Novel
Mitaraina ny tany
Not translated into English
Andry Andraina · 1975
Synopsis
Mitaraina ny tany (The Earth Groans): in a village of Antsihanaka, a family of poor peasants lives through the colonial years; the younger son follows the path of his elder brother, swept along by the upheavals that shape the country. During the Second World War, rice requisitions and quotas starve the countryside. The novel also depicts the life of the period, the place of women, school and epidemics.
Context
Written as early as 1957 according to Newsmada, the novel appeared in 1975 in Antananarivo, from the Librairie Mixte, and was selected for a prize of the Ministry of Culture. It has entered the secondary-school curriculum in Madagascar. Words Without Borders published an extract in English in 2015, the review's first translation from Malagasy, and Tefy translated it into French under the title De douleur, la terre gémit, for Éditions Tsipika in 2023; the translation was presented on 30 November at the National Library.
Who it is for
For discovering the Malagasy peasantry under colonisation, in a school classic now readable in French.
Prizes and reception
Its translator, Tefy, sees in the author a genius of Malagasy literature, and the book was a success from its publication.
Sources for this page 8
The pages consulted to check this page.