Tchicaya U Tam'si
Tchicaya U Tam'si (born August 25, 1931 in Mpili , Kouilou , today Republic of the Congo , † April 22, 1988 in Bazancourt near Beauvais ) was a Congolese writer . His real name is Gérald-Félix Tchicaya . His pseudonym comes from the Bavili (Loango) language and means little leaf that speaks for his country .
Life
Tchicaya spent his childhood in the Congo, where he attended school in Pointe-Noire . In 1946 he went to Paris , where his father Jean Felix Tchicaya (1903–1961) worked as a diplomat . He himself worked as a casual worker and later as a journalist . In the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s he published several volumes of poetry.
In 1960 he returned to his homeland, the Republic of the Congo (Brazzaville). He found a job in Kinshasa (Democratic Republic of the Congo) as editor-in-chief of Congo magazine . He also had close contacts with Patrice Lumumba , whom he greatly admired. As a token of his admiration for the politician, he named his first son Patrice Felix-Tchicaya (1960–2012).
In 1961 he started working for UNESCO in Paris.
Since 1989, the Tchicaya-U-Tam'si Prize, named after him, has been awarded every two years in the small Moroccan town of Asilah , a prize for African poetry .
Create
In his poetry, Tchicaya addressed the disappointment of expectations and hopes for a new humanity in African society. His poetry is characterized by a surrealistic , pictorial style of language with elements from oral poetry.
A trilogy of novels by Tchicaya tells the history of the Congo from the end of the 19th century to the present (end of the 20th century) with all its internal contradictions and turmoil.
Works
- Bad blood. Poems 1955. Rimbaud, Aachen 1993, ISBN 3-89086-914-9 .
- Bush fire. Poems 1957 and False Heart 1960; ibid. 1997, ISBN 3-89086-862-2 .
- Music bow. Poems ibid. 1999, ISBN 3-89086-802-9 .
- The secret of the medusa. Roman 1982. From the Frz. Les méduses ou les orties de mer v. Adelheid Witt. Volk & Welt, Berlin 1986, ISBN 3353000488 .
anthology
- What bad blood. Selected poems Rimbaud, Aachen 2000, ISBN 3-89086-761-8 (selection in German from Böses Blut , Buschfeuer and Musikbogen , but not Falsches Herz ).
Web links
- Literature by and about Tchicaya U Tam'si in the catalog of the German National Library
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Tam'si, Tchicaya U |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Tchicaya, Gérald-Félix (real name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Congolese writer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | August 25, 1931 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Mpili |
| DATE OF DEATH | April 22, 1988 |
| Place of death | Bazancourt |