Narrative Strategies in Selected Amharic Novels from 2000

206 Pages·2015·1.42 MB·English

Narrative Strategies in Selected Amharic
Novels from 2000 until 2010

By
Demeke Tassew Dires

Submitted in accordance with the requirements for the degree of

DOCTOR OF LITERATURE AND PHILOSOPHY

In the subject of
Theory of Literature

at the
University of South Africa

Supervisor: Prof. Johan L. Coetser
Co-supervisor: Dr.Yideg Alemayehu

June 2014
Declaration
I declare that Narrative Strategies in Selected Amharic Novels from 2000 until 2010, is my own
work and that all the sources that I have used or quoted have been indicated and acknowledged
by means of complete reference.

Demeke Tassew __June, 2014_____
Signature Date

i
Notes on Transliteration and Dates
Because there is no internationally accepted method of transliteration for Amharic, I have transliterated
Amharic words following the method proposed by Wright (1964):
Vowel order Symbol
First / ä /
Second /u/
Third /i/
Fourth / a/
Fifth /è/
Sixth /e/
Seventh /o/
Consonants
The consonants d, f, g, h, k, l, m, n, p, r, s, t, v, w have almost similar pronunciations as in English. The
letters transliterated as š, č, ğ, ñ, and ž render corresponding sounds in English as follows:
š is pronounced as ‗sh‘ in ‗shelf‘
Č is pronounced as ‗ch‘ in ‗church‘
ğ is pronounced as ‗j‘ in ‗jerk‘
ñ is pronounced as ‗gn‘ in ‗cologne‘
ž is pronounced as‗s‘ in ‗pleasure‘
 /p /, /ṣ/, /ṭ/, /q/, /č / are used for ‗glottal‘ or ‗ejective‘ consonants.
. .
 Proper names such as names of authors and Ethiopian scholars as well as names of characters
are not transliterated following the system, but are rendered in their usual spelling
 All of the dates in this paper are in Gregorian calendar. Dates of works in Amharic, unless stated
otherwise, are the Gregorian version of their original dates in Ethiopian calendar.
ii
Abstract
The aim of this research entitled Narrative Strategies in Selected Amharic Novels from 2000
until 2010 was to shed light on the relationship among form, meaning (content) and social milieu
in establishing the textual and contextual features of fictional narratives. It mainly contends that
it is possible to unravel the textual and contextual qualities of fictional narratives by studying
form as a narrative strategy. In this research, form, when understood as a narrative strategy, is
not only considered as a textual construct which motivates textual meaning but also regarded as a
product of the social milieu from which the text emerges.
Having this conception, form as a narrative strategy is investigated in selected Amharic novels
published from 2000 until 2010 in view of expounding the artistic and thematic features of
contemporary Amharic novels, endeavouring to fill the knowledge gap in Amharic literary
scholarship about their literary features.
The present research applies narratological approaches that range from classical to post-classical
narratology. However, it dominantly uses post-classical conceptions of narratology as guidelines
for its discussion.
The dissertation comprises six chapters. The first one is an introductory chapter in which the
research problems, goals and assumptions are explicated. Chapter two deals with the theoretical
framework where the theoretical insight the research utilizes as a guideline is outlined and
methodological issues are specified. The following three chapters focus on the analysis. In the
third chapter, story is investigated as a narrative strategy in Yeburqa Zemeta (Burka’s Silence)
(2000); in the fourth one, focalization is treated as a narrative strategy in Gerača Qačeloč (Grey
. .
Bells) (2005), and in the fifth chapter, characterization is studied as a narrative strategy in
Dèrtogada (Dertogada) (2010). The dissertation concludes with a chapter in which independent
findings in the three analysis chapters are summed up and generalizations on the textual and
contextual features of the present day Amharic novels are made.
iii
Dedication
This dissertation is dedicated to my late co-supervisor Dr. Yonas Admassu, whose untimely
death is a huge loss for Amharic literary scholarship.

iv
Acknowledgements
In the course of writing this thesis, I have received enormous help and support from a number of
people that deserve my acknowledgment.
My supervisor, Professor Johan L Coetser, is the first; I would like to thank him from the bottom
of my heart for his unreserved support, scholarly guidance and persistent patience that
strengthened me and furnished me with hope and perseverance in the times of crisis.
I would like to thank Dr. Yideg Alemayehu, my co-supervisor, who willingly took me as his
student when I was in trouble for not getting a co-supervisor after the death of my late co-
supervisor Dr. Yonas Admassu (May his soul rest in peace). His insightful comments and
suggestions contributed a lot to the betterment of this research.
I would like to say Thank you to my friend Yehenew Melese, who participated in proofreading
the paper.
My gratitude is due to the federal Ministry of Education and Debremarkos University that helped
me to join Unisa and assisted me with the required finance for this research.
I am very grateful to my family members: my wife Frehiwot Amsalu, My son Ashenafi Demeke
and my little princess Edelawit Demeke. This thesis would not have been a reality without their
support and encouragement.

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Key Terms
Narrative strategy, the way narrative forms are constructed to motivate textual and contextual
meaning; Form, Meaning (content) and Social milieu, their tripartite relationship in the
making of fictional narratives; Narrative agents: Narrator, Character(s), Author; Present-time
Ethiopia; Present-time Amharic novels; Narratology: Classical narratology, Post classical
narratology, Contextual narratology.

