ETHIOPIAN LITERATURE

IN ENGLISH
Definition, Origin and Development
To be studied under this course
A particular work has to be literature in the first place
Literature Literature is one of the greatest creative and
universal means of communicating the emotional, spiritual
or intellectual concerns of mankind
The sum total of creative writing plus the various oral
literatures (Ethio oral lit in Eng?)
Ethiopian - the issue of being Ethiopian is not as such
simple to define
The Issue of Being Ethiopian
Geographical framework
Nationality of the writer
The language of composition - Written in one of Ethiopian
local languages or foreign language
The subject matter/content the life portrayed through the
work (reflecting Ethiopian culture, custom, attitude, value,
ideology, etc.)
Characteristics- didacticism/group orientation, describing
the general/the typical people and experiences vs. the
special/the unusual/the extra ordinary
Delineation of Ethiopian Literature
Thematic Concerns
The setting the place should be Ethiopian and time
should be a certain significant moment in Ethiopian
history
Experiences originating in Ethiopia
Genres all literary genres or few basic ones?
Should it be confined to great books exclude the
mediocre and shoddy works?
The issue of translations - works translated into/from
foreign languages
Origin and Development
Literature in European languages evolved in Ethiopia in
early 1960s
Colonialism as a cause for using the English language in
many Anglophone African countries
Ethiopian writers long used to write in their indigenous
languages (a huge corpus of vernacular literature)
Ethiopian literature in English appears to be suffering from
stunted growth
Vernacular literature has long established tradition
traceable back to centuries
Ethiopian literature in English is still in its infancy
regardless of its age (beginning in the 1950s)
Origin. . .
Ethiopian literature falls into three broad categories:
classical literature, including historical narratives, heroic
poetry, and works of philosophical reflection cast in an
imaginative mode; romantic and political literature in
Amharic, and, since the Second World War, the new
literature in English.
The classical literature is expressed in Geez, a Semitic
language that is also the oldest written language in Africa,
with its unique orthography going back nearly two
thousand years.
The Holy Bible and all other Christian texts have been
translated into Geez, which survives today as the
language of the Ethiopian clergy; in this respect, it has a
status similar to Latin in the western world.
Origin . . .
Ordinary Ethiopians neither spoke nor wrote in Geez.
Therefore, the texts written in that language did not seep
into the soul of the people, and did not produce a national
literary culture.
The classical literary texts, hymns, and songs circulate
today only among the priestly class and highly specialized
students and teachers of Geez.
This is part of the reason that the modern Ethiopian state
which emerged in the late nineteenth century had to forge
a new language aimed at producing a popular national
culture through the medium of Amharic.
Traditional Ethiopian Literature
Traditional Ethiopian Literature
In local languages
largely religious in nature
Much of it came from the traditions of Egypts Coptic Christian
church
Geez continued to be the medium of literary expression until 1850
Emperor Zara Yaiqob (1434-1468) the most productive author of
traditional Ethiopian literature
The 1300s to 1400s the golden age of Geez literature
Classical Ethiopian Literature
This category comprises a substantial number of
devotional books, many of them works translated from
foreign sources.
They include biblical scriptures, exegesis, service books
of the Coptic church, texts detailing the lives of saints of
the Universal Church who flourished before the schism at
the Council of Chalcedon in 451 ce and of saints of the
Coptic church, especially the Desert Fathers, and
homilies by the early Church Fathers, such as John
Chrysostom, Athanasius of Alexandria, Severus of
Antioch, and Cyril of Alexandria (Haile 1995:40).
Traditional . . .
Ethiopian literature was dominated by translations in the
beginning (creativity in those days translations is actually
worth applauding)
Geez Poetry (though religious in subject matter) could be
mentioned as the first original literary piece in the
country.
Traditional . . .
It is only after Emperor Tewodros decreed Amharic to be
the official language of the country that Amharic widely
became a literary medium
Even though some scholars arguably describe that
Ethiopian literature is a bit more advanced than the
literature of Sub-Saharan African
It didnt develop as it should due to two reasons
The country being at war defending the territory and internal strife
The domination of Geez (its limitation to religious and historical
aspects)
Geez was religious in intent and content starting from the earliest days.
Traditional . . .
Ethiopian literature didnt get international attention
because it was mostly written in local languages
Ethiopian literature does not conform to the rest of Blank
African literature. Discuss.

Romantic and political literature

After the fall of the imperial regime and the rise of
socialism, in spite of censorship and restrictions in the
two decades after the 1974 revolution unprecedented
outpouring of fictional literature in Amharic was witnessed
in Ethiopia
With low prices, books reached a wide audience for the
first time.
Since Amharic has gradually came to be the medium of
instruction in Ethiopian schools, its literature has become
easily accessible to people all over the country.
Some superficial love stories with political intentions have
found readers in the country
 Haddis Alemayehu Fikir Eske Mekabir
Bealu Girma Ye key Kokeb Tiri, Oromay, Ke admas
Bashager
Dagnachew Worku Adefris
 As in other parts of Africa, Ethiopian literature has been
geared toward utilitarian value, to influence people and
shape a better society.