Farah Mohamed Jama Awl

Farah Mohamed Jama Awl (often titled Faarax MJ Cawl , Somali : Faarax Maxamed Jaamac Cawl ; * 1937 in Laasqorey , † April 1991 in Somalia ) was a Somali writer . The interplay of poetry and plot in his books make them an important contribution to Somali literature .

Life

Farah Mohamed Jama Awl first attended business school in Hargeysa and then received a government scholarship to the Chelsea College of Aeronautical and Automobile Engineering (now Northbrook College ) in London. However, because of his participation in an anti-colonial play, his scholarship was postponed for a year and so he studied in England from 1959 to 1962.

Awl then returned to Somalia, first working as a technical instructor and joining the Somali Police in 1964 . There he was responsible for the smooth functioning of the motor vehicles and achieved the rank of Colonel until he took over the post of Director General of the National Transport Agency in 1979 .

In April 1991 (the time of Ramadan ) Awl, were his son and 13 other members of his clan of Hawiye shot while because of the Somali civil war of Mogadishu fled to their home just because they members of the Darod were. Awl's wife, Halima Jama Nooh, survived the attack seriously injured and was flown to Ethiopia or Djibouti for treatment and then lived in Liverpool .

Writing achievements

Awl's first novel Aqoondarro waa u nacab jacayl was published in 1974, about two years after the Latin alphabet was adopted as a script for Somali. In 1982 the book was translated by Bogumił Andrzejewski with the support of UNESCO ( Ignorance is the Enemy of Love ). It was the first Somali novel to be published in Somali and the first Somali novel to be translated into a foreign language.

In his novels, Awl incorporates orally transmitted poems and stories. This interplay of poetry and plot gives the novels a style of their own and makes them an important contribution to Somali literature.

Aqoondarro waa u nacab jacayl / Ignorance is the Enemy of Love

The novel Ignorance is the Enemy of Love is a love story between a dervish agent (Calimaax) and a girl (Cawrala), which tragically ends with the death of the girl. The protagonists are historical figures and use a poetic way of speaking. Awl combines fiction as well as poems and oral traditions from the time of the dervish revolt against colonization at the beginning of the 20th century.

Literacy plays a central role in the novel , as Calimaax's inability to read a love letter from Cawrala ends tragically.

Garbaduubkii gumeysiga

Garbaduubkii gumeysiga ( The Shackles of Colonialism ) was published in 1978. This novel looks at the history of Somali territories through the words of an old man as he dictates the history of Somalia to his son. The father is fatally wounded when the village is attacked by Ethiopian soldiers. As the ink runs out, the son uses his father's blood to continue writing the story. In Garbaduubkii gumeysiga , the father tries to restore his son's pride in Somialia's past, which was destroyed by his western upbringing.

Dhibanaha aan Dhalan

Dhibanaha aan Dhalan ( The Unborn Victim ) was published in 1989 and is about a young woman in the late 1970s during the Ogaden War .

literature

• Aqoondarro waa u nacab jacayl. Wasaaradda Hiddaha iyo Tacliinta Sare, Mogadishu 1974.
  • BW Andrzejewski (translator): Ignorance is the Enemy of Love. UNESCO - Zed Books, London 1982, ISBN 978-0-905762-86-9 . New edition: Madar Books, 2012, ISBN 978-0-9574160-0-0 .
• Garbaduubkii gumeysiga. Wasaaradda Hiddaha iyo Tacliinta Sare, Mogadishu 1978.
• Dhibanaha aan Dhalan. Mogadishu 1989.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d} Ismail Ali Ismail: Ignorance is the Enemy of Love: A Book Review. WardheerNews, March 23, 2013, accessed December 6, 2013 .  
2. ^ ^{A b} BW Andrzejewski: Story-teller for Somalia . In: The Guardian . May 18, 1991, ISSN  0261-3077 , p. 21 .
3. ^ Ismail Ali Ismail: Governance . The Scourge and Hope of Somalia. Trafford Publishing, Victoria , Canada 2010, ISBN 978-1-4269-1980-0 , pp. 244 .
4. ^ Ali A. Abdi: The Rise and Fall of Somail Nationalism . In: Horn of Africa . Volume XV, No. 1, 2, 3, 4 , December 1997, pp. 59 f .
5. ↑ Ignorance is the Enemy of Love [Aqoondarro waa u nacab jacayl]. In: Historical Collection: UNESCO Culture Sector. UNESCO, accessed December 6, 2013 .  
6. ↑ ^{a b c d} Martin Orwin: Faarax Maxamed Jaamac “Cawl” . In: Simon Gikandi (Ed.): Encyclopedia of African Literature . Routledge , London / New York 2003.
7. ↑ African literature. Literatures in African languages> Somali. (No longer available online.) In: Encyclopædia Britannica's Guide to Black History. Encyclopædia Britannica , archived from the original on December 11, 2013 ; accessed on December 6, 2013 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.   
8. ↑ BW Andrzejewski, Stanisław Piłaszewicz, Witold Tyloch: Literatures in African Languages: Theoretical Issues and Sample Surveys. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1985, ISBN 978-0-521-25646-9 , p. 372.