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Ethiopia

Ethiopia All works

All works 24

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  • ChronicleThe Kebra Nagastክብረ ነገሥትAnonymous · 1320The founding narrative of the Ethiopian monarchy, which makes its sovereigns descend from Solomon and draws their legitimacy from it.Literature
  • EssayThe Hatata InquiriesHatâtaZera Yacob · 1667A philosophical autobiography in Ge'ez, held to be the first text of rational philosophy from Africa.Literature
  • NarrativeThe Life and Struggles of Our Mother Walatta PetrosGädlä Wälättä PetrosGalawdewos · 1672The hagiography of an Ethiopian nun, founder of communities and opponent of the Jesuits in the seventeenth century.Literature
  • NovelTobbyaልብ ወለድ ታሪክAfäwärq Gäbrä Iyäsus · 1908Two twins who set out to free their father, captive of a pagan king, in an Amharic tale printed in Rome at the beginning of the century.Literature
  • TheatreFable: The Comedy of AnimalsFabula : Yawreoch CommediaTekle Hawariat Tekle Mariyam · 1921The first play written in Amharic, a satire of the court in the form of an animal fable, banned after its premiere.Literature
  • EssayState & Economy of Early 20th Century EthiopiaMengistna Yehizb AstedaderGebre Hiwot Baykedagn · 1925The first essay in political economy written in Amharic, a plea for a driving state published after its author's death.Literature
  • TheatreTeqem Yalebel ChewataYoftahe Nigussie · 1930not translated into EnglishA court allegory performed for the coronation festivities, in which the legitimacy of the new sovereign is expressed through a biblical parable.Literature
  • Novelአዲስ አለምHeruy Wäldä Sellasie · 1932not translated into EnglishIn Ethiopia between the two wars, a young man educated in Paris returns to his country and clashes with both custom and the clergy.Literature
  • NovelArayaGermachew Tekle Hawaryat · 1949not translated into EnglishA postwar novel about a peasant educated in Europe who wants to modernise his country, in the years leading up to the Italian invasion.Literature
  • Chronicleዝክረ ነገርMahteme Sellassie · 1950not translated into EnglishIn the aftermath of the liberation, a compilation of palace documents that fixes the administrative memory of the Ethiopian empire.Literature
  • Essayጃፓን እንደምን ሰለጠነችKebede Mikael · 1954not translated into EnglishIn the aftermath of the Italian occupation, an essay that proposes Meiji-era Japan as a model of modernisation without self-betrayal.Literature
  • TheatreThe Marriage of UnequalsYalacha GabichaMengistu Lemma · 1963An Amharic comedy of manners, a satire of prejudices of rank through an arranged-marriage plan.Literature
  • TheatreOda Oak OracleTsegaye Gabre-Medhin · 1964A play in verse written in English by an Amharic dramatist, about a village where two religions contend for the living.Literature
  • Feature filmWho Is Hirut's Father?Hirut abatwa mannew ?Lambros Yokaris · 1965Regarded as the first Ethiopian fiction feature film, a film in Amharic about a single mother and her daughter.Cinema
  • NovelLove Unto Cryptፍቅር እስከ መቃብርHaddis Alemayehu · 1966In the time of the lords of Gojjam, a love that crosses ranks collides with the pride of a family and the order of an entire province.Literature
  • Novelየቴዎድሮስ እንባBerhanu Zerihun · 1966not translated into EnglishA historical novel on the great reforming emperor of Ethiopia, facing the powerful who resist him.Literature
  • NovelThe AfersataSahle Sellassie Berhane Mariam · 1969A novel of rural Ethiopia, in which the customary inquiry into a fire reveals the life of a Gurage village.Literature
  • NovelThe Thirteenth SunDaniachew Worku · 1973The pilgrimage of an old, sick lord to a mountain shrine, in the Ethiopia of Haile Selassie.Literature
  • NovelDefianceAbe Gubegna · 1975During the Fascist occupation, a high-ranking family in the Ethiopian capital refuses to yield.Literature
  • CinemaHarvest: 3,000 YearsMirt Sost Shi AmitHaile Gerima · 1976A family of sharecroppers under the thumb of a feudal lord, at the moment when the Ethiopian empire collapses.Cinema
  • NovelOromayBaalu Girma · 1983A roman à clef about a military campaign then under way, written by the man who directed its propaganda.Literature
  • CinemaTumultGir-girYemane Demissie · 1996The attempt to overthrow Haile Selassie, told from the point of view of a young aristocrat among the conspirators.Cinema
  • CinemaBlood Is Not Fresh WaterTheo Eshetu · 1997A video artist of the diaspora returns to his grandfather, a historian, who serves as his guide through Ethiopian memory.Cinema
  • CinemaDelugeYe Wonz MaibelSalem Mekuria · 1997A filmmaker looks back on the Ethiopian student revolution and the terror that followed it, through the fate of her own people.Cinema