs, and folktales did.

6. Popular in Pop Culture

Canadian rock band The Stills named a track on their 2008 album 'Oceans Will Rise' after the book. Also Kool A.D., one of the rappers in Das Racist, released a mixtape of the same name in 2012. Law and Order SVU character Detective Odafin "Fin" Tutuola's name is derived from this novel.

7. Despite criticism, still a bestseller

Despite its criticism by western authors as barbaric and primitive, the Palm-Wine Drinkard has shown remarkable staying power. It lives, and like a blob of sourdough starter, it gives life to others, inspiring powerful out-of-the-mainstream works like Mindblast by Dambudzo Marechera and Wizard of the Crow by Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o.

8. Respected as one of the greatest novel ever written

Chinua Achebe and so many other literary icons have accepted the book as the greatest novel written. Even Mukoma wa Ngugi, son of Kenyan writer Ngugi wa Thiong’o, in an interview describes the Palm Wine drunkard as one of the greatest novel ever written in Africa.