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Contents
Declaration ....................................................................................................................................... i
Notes on Transliteration and Dates ................................................................................................. ii
Abstract .......................................................................................................................................... iii
Dedication ...................................................................................................................................... iv
Acknowledgements ......................................................................................................................... v
Key Terms ...................................................................................................................................... vi
Chapter 1: Research Problems, Goals and Assumptions. .............................................................. 1
1.1. Introduction .......................................................................................................................... 1
1.2. Review of Previous Research Works on Amharic Literature .............................................. 3
1.3. Text and Context: An Alternative to Understand Amharic Novels ................................... 13
1.4. The Selected Amharic Novels ............................................................................................ 15
1.5. Research Questions ............................................................................................................ 18
1.6. Aim and Objectives of the Research .................................................................................. 18
1.7. Chapters Organization ........................................................................................................ 19
Chapter 2: Sketching Out the Blueprint ....................................................................................... 20
2.1. Introduction ...................................................................................................................... 20
2.2. Narrative Strategy Defined................................................................................................. 21
2.3. Narrative Theory: An Overview ........................................................................................ 23
2.3.1 The Ubiquitous Question: What is Narrative Theory? ................................................. 23
2.3.2. Opponents and Proponents: Polemical Issues in Narrative Theory ............................ 25
2.3.3. Contextual Narratology in Focus: Theoretical Framework ......................................... 29
2. 4. Methodology ..................................................................................................................... 34
2.4.1. Assumptions ................................................................................................................ 34
2.4.2. Analysis Procedure ...................................................................................................... 35
2.4.3. Trustworthiness ........................................................................................................... 37
Chapter 3: Functions at Story Level: Exploring Story as Narrative Strategy in Burka’s Silence 39
3.1. Introduction ........................................................................................................................ 39
3.2. Story as a Textual Construct: Functional analysis ............................................................. 40
3.3 From Poetics to Politics: Contextualizing the Constructed Story ....................................... 62
3.3.1. The Narrator, Unreliability and the Story .................................................................... 63
3.3.2. The hoaxed Character(s) and the story ........................................................................ 79
3.3.3. The Real Author and the Constructed Story ................................................................ 88
3.4. Conclusion .......................................................................................................................... 93
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Chapter 4: Focalization as a Narrative Strategy: Perspective in Grey Bells ................................. 95
4.1. Introduction ........................................................................................................................ 95
4.2. Story Line ........................................................................................................................... 96
4.3. Focalization: Conceptual Proviso ...................................................................................... 98
4.3.1. The Perceptual Facet of Focalization in Grey Bells: The Character as Focalizer ..... 105
4.3.2. The Psychological Facet of Focalization in Grey Bells: The Narrator as an agent ... 110
4.3.3. Ideological Facet of Focalization in Grey Bells: The Agency of the Real Author in
Focalization ......................................................................................................................... 115
4.4. Reality in Focalization and Vice Versa: A Conclusion.................................................... 127
Chapter 5: Individuals in the Text: Characterization as a Narrative Strategy in Dertogada. ..... 131
5.1. Introduction ...................................................................................................................... 131
5.2. Story Line ....................................................................................................................... 132
5.3. Individuals in Dertogada: Their Textual Personhood...................................................... 137
5.4. Characterization in Dertogada ......................................................................................... 142
5.4.1. Individualism as a Trait: Character Definition by Character(s) ................................ 143
5.4.2. Individualism Provoked: Characterization by an Authorial Narrator ....................... 153
5.4.3. Individualism Legitimized: The Author as a Participant in Characterization ........... 159
5.5. Individualism as a Social Crisis: Conclusion ................................................................... 172
Chapter 6: Summary and Conclusions ........................................................................................ 174
6.1. The Relationship among Form, Content and Social milieu ............................................. 176
6.2. Amharic Novels of the Present Time: A Generalization ................................................. 182
Refrences........................................................................................ Error! Bookmark not defined.

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Chapter 1: Research Problems, Goals and Assumptions.
1.1. Introduction
Narratives are universal phenomena. As Barthes (1977:20) argues, narratives are found all over
the world in countless forms. He adds the following:
Under this almost infinite diversity of forms, narrative is present in every age, in
every place, in every society; it begins with the very history of mankind and there
nowhere is nor been a people without narrative. All classes, all human groups,
have their narratives, enjoyment of which is very often shared by men with
different, even opposing, cultural backgrounds. Caring nothing for the division
between good and bad literature, narrative is international, transhistorical,
transcultural: it is simply there, like life itself.
As Barthes explains above, narratives exist everywhere. Ethiopia—a country with a number of
ancient historical, cultural and spiritual traditions—also has narratives that are the products of a
number of languages spoken there.
Amharic is one of these languages. Since its inception as a court language following Ge‘ez, an
ancient Semitic language that served as the official language of the early Ethiopian kingdoms
until the fourteenth century, Amharic started to play ―a preeminent role in the nation until the
present‖ (Taddesse and Ali 1995:17). However, there is a kind of consensus among scholars that
it became a literary language in the nineteenth century. Since then, Ethiopians have produced a
number of important religious and secular literary works in this language.
Novel writing in Amharic is a century-old practice. There is a consensus among Amharic literary
scholars that the novel written under the title Lebb Wälläd Tarik (Fictional Story) by Afawarq
Gabrayasus in 1908 is the first Amharic novel to pave the way for the history of modern
Amharic literature (Ge‘rard, 1971: 5; Molvaer, 1980: 8; Taye, 1995:61; Yonas, 1995:93).
Following this novel, a number of novels have been produced in this language. Importantly,
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