Amharic Literature Research Articles

Mourning in selected contemporary amharic novel: A meta-psychological perspective

This research delves into the poignant realm of mourning within the Amharic novel "Yäqənat Zār" ("Zār of Jealousy"). Using a psychoanalytic lens, it explores how characters grapple with loss and how grief shapes their lives. By drawing upon diverse theories of mourning, melancholia, grief, and attachment, the study sheds light on the causes and complex emotional consequences of loss. Characters in "Yäqənat Zār" become poignant canvases for depicting mourning. Their shifting behaviors, marked by self-blame, death wishes, and a sense of paralysis, paint a vivid picture of internal turmoil. This research unveils the underlying triggers of such profound grief, often rooted in melancholia born from sudden losses of loved ones and perceived mistakes in relationships. The study illuminates the devastating potential of unprocessed grief, demonstrating how it can lead to acts of self-destruction and even death. This exploration paves the way for further investigations into the multifaceted concept of grieving within Amharic literature. The call for research using diverse theoretical frameworks and venturing beyond "Yäqənat Zār" to encompass other literary genres promises to enrich our understanding of this universal human experience within the unique context of Amharic literature.

أثر الأدب الحبشي في نشأة الأدب الأمهرى وازدهاره

يهدف هذا البحث إلى محاولة بيان أثر الأدب الحبشي في نشأة الأدب الأمهرى وازدهاره، وتعدد أشکاله الأدبية. وذلک من خلال إبراز کثير من الأعمال الأدبية الأمهرية، وبيان مدى صلتها بأعمال أدبية حبشية تسبقها، وتوضيح کيف نشأ الأدب الأمهرى في البداية معتمدا على الأسلوب الدينى للأدب الحبشي الذى کتب باللغة الحبشية (الجعزية) المقدسة لدى کثير من الإثيوبيين، وانتقلت بعض ملامحه وقواعده في کتابة الأدب الأمهرى، وذلک من خلال نقل وتأليف کثير من الأعمال الأدبية الأمهرية التى تعتمد على مصادر وأصول أعمال أدبية حبشية. The purpose of this paper is to explore the effect that Geez literature had on originating Amharic literature and developing it. The Amharic language emerged as the principal successor tongue and the daughter language of Classical Ethiopic. The impact of Geez literature is evident in a lot of Amharic literature works. The bases of Amharic literature is mainly derived from the moral, religious, philosophical tradition already well established in Ge’ez literature. This can be proved through scrutinizing the content and form of these texts. This research has various aspects as it deals with various literary works of Amharic literature. The research divides these works to: religion literature works, history literature works, romance literature works, philosophy literature works , astronomer literature works, drama literature works, and, finally, poetry literature works. It is vivid that these works are diverse and reflect valuable data as they shed light on the important effects of Geez literature in establishing Amharic Literature and its multiple literature forms

An Old Amharic poem from northern Ethiopia: one more text on condemning glory

AbstractThis article presents a publication and translation (with linguistic and philological commentaries) of a recently discovered piece of Old Amharic poetry, possibly dating to the first half/middle of the seventeenth century. The published text bears the titleMärgämä kəbr(“Condemnation of glory”), but its content differs from that of several other Old Amharic poems (not entirely independent from each other) known under the same title. It is only the general idea and the main topics that are shared by allMärgämä kəbrpoems: transience of the earthly world, the inevitability of death and of God's judgement, and the necessity of leading a virtuous life. One can thus speak ofMärgämä kəbras a special genre of early Amharic literature, probably originally belonging to the domain of oral literature and used to address the Christian community with the aim of religious education and admonition of laymen.

Homesickness, Violence and Prostitution: Amharic Literature on Labour Migration to the Gulf States

Homesickness, Violence and Prostitution: Amharic Literature on Labour Migration to the Gulf States

Rhetoric Means of a Didactic Amharic Poem from Wärrä Babbo

This article describes aspects of an Amharic manuscript from Wärrä Babbo written in aǧäm, i.e. in the Arabic script. Since this kind of literature is quite widespread in the eastern parts of Wällo and in Yifat, the article begins with an introductive overview of aǧäm literature in Ethiopia and the special position of eastern Wällo as centre of Islamic scholarship and its role for the development of religiously inspired literacy. The philological and linguistic aspects of this type of Amharic literature are exemplified with a tawḥīd poem from eastern Wällo. Besides a detailled treatment of peculiar linguistic feature of the language used in the poem the analysis of the linguistics means that are used by the author to convey his intentions, i.e. the teaching of the basic Islamic tenets to his illiterate co-religionists, form the central content of the article.

