Art and Artists in Modern Amharic Literature
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Date
1994-06
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Publisher
Addis Ababa University
Abstract
Writers that appeared during and after the 1960s started
drifting towards the discussion and portrayal of art and
artists . However despite such growing efforts on the part of
writers in communicating their experience
among Eth~opians who have extensively
.l' .. mharic li::e ra ture have ventured to
pertaining to art and artists .
to tte reader, few
wri tten on modern
appraise matters
The aim of this thesis is, therefore, to study different
literary works which portray artists as characters and raise
q '..lestions o f a:-t: as themes of their novels, short stories,
plays and poems; paying equal attention to the reasons why
wri ters focus their attent ion on their life and craft.
1:1 doi:1g so, this research deals with relevant Amharic
novels, short stories, plays and poems of different writers
starting from 1960 onwards. In t his s tudy, the views artists
ref lect , the values they cherish and the motives that i mpel
them to be what they are in life are dealt with consecutively
in three chapte:-s .
In the first chapter , attempt has been made to consider
the views of writers on poetry, as we ll as the views of artist
characters on their respective field of creativity and on art
in general . Here the views mostly reflect the achievements
and rigor artists face in their areas o f creativity .
The values artist's consider beneficial to their well
being is what the second chapter c ons ists of. Here the
discussion revolves mainly on major va lues that most human
beings consciously or unconsciously react to, such as the
self, materialism, work, sexual activity and success and
failure. The dynamic properties reflected by artist characters
here, in turn provides us wi th a cue in the preceding chapter .
The last chapter is where artists and their motivation is
presented. Here the focus is basically on the reasons for the
creativity of artist characters considered in this study.
Whether their intentior;, their goal, or desire/aversion orother proclivi t y 1 5 r e l at ed LO psyc hol ogical . gene\. ~c I
historical, cultural, social or economic factors.
As observed in the study, artists lay more emphas i s on
the discipline and the creation of a work of art than on the
routine of daily life . That is why they raise and expound
issues related to the particular field of their creativity,
their needs and their problems . In their works, artists also
challenge :teir predecessors in introducing taboo subjects
such as sex~al openess and reforms in relegious conceptions
which are considered as defiance of the established
conventions .
Write~s of modern Amharic literature are also credited
for p o rt~a~'! n g artis: characters and for dealing with art as
a theme i:-. :heir works . Moreover, by looking inward into
their life and works. they have paved the way towards
understanding The nature of the "self" and its role in shaping
the future .