‘A curious creature from the market’
World Literature and the ‘Complete Gentleman’ Stories
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 23440780 |
|---|---|
| Authors | T Warner (0000-0002-6978-1314, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Pages | 427-444 |
| Publication date | 2025-11-06 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | CHAPTER |
| Venue | African Literature in Transition : Volume 3 (SOURCE_BOOK) |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1017/9781009622318.027 |
| OpenAlex | W4415448634 |
| ISBN | 9781009622318 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 11 |
This chapter puts world literature and African print cultures into conversation by exploring a widely circulating tale of desire, deception and escape that was told all over pre-colonial Africa and then spread across the globe by slavery and imperialism. The Palm-Wine Drinkard brought the folktale known as the ‘complete gentleman’ story to an international audience in 1952, but the scale of this narrative phenomenon was already massive. Since 1860, more than 450 versions have been printed in over a hundred languages across the African continent and the Atlantic and Indian Ocean worlds. The story also inspired dozens of adaptations across a variety of media, including many by renowned creative writers. This chapter explores what this traveling tale can teach the study of world literatures and African print cultures. It includes an overview of the phenomenon, a discussion of methodology, and an analysis of adaptations by Amos Tutuọla, Efua Sutherland and Ousmane Socé.
Conversation · Deception · Globe · Indian ocean · Narrative · Phenomenon · Variety (cybernetics) · Australian History and Society · Colonialism, slavery, and trade · Race, History, and American Society
| Highly cited | No |
|---|