Adventures in the Burning Bush

Minneapolis, MN: Vermilion Editions, 1987. Rathman, David. Small quarto. (10)ff. One of thirty-five copies, signed by the artist at the colophon. Throughout, Rathman's linocuts, gothic and mythic in their intensity, evoke the nervous, even violent edge of the text. The present tale is inspired by and adapted from Amos Tutuola's The Palm-Wine Drinkard, the first African novel to be published in English outside of Africa. Tutuola based his original text on Yoruba folktales, and his style, epitomized by the novel, has become a considerable landmark in discussions regarding colonial (and decolonized) literature and language. Although Rathman's adaptation has smoothed over some of Tutuola's idiosyncracies, his linocuts conjure similar feelings of mysticism and urgency which are indelible to folklore.

Printed with aid from Gerald Lange of the Bieler Press and Norman Fritzberg of the Hansestadt Letterfoundry, and funded in part by the Minnesota Center for the Book Arts. Sheet held loose in four-flap portfolio with illustrated paper label to upper cover. Fine.