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INSIDE AFRICA
On a one way trip to the DEADS' TOWN: Tribute To Amos Tutuola by Sola Adeyemi, contributing editor and columnist for USAfrica The Newspaper & USAfrica ONLINE, teaches drama at the University of Natal (Pietermaritzburg), in South Africa
The demise of Amos Tutuola on June 4 1997 is another milestone in the passing away of that remarkable generation of extremely talented and profound individuals which the Nigerian writer Femi Osofisan refers to as "the action group generation". Gradually, they are dealing quiet but deadening blows to world literature. It is more so because, apart from the peculiar nature of his writing and the flavour we absorb from his many novels, Tutuola was a practical, down-to-earth writer who had only one passion -- joy in humanity and life. This fervour for humanity made him such an unforgettable character. Two vivid occasions came readily to my mind: 1992 when I was involved in creating a documentary titled _Ogun: Un Dieu au Bord de la Route_ with a friend, Stephane Breton, based on ideas gleaned from Wole Soyinka's _The Road_. Soyinka himself was involved in the documentary and so was the playwright Bode Sowande, the musician Tunji Oyelana and the Ifa Priest Yemi Eleburuibon. For our research, we traversed all over the Yorubaland of Nigeria searching for towns where the god Ogun is accorded a big yearly festival -- towns like Ire, Ondo, Ilesa and Ile-Ife, and of course, Idanre. We sought the cooperation and participation of the guilds closely related to the use of iron implements or the worship of Ogun, the god -- drivers, smiths, artists. A French company, FILMS D'ICI, produced this ambitious project with the Federal Road Safety Corps and Michelin Tyres supplying the logistics. There was a month of frenetic preparations followed by another longer period of confirmation and consolidation during which Stephane went back to France. Everything was ready, or so we thought. When Stephane brought the crew from France and shooting was about to start, we realised what we had overlooked. Like in most films, you still need the other leads even when the lead actor is Ogun himself and his various manifestations. All the "actors" we had "acquired" either revered Ogun as a god, used him as a muse or regarded him as a patron. We needed the mythical angle and that is where Amos Tutuola came in. In his somewhat hesitant, unassuming manner often followed by the deep "Yes... yes" and "That's right", he not only agreed to feature in the documentary, he also led us to some interesting locations that reminded one of the bush of ghosts even in the almost depleted tropical rainforest region. The second occasion was not that interesting but it was more illuminating. It was 1993 and the setting was Amos Tutuola's one storey building in the Odo-Ona area of Ibadan. The situation was a lengthy interview. I discussed about it only a few weeks ago (actually a few days before Tutuola's demise) with Femi Osofisan (Professor of Drama) that maybe the time has come to publish the interview Tutuola granted then. It was planned for the second edition of the Opon Ifa Review. Tutuola came across during the interview as the incurable story-teller that he was. He regaled us with stories of his researches in the outlying villages, his lifestyle and working methods and his association with other written works. Tutuola related how, even at almost seventy years of age, he would wake up with the dawn to go to his farm, come back around 11 o'clock to have his breakfast, rest for a while and then go a-visiting until evening. A light supper would be followed by a stint before his old Olivetti; a stint which could extend to the wee hours of the next morning. With great humour, he told about his trips abroad and the treatments he received from scholars, writers and his publisher (Faber and Faber, London). He capped it all with a humorous tale of his fabled riches and how Kole Omotoso (the writer) started a rumour that he was 70 years a few years back, prompting some royalties owed him by his publisher to be paid and creating a renewed interest in his works. The interview was intended to last for one hour -- it went on for four and half hours. Such was the delightful company of the "palm-wine drinkard" who never tasted alcohol. I learnt of the death of Amos Tutuola through a friend who phoned me two days or so after the event. "What? Pa Tutuola? I beg cut the joke," I replied, unbelieving. "It is true, Sola. I even went to Odo-Ona to confirm it." To say I was shocked was understating it. I was devastated. The man was not young but his death is a great loss to Nigerian, nay, the world literature. A loss of one of the last of that generation of fine writers -- Cyprian Ekwensi, Timothy Aluko, Gabriel Okara. A sad loss. Tutuola was born in 1920 at Abeokuta in the Southern part of Nigeria. He had little Western education before working as a messenger in the Lagos labor office and later as a trainee blacksmith in the Nigerian Railway Corporation where he jotted down what later became the first Nigerian novel in English to be published in 1952 --_The Palm-wine Drinkard and his Dead Palm-wine Tapster in the Deads' Town and parts of the subsequent ones in small exercise notebooks. Prior to that, he also served in Britain's Royal Air Force in Lagos during World War II. After the success of The Palm-wine Drinkard, Tutuola crossed over to the Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation, Ibadan as a Storekeeper. Other works like My Life in the Bush of Ghosts , Pauper, Brawler and Slanderer , The Village Witch-Doctor and Other Stories , and Yoruba Folktales followed in the same quaint style and "ungrammatical" language which is really an expressive socio-cultural interpretation and rendition of English language.
His works are classics that deal in folklores uniquely
presented in refreshing idioms, imagery and similes that are truly African.
At 77, Tutuola surely lived a filled life and African literature will be
poorer for
his presence. I can still remember his chuckles and the gingerly dance
steps he took in 1990
when the Arts Theatre of the University of Ibadan hosted his 70th birthday
with Bode Sowande/Guy Lenoir's production of an adaptation of My Life in
the Bush of Ghosts. He climbed the stage and, in the usual Yoruba manner
of starting a tale, began: Aalo O!
The audience responded with alacrity: Aaloo!
Adieu Pa Amos Tutuola, we all still chorus after you knowing that you have
only gone in search of your "tapster". Back to: Inside Africa Index |