The Palm-Wine Drinkard, Amos Tutuola, 1952 - Part 10
I and my Palm-Wine Tapster in the Deads’ Town to Afraid of touching terrible creatures in bag
Welcome back to Seventy years of books, where I'm blogging my way through the seventy titles originally compiled for the Big Jubilee Read. This week I’m continuing with the first book, Amos Tutuola's The Palm-Wine Drinkard.
I and my Palm-Wine Tapster in the Deads’ Town
The palm-wine drinkard and his wife arrive in Deads’ Town at last and find his beloved palm-wine tapster. We learn that the journey has taken ten years.
Everyone in Deads’ Town is, unsurprisingly, dead and “life” is very different, for example all the people and animals walk backwards, without turning around, which reminded me of Orpheus and Eurydice, where Orpheus could not be reunited with his love, Eurydice, if he turned around and looked at her. The deads also all wear pristine white clothing, which brought to mind burial shrouds and made me wonder if they are wearing what they are buried in, rather than the popular ghostly image of wearing what you died in.
The reunion cannot last as the two men no longer belong in each others’ worlds, so palm-wine tapster gifts a magical egg to the palm-wine drinkard which will provide him with anything he wants in the land of the living. This is another image which brought to mind Jack and the Beanstalk which I thought about when the palm-wine drinkard was working as a farmer.
The palm-wine drinkard is devastated to learn that the deads and the alives cannot come together. He has spent ten years journeying towards the past, having many dangerous adventures on the way, and now it all appears to be for naught. In fact, he is so disappointed, he cannot even bring himself to drink the palm-wine the palm-wine tapster has brought for him.
None of the Deads too young to assault. Dead babies on the road-march to the Deads’ Town
Once again, the palm-wine tapster and his wife cannot get home peacefully. First they are attacked and beaten by dead babies on the road, and they then are caught in a bag full of creatures carried by a very huge man, whose size and mysterious identity make him both powerful and terrifying.
Afraid of touching terrible creatures in bag
The creatures in the bag with the palm-wine drinkard and his wife are icy cold and painful to touch because of their rough hairy skin, but their movements are bound by the movements of the bag as the man carries it thirty miles away from where they are started. This is a horrible and painful experience and they have now completely lost control.
Who knows if they will ever get back to any sort of normal life?
This week in 1952
On 6 February, the words “Hyde Park Corner” began the breaking news that King George VI had died and Princess Elizabeth, in Kenya with her husband, had become queen. Elizabeth II, whose Platinum Jubilee reading challenge inspired this newsletter, would go on to become Britain’s longest reigning monarch, dying in 2022 at the age of 96.
George VI’s funeral was held on 15 February.
On 7 March, the first edition of New Music Express (NME) was published. The music newspaper cost sixpence and would later introduce the singles chart.
On 22 March, Wernher von Braun published his first Man will Conquer Space Soon! article, which covered how people could get to the Moon and Mars.
And this year, this book from 1952 was returned to a library 57 years after its due date!
1952 song of the week: Half as Much, Rosemary Clooney
This is a heartbreak song, with strong sings focussing on the false hope brought about by unrequited love.
Originally recorded by Hank Williams, Clooney’s cover reached number 1 in the US and number 3 in the UK.
1952 product of the week: Mr Potato Head, again!
This week we’re revisiting the very first product of the week, Mr Potato Head, because I found this amazing advert which shows Mr Potato Head and his wife in action:
Although this particular advert is from the 1960s and not the original 1952 advert (which was also the first time a toy was advertised on television), I do love how this shows the kit working with real vegetables rather than the plastic spuds sold today.
This was the reasoning behind the investment in advertising the toy on television, as children might not have known how to play with their new pal when they opened the kit full of facial features only.
But of course, these features had to be sharp enough to pierce a real potato, and children might keep their spudtastic friend around far past their sell-by date, so in the mid-60s the plastic version was introduced, making playtime safer for everyone.
But, Mr Potato Head will always hold a place in history for changing the way that advertisers saw, and sold to, children forever.
Historical perspectives: Skelmersdale’s Yesterdays
This video features various band photographs from Skelmerdale’s history, including (at 1:42) a photograph of a temperance band member from 1952.
The photograph has a very rural feeling, with a large cottage in the background, and shows how much Skelmersdale has changed since it was redesigned as a “new town” int he 1960s. You can see how much the look of the town has changed from some of the newer photographs towards the end of the video.