Narrative
nə’əgziabəher zəsa’ano nəgär yälbon. tənsa’en ‘awätən
Not translated into English
Zegga-Iyesus Iyasu · 1950
Synopsis
An allegory that Ghirmai Negash describes as free of moralising ambiguity and religiously didactic. The full title, given by Mussie Tesfagiorgis, translates as “Everything is possible for God. Resurrection and victory”. The plot is not summarised: the book is cited alongside the first Tigrinya novels, those of Ghebreyesus Hailu and Teklai Zeweldi.
Context
The book appeared as Tigrinya publishing was taking off: after years without any book, for lack of funds and printing presses, the first collections and the first novels came out in 1949 and 1950. The following twenty years saw many volumes appear, novels, didactic fiction and translations of Western classics, printed in Asmara. The United Nations federated Eritrea with Ethiopia in 1952, and the country was annexed in 1962.
Who it is for
A narrative in Tigrinya, never translated; it is of interest first for the history of Tigrinya prose and its beginnings under British administration.
Prizes and reception
Ghirmai Negash cites it with the first two Tigrinya novels, and Xavier Luffin counts its author among the three who opened the genre.