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| Title: | The road less traveled: reflections on the literatures of the Horn of Africa |
| Editor: | Ahmed, Ali Jimale |
| Year: | 2008 |
| Pages: | 464 |
| Language: | English |
| City of publisher: | Trenton, NJ |
| Publisher: | Red Sea Press |
| ISBN: | 1569022062; 1569022070; 9781569022078 |
| Geographic terms: | Djibouti Eritrea Ethiopia Somalia Sudan |
| Subjects: | literature literary criticism |
| About persons: | William J.F. Syad Reesom Haile Bayana Hayla Bereket Habte Selassie (1932-) Nuruddin Farah (1945-) Francis Mading Deng (1938-) Jamal Mahjoub (1960-) Taban lo Liyong (1939-) pseud. for Mokotiyang Rekenet |
| Abstract: | Oral and written narratives in the Horn of Africa more often than not problematize what is committed to the nation's official memory. They take cognizance of how 'events' are formulated, or 'made to happen', and make sense of what is or is not in the social imaginary. The literatures of the Horn of Africa shed light on the aspirations, hopes, consternations, and fears of the storytellers and, by extension, the people whose lives shape and give meaning to the stories. The essays in this volume, too, tell a story, with the nations in the Horn of Africa forming the crucible site. They are grouped according to nation - Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia, Sudan -, although essays that traverse borders, and/or transgress generic delineations and delimitations, are also included. The 21 chapters include studies on the Somali Christian poet, William J.F. Syad; 'Against All Odds: African Languages and Literatures into the 21st Century', a literary conference held in Asmara in January 2000; the poetry of Reesom Haile; the Eritrean novel 'Is He Mad?' (1965); the development of written Oromo literature; Somali and Orma tales of strong women; Bereket Habte Selassie's 'Riding the Whirlwind' (1993); the poetic tradition of the Geledi and the Bantu Jareer in southern Somalia; the novel 'Waddadii Walbahaarka' (The Road of Grief, 1994) by Xusseen Sheekh Biixi and how it reflects the recent Somali situation; the work of Nuruddin Farah; the making of Sudanese literature; Francis Deng's novels; 'The Carrier'(1998), a migrant novel written by the Sudanese/British novelist Jamal Mahjoub; Taban Lo Liyong's 'Words That Melt a Mountain'; African language programmes in the United States. Contributors: Taddesse Adera, Yonas Admassu, Abdelwahab El-Affendi, Ali Jimale Ahmed, Rima Berns-McGown, Charles Cantalupo, Guillaume Cingal, Gilbert Doho, Mohamed A. Eno, Garane Garane, Beyene Haile, Mohammed Hassen, W. Stephen Howard, Ali Moussa Iye, Hilarie Kelly, Suzanne Lilius, Richard A. Lobban, Jr., Virginia Luling, Felix Mnthali, Eiman El-Nour, Jopi Nyman, Martin Orwin. [ASC Leiden abstract] |
