Tutuola, Nigeria’s first novelist to write in English, is one of the most controversial of African authors. His six books have drawn reactions ranging from delirious enthusiasm to amused indifference to undisguised contempt. At any given time, his work might be reviled at home and respected abroad—or vice versa. His writing, however, does not seem much affected by the controversies, continuing to reflect the fantastic imagination and idiosyncratic grammar that have intrigued or repelled his critics.

The reviews and essays in the volume are grouped chronologically, allowing the reader to follow Tutuola’s literary career and his unsteady journey to respectability.