Muhammed Said Abdulla

Muhammed Abdulla is a redirect to this article. For other people, see Muhammad Abdullah .

Muhammed Said Abdulla (born April 25, 1918 in Makunduchi , Zanzibar , † March 1991 ) was a Tanzanian writer . He is considered the "father of popular Swahili literature ."

Life

After graduating from school in 1938, Abdulla worked as an inspector for the colonial health department . After ten years he decided to pursue a career as a journalist . In 1948 he became editor of the newspaper Zanzibari and was also employed as deputy editor-in-chief at Al Falaq , Al Mahda and Afrika Kwetu for the next ten years . In 1958 he became a publisher at the agricultural magazine Mkulima , where he worked until his retirement in 1968.

At the same time as Abdulla's move to Mkulima , his success as a novelist began. His work Mzimu wa Watu wa Kale (“The Spirit Forest of the Ancestors”) won first prize in a Swahili writing competition organized by the East African Literature Bureau in 1957/58 . The novel was published in 1966. In this book, the first appearances Abdulla detective protagonist Bwana Msa - the bulk of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle recalls - and other characters on that appear in many of his subsequent novels, as in Kisima cha Giningi (1968; "The Fountain of Giningi ", Also award-winning), Duniani Kuna Watu (1973;" There are people in the world "), Siri ya Sifuri (1974;" The Secret of Zero "), Mke Mmoja Waume Watatu (1975;" One woman, three husbands ") ) and Mwana wa Yungi Hulewa (1976; "The Devil's Child Grows Up ").

With each new title, the complexity and richness of action in Abdulla's novels increased. His use of the Swahili language was admired throughout East Africa . His works, which were published several times, were widely used as school reading . It is characteristic of his novels that the main character competes with a rational mind against a web of ignorance and superstition .

Works

German-language editions

• Der Geisterwald der Anhnen, audio book, translated and read by Guido Korzonnek, Kalamu Verlag, Berlin, 2010, 3 CDs, 193 min. ISBN 978-3-942204-00-2
• Der Brunnen von Giningi , audio book, translated and read by Guido Korzonnek, Kalamu Verlag, Berlin 2012, 3 CDs, 208 min. ISBN 978-3-942204-01-9

See also

• African literature

literature

• Elena Bertoncini Zúbková: Abdulla, Muhammed Said. In: Dictionary of African Biography. Vol. 1: Abach – Brand , Oxford University Press, 2012, pp. 39–40.

Web links

• Literature by and about Muhammed Said Abdulla in the bibliographic database WorldCat

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Bridgette Kasuka: Godfrey Mwakikagile Tanzanian Writer: African Writers and Their Countries . African Books, December 24, 2012, ISBN 978-1-4818-2646-4 , p. 144.
2. ↑ ^{a b} Muhammed Said Abdulla, "The Spirit Forest of the Ancestors" , Freundeskreis Bagamoyo e. V.
3. ↑ ^{a b c d} Muhammed Said Abdulla , in: Encyclopædia Britannica .
4. ↑ Axel Schock : With "Der Geisterwald der Anhnen" (The Spirit Forest of the Ancestors) there is the first crime thriller by the Zanzibari writer Muhammed Said Abdulla in German translation: Murder in Swahili . In: Berliner Zeitung of July 8, 2010.