The imaginative vision of Abdilatif Abdalla's Voice of agony / Abdilatif Abdalla, poems translated by Ken Walibora Waliaula, edited by Annmarie Drury.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Abdalla, Abdilatif, 1946- author.

Contributor:

Abdalla, Abdilatif, 1946- editor.

Drury, Annmarie, editor.

Series:

African perspectives.

African perspectives

Language:

English

Swahili

Subjects (All):

Abdalla, Abdilatif, 1946---Criticism and interpretation.

Abdalla, Abdilatif.

Abdalla, Abdilatif, 1946---Political and social views.

Swahili poetry.

Swahili poetry--20th century--History and criticism.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (371 pages)

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

Ann Arbor, Michigan : University of Michigan Press, 2024.

Language Note:

In English and Swahili.

Summary:

"The extraordinary Swahili poetry collection Sauti ya Dhiki, in English Voice of Agony, is a collection of prison poems composed by Abdilatif Abdalla between 1969 and 1972. He originally wrote the poems on toilet paper while incarcerated by the government of Jomo Kenyatta for sedition as a result of his political activism. Imaginative Vision is the first complete literary translation into English--translated by the late Kenyan novelist and scholar Ken Walibora Waliaula and edited by Annmarie Drury--of one of the most esteemed and influential collections of Swahili poetry of the twentieth century. Yet 'Imaginative Vision' is also something more. Even as it centers in a literary translation of a singularly beautiful and influential book of poetry, it tells English-language readers the story of that book. Supporting materials illuminate the circumstances of its inception when Abdilatif, aged 22, was arrested and tried. They explore what the volume meant to its first readers and its affiliations with subsequent extraordinary works of prison literature by Alamin Mazrui and Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o. They trace its links to literary art of the past, including of the nineteenth-century poet Muyaka bin Haji, and to writing that followed. And they explain social and historical aspects of the Swahili coastal world that nurtured Abdilatif's political engagement and stunning verbal art. Under the editorship of scholar, translator, and poet Annmarie Drury, contributors bring insights from their diverse backgrounds to present contextualizing material that illuminates the poems at the heart of this book.

Contents:

Editor's Introduction / Annmarie Drury

Preface to the Translation / Ngu̳gi̳ wa Thiong'o

Translator's Introduction / Ken Walibora Waliaula

Voice of Agony = Sauti ya Dhiki / Translated by Ken Walibora Waliaula

Critical Perspectives

Sauti ya Dhiki : Its Place in Swahili Literature and East African Literature / Ann Biersteker

Abdilatif and I : Reflections on Comparative Experiences / Alamin Mazrui

Rhymed, Metrical Translations of Four Poems / Meg Arenberg

Textual Backgrounds : Voice of Agony in Its Historical Moment

Kenya: Twendapi? = Kenya: Where Are We Heading? / Abdilatif Abdalla, Translated by Kai Kresse

Introduction to the 1973 edition / Shihabuddin Chiraghdin, Translated by Ann Biersteker

Author's Preface to the 1973 edition / Abdilatif Abdalla, Translated by Ann Biersteker

Bibliography

Notes on Contributors.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [339]-342).

Description based on information from the publisher.

ISBN:

9780472221462

0472221469

OCLC:

1395118301