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Amos Tutuola's The Palm-Wine Drinkard and his Dead Palm-Wine Tapster in the Deads' Town  (Faber and Faber, 1952; 125) is a string of fantastic occurrences or linked folkloric tales. The happenings are, like all folktales, incredible, colourful,  and entertaining with a moral lesson, of sorts. The story opens with the main character and narrator introducing himself to readers. He says: I was a palm-wine drinkard since I was a boy of ten years of age. I had no other work more than to drink palm-wine in my life. In those days we did not know other money, except COWRIES, so that everything was cheap, and my father was the richest man in our town. [7]  From there on the Palm-Wine Drinkard, whose name the reader never gets to know but who referred to himself as 'Father of gods who could do anything in this world', narrates a journey he embarked upon to bring back his dead palm-wine tapster from Deads' Town. The fantastic and mysterious events that took place on the...

Title: Houseboy Author: Ferdinand Oyono Translator: John Reed Genre: Novella/Anti-Colonialist Publishers: Heinemann (African Writers Series) Pages: 122 Year of Publication: 1956 (in French), 1966 (in English) Country: Cameroon For the Africa Reading Challenge This is a story by a Houseboy written in the first person and in the form of diary entries in two exercise books. It describes the relationship between French colonialists and native Cameroonians during the period of colonisation from a Houseboy's perspectives. The Houseboy, Toundi, escaped from Cameroon where he was wanted for an alleged crime - a crime he did not commit but has been framed up for his part of spreading the amorous and sexual encounters between his master's - the local Commandant - wife and the giant Prison Officer, M. Moreau. As a Houseboy, Toundi, saw a lot in the house of his master especially when his master's wife came to the household. And as innocent as he was couldn...

Title: No Longer At Ease Author: Chinua Achebe Genre: Novel (Life, Transition) Publishers: Heinemann (African Writers Series) Pages: 154 ISBN:978-0-435913-51-9 Year: 1960 (this edition, 2008) Country: Nigeria No Longer At Ease  is the second book in a series of books, which have come to be called the African Trilogy. It was set in Lagos, Nigeria within the period prior to independence. In this novel, Chinua Achebe merges the traditional with the modern, creating a story that tells of the genesis of corruption and the culture of demand. The plot deals with how the culture of expectation leads to corruption and decadence of the individual and the institutions they work for. This story is similar to Ayi Kwei Armah's Fragments   and fits a quote in Amu Djoleto's novel The Strange Man : "Convention and conformity are the foundation stones of decadence". Obi Okonkwo, son of Isaac Okonkwo (or Nwoye) and grandson of Okonkwo in Things Fall Apart , had...

Title: Things Fall Apart Author: Chinua Achebe Genre: Novel (Traditional, Historical) Publishers: Heinemann (African Writers Series) Pages: 166 Year: 1958 Country: Nigeria Published in 1958, Things Fall Apart is one of the most widely read African novel. It is the first of Achebe's body of work and also the first book of what is usually referred to as the African Trilogy. Other novels in this trilogy are: No Longer At Ease  and Arrow of God . Set in Umuafia in the 1930s or so, Things Fall Apart, tells the story of the rise and fall of Okonkwo. Okonkwo was widely known throughout the nine villages of Umuafia for his warring prowess, where he is famed for having brought home five heads from all his wars and for his wrestling prowess for having thrown down the Cat. He was also industrious and rich, had three wives and many children, had large yam farms and had taken three of the four available titles in Umuafia. However, Okonkwo's bravery, belligerence...