I Codici Etiopici del Fondo Martini nella Biblioteca Forteguerriana di Pistoia

In the Biblioteca Forteguerriana of Pistoia (Italy), a small collection of Ethiopian manuscripts is kept, entrusted to the Library by the heirs of Ferdinando Martini (1841-1928), “governatore civile” of the Colonia Eritrea from 1897 to 1907. These five manuscripts are catalogued here. Of great philological and artistic relevance is the illustrated Octateuch dated 1438 (Ms. Martini etiop. n. 2 = Zanutto n. 5), probably written in Tigrāy, namely in the monastery of Dabra Seqwert, district of Saḥart. In the XIXth-cent. chronological codex Martini etiop. n. 1 (= Zanutto n. 1), the materials transmitted by the traditional Liber Axumae are considerably enlarged and updated. The homiletic volume Martini etiop. n. 5 (= Zanutto n. 2), previously owned by Eǧǧegāyyahu, the mother of Menilek II (1844–1913), Emperor from 1889 to 1913, dates back to the XIXth cent. and contains various texts, still unpublished. The collection includes also an XVIIIth-cent. Hāymānota ’abaw (Ms. Martini etiop. n. 4 = Zanutto n. 4), closing with the apocryphal Book of the Letter, and a XVII–XVIIIth-cent. History of the Galla (Ms. Martini etiop. n. 3 = Zanutto n. 3), possibly the oldest manuscript of one of the first works of Amharic literature.

Period, History, and the Literary Art: Historicizing Amharic Novels

Abstract The period between 1960 (the failed coup) and 1974 (the successful military takeover of power), was a momentous segment of contemporary Ethiopian history. It was an era teeming with social unrest among various social classes and strata of society. It is a very concentrated period full of accidents and coincidences that were melodramatic and absurd, and which mostly ended tragically. This made it particularly suitable for Ethiopian literary art. The most esteemed works of art in Amharic literature and source of incitement even for the present academia are products of this period—Fəqər əskä mäqabər, YäTéwodros ənba, Adäfrəs, Ke'admas bashaggär, and Létum aynägalləñ. This article argues that these novels are highly affected by the prevailing spirit of their time—the mood of confusion, ambivalence, fragmentation, and the spirit of anarchy and nihilism The novels, like other cultural products and activities, were initiated by the past, but they employed it to distill the abstract spirit of the times that were unnoticed by their society. They attempted to shape the era itself. This article's focus is not solely the “historicity of texts.” History here is not simply a backdrop against which the literary works are to be viewed but itself constituent of the text, inscribed in the text as one component.

Period, History, and the Literary Art: Historicizing Amharic Novels

The period between 1960 (the failed coup) and 1974 (the successful military takeover of power), was a momentous segment of contemporary Ethiopian history. It was an era teeming with social unrest among various social classes and strata of society. It is a very concentrated period full of accidents and coincidences that were melodramatic and absurd, and which mostly ended tragically. This made it particularly suitable for Ethiopian literary art. The most esteemed works of art in Amharic literature and source of incitement even for the present academia are products of this period— Fəqər əskä mäqabər, YäTéwodros ənba, Adäfrəs, Ke’admas bashaggär, and Létum aynägalləñ. This article argues that these novels are highly affected by the prevailing spirit of their time—the mood of confusion, ambivalence, fragmentation, and the spirit of anarchy and nihilism. The novels, like other cultural products and activities, were initiated by the past, but they employed it to distill the abstract spirit of the times that were unnoticed by their society. They attempted to shape the era itself. This article’s focus is not solely the “historicity of texts.” History here is not simply a backdrop against which the literary works are to be viewed but itself constituent of the text, inscribed in the text as one component.

What Were They Writing About Anyway?: Tradition and Modernization in Amharic Literature

When we hear the word “Ethiopia” even today, when globalization is the ruling edict of the day, what we still have to grapple with is a persisting enigma: on the one hand, we have this image of remoteness buried in the recesses of a past that had been as enduring as it had been glorious—a wonderland of natural bounty, whose people have been described as so “blameless” that they were beloved of the Greek gods who made frequent visits to them, led by none other than the thunderous Zeus himself; a people at whose “banquet side Poseidon lingered delighted,” as also did Iris “to partake of the rites to the immortal gods.”1 This perception of the country still lingers with an even stronger grip on the psyche of poets and politicians alike, extending its reach further into the past—this time around, as the “enviable origin” of the human race. On the other hand is the dismal reality of poverty and backwardness that the country represented when it crossed the threshold of the twentieth century a hundred years ago, and still had nothing significant to show for it all. This is what ailed the early twentiethcentury writers who voiced their concerns directly (by addressing their ideas of change to the powers that be), or indirectly through fictional works in the didactic tradition. Granted, so they seemed to say, that its past had been as glorious as it could never have been, but where did it all go? Where did we miss the turn that other nations were quick to recognize and embark on, leaving us out in the cold, while we, its children, still boast of the thirteen months of sunshine in which we alone seem to bask? Or, were we that loath to part with our bumpy ride on our dignified mules, rain or shine? In words that seem to echo those of Diodorus about the Ethiopians “being the first to honor the gods” and to be “endowed . . . [with their] favors,” (Snowden 146) and at the same time wondering loudly as to what stopped us dead in our track, Aleqa Tayye GebreMaryam wistfully asks what seems to have been an unavoidable question in a letter to Emperor Menelik II. Writes Gebre-Maryam:

