The story of Joseph (in the Bible), Yusuf (in the Quran), has inspired literatures in many languages. This paper explores how some Swahili writers and translators have dealt with this inspiration, the implications for their language use and the way they have interpreted Yusuf as a theme for their writings. After a brief introduction on the importance of the story itself and putting the focus on a major theme of the plot, the following works are discussed: the new Quran translation by Sh Ali Muhsin (1995), a short novel by Mzee Salim A. Kibao (1975), two short stories by Amur bin Nasur il-Omeiri (1894), the utenzi Qissat-il Yusuf (l913) and Abdulrazak Gurnah\'s English written novel Paradise (1995). The paper concludes with the observation that in analyzing how these Swahili writers have integrated the story of Yusuf in their writings, prose as well as poetry, it becomes clear that attempts in defining what is ‘foreign’ (or ‘Oriental’) and what is ‘indigenous’ (or ‘African’) are bound to fail.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:DRESDEN/oai:qucosa.de:bsz:15-qucosa-100770 |
| Date | 14 December 2012 |
| Creators | H. Samsom, Ridder |
| Contributors | Universität Hamburg, Asien-Afrika Institut, Universität zu Köln, Institut für Afrikanistik |
| Publisher | Universitätsbibliothek Leipzig |
| Source Sets | Hochschulschriftenserver (HSSS) der SLUB Dresden |
| Language | Swahili (individual language) |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | doc-type:article |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | Swahili Forum; 4(1997), S. 83-94 |
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