Novel
wägahta natsənät
Not translated into English
Teklai Zeweldi · 1954
Synopsis
Several generations of the same Eritrean family, who follow one another in opposition to Italian domination. The novel takes up the theme of the first Tigrinya novel, that of the conscript, but in a more elaborate style: a single chapter often interweaves several narrative threads. Nothing more is known about the plot or the characters.
Context
The novel appeared four years after the first Tigrinya novel, L'Histoire d'un conscrit, printed in 1950. Ghirmai Negash judges it technically superior to its predecessor. After 1955, according to Xavier Luffin, Tigrinya novels printed in Asmara could appear only with the consent of the Ethiopian authorities, who checked that they had no political aims. The country was annexed in 1962, and Amharic then replaced Tigrinya as the official language.
Who it is for
A novel in Tigrinya, not translated. It is worth knowing that Eritrea was an Italian colony until the Second World War, then federated with Ethiopia in 1952.
Prizes and reception
Histories of Tigrinya literature count it among the first novels of the language, and Ghirmai Negash praises its multi-voiced construction.
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