Myth and Sexuality: A Mythopoeic Reading of Létum Aynegalliñ

Myth and Sexuality:A Mythopoeic Reading of Létum Aynegalliñ Tewodros Gebre (bio) Virtually all cosmogonies but ours are overtly sexual. -Camille Paglia What is it about? Prurience? Stupidity? And as Descartes didn't say, 'I fuck therefore I am.'? -Jeanette Winterson Sibhat Gebre-Igzï'abhiér is one of the modernist writers who are highly influential in the realm of Amharic literature. His works of art most often are the result of his literary experimentation. He applies different concepts and theories in his works despite the fact that it brings him in conflict with society and its values.1 Myth and sexuality among other things are common motifs that run through all his works, mainly in Létum Aynegalliñ, and subject him to different critics. He also raises modern issues that are highly mythological. In addition to using existing myths in literary organization, his works create their own myths. This in effect makes these works of art easier for mythopoeic reading.2 Létum Aynegalliñ (literally "the night never ends for me") represents the relation between myth and literature. This novel is highly mythic. Myth, mainly in this novel, has contributed a lot for textual organization. The novel is filled with sexually painted narratives, prayers, verses, or other texts taken from Ethiopian classical religious books, sacred homilies, and others. The novel and sacred homilies are to be read intertextually in different ways. The novel parodies the religious and mythical homilies, while on the other hand the chapters and sections tend to seem more of a pastiche. It is packed with many biblical allusions. The parody and pastiche are used as beginnings and endings for the story, at the same time maintaining the flow of the narration. The pastiche creates a poetic tempo, structural parallelism, and symmetry of form within the novel. The allusion helps in guiding the narration's journey, setting frames connecting time and space between chapters, and bringing different situations together. Among the eight chapters of the novel, the names given to the four are taken from names of religious books written in Ge'ez, Ethiopia's classical language: Chapter one: Lamentations of Menase, Chapter three: Adventure (Saint Life) of Tilahun, Chapter four: Miracles of Kinfe, and Chapter five: Secrets of Petros. In Létum Aynegalliñ, the principal characters are men in their early ages and prostitutes. Most of these men have either finished their college education or got the chance to attend [End Page 136] college but preferred to join the world of work or dropped out of college. The women are different in almost every respect except for their prostitution. The place these men meet these women is called Wube Berha ("Wube Desert"), which is outside of the boundaries, outside the field provided by society. It is a red-light district for lost souls, a dark and troubled world of conflict, isolation, and anxiety. The whole story of this novel revolves around Wube Berha and what goes on in these people's life from dusk till midnight. Létum Aynegalliñ depicts the pleasures, longings, and desires of complicated characters in a world which is totally different from where they came. There is nothing that the place and the characters miss out of the night life. They commit what they call "the worst sin of all" in their pursuit of their strange hedonistic activities (4). All these scenes are pieced together to form a broad picture of the chaotic experience in Wube Berha's life. In each and every move and action of these characters, we find sex as their center of gravity, which controls the circulation of their life-blood unceasingly. Eroticism, violence, and perversity are major scenes in making Wube Berha the chaotic world that it is. All these things are, however, pictured in Létum Aynegalliñ with no attempt to veil anything. Their dialogue flows as it is with no consideration to what the general public believes to be completely unethical and destructive of the society's values or standards. The language of the first person self-conscious character-narrator's narration moves along in tandem with the characters' behaviors and actions. At this juncture, it would be useful to study one of...

Public library services to new immigrants in Israel: The case of immigrants from the Former Soviet Union and Ethiopia

This study analyzes the services public libraries in Israel provide to two groups of immigrants: immigrants from the FSU and Ethiopia, and researches how these two groups use the libraries. Questionnaires were completed by 319 library users, ages 14–30, from both ethnic groups and by 45 directors of libraries, located in neighborhoods with a concentration of these two ethnic groups.It was found that many more services were provided within the multicultural approach and less is done within the “melting pot” approach. Significant differences were found between special services offered to Ethiopian immigrants as opposed to those from the FSU. Many more libraries offer books in Russian and employ librarians who speak Russian compared to the few Amharic speakers. Also, special services for new immigrants were provided in more libraries for immigrants from the FSU than for immigrants from Ethiopia. These differences can be explained by the size of the two communities, the availability of materials (there are many books in Russian as compared to a lack of Amharic literature), and the availability of librarians from these ethnic groups. Immigrants from Ethiopia require the library to study and prepare school assignments, and find themselves spending more time in the reference library, while immigrants from the FSU borrow more books. Both groups use the public library in Israel more than they did in their countries of origins.

