The conscript : a novel of Libya's anticolonial war / by Gebreyesus Hailu ; translated from the Tigrinya by Ghirmai Negash ; introduction by Laura Chrisman.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Hailu, Gebreyesus, 1909-1993.

Contributor:

Negash, Ghirmai.

Chrisman, Laura.

Series:

Modern African writing

Language:

English

Tigrinya

Subjects (All):

Draftees.

Eritreans.

History.

Colonies.

History, Military.

Italy--Colonies--Africa--History, Military--Fiction.

Italy.

Libya--History--1912-1951--Fiction.

Libya.

Eritreans--Libya--Fiction.

Draftees--Eritrea--Fiction.

Eritrea.

Africa.

Genre:

Fiction.

Physical Description:

xxx, 59 pages; 22 cm.

Place of Publication:

Athens, OH : Ohio University Press, 2012.

Summary:

The Conscript depicts, with irony and controlled anger, the staggering experiences of the Eritrean ascari, soldiers conscripted to fight in Libya by the Italian colonial army against the nationalist Libyan forces fighting for their freedom from Italy's colonial rule. Anticipating midcentury thinkers Frantz Fanon and Aimé Césaire. Hailu paints a devastating portrait of Italian colonialism. Some of the most poignant passages of the novel include the awakening of the novel's hero, Tuquabo, to his ironic predicament of being both under colonial rule and the instrument of suppressing the colonized Libyans. Eloquent and thought-provoking, this classic novel by the Eritrean novelist Gebreyesus Hailu, written in Tigriny ain 1927 and published in 1950, is one of the earliest novels written in an African language and will have a major impact on the reception and critical appraisal of African literature. Book jacket.

Contents:

Introduction by Laura Chrisman

Preface to the Tigrinya edition

A portrait of youth

The departure from Asmara

Deep in the wilderness

The thirst of death.

Notes:

"First edition (in Tigrinya), Pietro Silla Printing Press, Asmara ([1927], 1950)."

Includes bibliographical references.

ISBN:

9780821420232

0821420232

9780821444450

082144445X

OCLC:

792881732