Comedy and Social Purpose: Two Plays of Menghistu Lemma
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Date
1986-06
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Publisher
Addis Ababa University
Abstract
This stu~y is a thenatic an~ stylistic analysis of two
plays by +he Ft.hioFian rlC'y",'ri<:;ht, I~enghistu Lerama : nar-eLy 1
~'iarria']e ty i'Jx:.uct.ion a_'1d~~a.rria.c;pof Unesua13.
to fulfil three important fun~~ions.
First.ly r be f or e this study no s ucst an+La L -lLscus s Lon of
f\enghist.u I,eTI'lt',<"'.1 s t,rork ex i s t.e-s. Cer t.a.i.n Hrl +e r s ha(l t.ouchert 01:.
the t.he::::.es of his rlays in tb.e course of .F·rovi.~ing a survey of
Bthiopian Li ter.at.ure v and. an under c-radue t.e thesi~ exists which
contains 2. brief descript:!.or. in Arl..~aric of the wr Lt.Lno style
of 8.11 his works I LncLudLno his foe try . Th:i.s study, hovevez 1
differs from +he ae C\tte:''1~t-sin ob j ec t Lve , (~eFth a.n? scope.
EecondlY1 there was previously no subst.antial·survey of
the ,':.evelopr:lent of Modern Pthiouian rrarna. It is obvious +ha+
such a survey is necessary I not. only in ozde r to p l ace Pen(?histu
Lemmaand his -:rarnatic ','od"s in context! but; also to facil! +at.e
the study of Ethio9ian r~rarna in qeneral. Ch aoter One ir:. this
stud.y goes some way +owards ?:rovirl.ing sucb a sur vcy ,
Thirdly, Ethiopian lite~ature has jn ge~€.!.""alheAn 2ffo~~ed
acant; at.t.ent.Lon by critics of l-fJ':"ic-3f'.Li.t.e r at.ur'e . 2orne.wri t.e r s
have '!ttribute(1 this fact to d.ifficulties of language and the
lack of t.ranslations. .2'~nencouraging new <levelopment is that
soma novelists and. playwrights have s+ ar t.ed to -rr i t;e or trans;"
late +be Lr wozks into English, one of therr: is ~enghi5tu Le?"lIn~?
Eoweve.!."", i.t is the opinion of this rpsearcher that the
translation of works of Ethiopian literature into ?ngli~h is
not enough un I.es s j t: is acc or-r.anLed by a oar a l.LeL :'ieveJ.0prr:e!".t
of crit.icism, without which a COm?lAte grasp of t.he works is
not possible. It is hopei that this 3tu~y will hel~ a non-
Ethiopian reader tc see these hm plays in the cont.ext of the
soc i eL, e cor-omLc and :,?olitica.l history of feudal I-'tb.iopia.
The stu~y of the li~erary worth an~ social relevance of
these two plays sugg~sts that th~y are vivif an~ authentic
documeri+s of their period, and that future qenerations t,!ill
r ead them \-Ji t,b. Lrrce r e s t..
a giftec:. satirist and as ;~vrr i.t.e r of S01.lD .•.:: d r anat.Lc t-ecrx.ic:ue
an~ a su~tle an~ uni0u~ branf of rhetoric.
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Description
Keywords
Menghistu Lemma