Tradition and change in Ethiopian social and cultural life as reflected in Amharic fictional literature (ca. 1930-74).

This thesis, based on the study of the fictional work of twelve well-known Ethiopian authors, describes Ethiopian social and cultural life in the period 1930-1974. It is divided into two parts, the first dealing with traditional culture, the second with recent changes in social life and with attitudes to these changes. Amharic literature deals mostly with life in the central highlands of Ethiopia. Part One starts with a description of the traditional classes and how they interrelate, both in situations of normal peaceful intercourse and in conflict. Next follows a section on common beliefs and principles of conduct in the country - a fairly long portion of the thesis, as religious and moral questions frequently come up in Amharic literature. Sickness and health are also looked upon from a metaphysical angle. Social life in a more limited local sense is treated next, with more stress on food and drink, and sex and marriage than on family life or village life, following the emphasis of Amharic literature. The life of women is also briefly discussed. Finally, a few remarks are made about national characteristics as Ethiopian authors see them. Part Two deals with change. After a discussion of internal and external influences for change, the different attitudes to present changes are outlined: some oppose or regret them, some think they happen too slowly, others try not to get involved. Then the actual changes in the social and cultural life are set out. These are seen partly as advances, partly as setbacks for the country. This part ends with a section on how Ethiopians regard the future of Ethiopia, and how authors want to influence the development of their country. The main conclusion is that Ethiopian writers are critical observers of society, supporting and opposing developments according to their moral stand.

Tradition and Change in Ethiopia. Social and Cultural Life as Reflected in Amharic Fictional Literature ca. 1930-1974

This thesis, based on the study of the fictional work of twelve well-known Ethiopian authors, describes Ethiopian social and cultural life in the period 1930-1974. It is divided into two parts, the first dealing with traditional culture, the second with recent changes in social life and with attitudes to these changes. Amharic literature deals mostly with life in the central highlands of Ethiopia. Part One starts with a description of the traditional classes and how they interrelate, both in situations of normal peaceful intercourse and in conflict. Next follows a section on common beliefs and principles of conduct in the country - a fairly long portion of the thesis, as religious and moral questions frequently come up in Amharic literature. Sickness and health are also looked upon from a metaphysical angle. Social life in a more limited local sense is treated next, with more stress on food and drink, and sex and marriage than on family life or village life, following the emphasis of Amharic literature. The life of women is also briefly discussed. Finally, a few remarks are made about national characteristics as Ethiopian authors see them. Part Two deals with change. After a discussion of internal and external influences for change, the different attitudes to present changes are outlined: some oppose or regret them, some think they happen too slowly, others try not to get involved. Then the actual changes in the social and cultural life are set out. These are seen partly as advances, partly as setbacks for the country. This part ends with a section on how Ethiopians regard the future of Ethiopia, and how authors want to influence the development of their country. The main conclusion is that Ethiopian writers are critical observers of society, supporting and opposing developments according to their moral stand.

Some early Amharic letters

The great majority of the Amharic letters which form the subject of this article are part of the papers left by the late Professor Eugen Mittwoch. Not all the letters published here were addressed to Mittwoch. A few were sent by their Ethiopian writers to members of the Rosen mission to Ethiopia in 1905 or to the German Chargé d'Affaires at Addis Ababa. They were later handed by their addressees to the man who represented Amharic studies in Germany at that time. Among those addressed to Mittwoch himself the letters by Həruy Waldä Səllase, the former Foreign Minister, and by Aläqa Tayyä, Mittwoch's informant and aminore figurain Amharic literature, are perhaps of the greatest interest. Nearly all the writers here represented have played some part in recent Ethiopian history, and their letters may therefore lay claim to some interest on those grounds alone.

The Marriage of Unequals

Mr. Lemma's play, “The Marriage of Unequals,” is completely different from Mr. Rotimi's. Mr. Lemma is best known as a writer in Amharic, and has published a number of works in that language. In 1968 he was awarded the Haile Selassie Prize for Amharic Literature. This play was actually written in Amharic and subsequently translated into English. It is, at one level, a fairly conventional play in its structure, a well balanced and organized comedy. It deals with the eternal problems of rich aunts with plans for a nephew's suitable marriage, and love making mockery of all her carefully woven plans. A comic pair of soothsayers and astrologers act a comic duel as they scrap over their wealthy client. The theme is universal, yet there is also a specifically African element, and the comedy of manners is stretched around the issue of change, of new customs meeting older tradition, conservative beliefs resisting easy contemporary ways. The young wife actually sits with her husband and eats with him at table instea...