Beyene Haile - author, poet, artist, playwright, thinker, educator
Some ideas for creative writers
by Beyene Haile
I often find myself lost in an endless wasteland of options, myriad of possibilities and infinite opportunities of selections and choices when I entertain writing an article for a brief casual talk on selected items of Eritrean literature. I have earned the heavy burden of this optional freedom because some people seem to believe that all writers can write about writing. This may possibly lead them to think that I could delve into the unfathomable realities of Eritrean writing: a body of oral, written and visual symbols consisting of codes, scripts, books, and signs expressing magic, beliefs, history and culture. This mass of the unknown is yet to face highly cultured future generations and sophisticated institutions. My contribution in this regard may consist of wishing to see endowed universities and schools at all levels digging treasures for the enlightenment of those in the dark. I also wish to see the right commitment tuned up to strengthen people and organizations to meet the challenges ahead. Using my novels as magic wands, my role as a novelist may sometime resemble that of a mystagogue bent on initiating enough young minds in search of discovering all the world of Eritrean writings. My novels contain some passages that could stimulate the interest of individuals and institutions here or abroad to work in the discovery of ancient and future Eritrean literature.
While writing this piece, I think that I am unconsciously dealing with the subject matter selected for a discussion. Perhaps I need to trim it just to throw some light on the possible sources rather than hardly accomplished realities of literature. The bare title, randomly placed for this article, merely indicates the general concern of the issue of writings in Eritrea. It does not indicate the area of interest, genre or period. After relieving myself of the mass of knowledge requiring special approaches to decipher the unfathomable realities
of Eritrean writings, I begin to draw my attention on issues within my grasp, topics that lend themselves to brief talks and short articles with easy certainty. Although concentrating on the writing process that is unfolding in modern Eritrea may seem to be the order of the day, I do not feel armed to the teeth in this regard as to expose recognizable trends, styles and angles. Nor have I come across earnest studies made regarding this issue. I have not made a serious attempt to scan the atmosphere of creative writing, nor do I dare say much on the non-asthetic writings such as items given to the exposition of ideas and views on various issues of concern. I have limited myself to the possible sources for creative writing without underestimating the influence of the non-fiction to the imaginative writers.
I will try to streamline my short piece of writing to point out the type of creative sources one could rely upon in order to come up with great stories. Presently, I imagine the young seeing amorphous shapes of their dreams floating on the horizon defying their grasp. I hear songs and recited poems filling the atmosphere with their yet to tell messages. This seems the time when astute ears and eyes pay attention to decipher the meaning of the present and the significance of the future. As the young struggle to find the real names of all the happenings, they will sing more songs and recite more poems until they hear answers to their quests. A visitor in Eritrea will do well to learn some of the songs because they will throw light on the color of the society in transition. New songs seem to emerge at a fast rate trying to describe the wideranging state of affairs and the unfolding phenomena of love in transforming the dreams of the young. I maybe inclined to think that these songs and poems might come handy in the negotiation of literary works. The old songs sung by fathers and grand fathers are not only vying with the new, but also overcoming the present with their vigor and wisdom. The young with great enthusiasm sing the songs of the past, unconsciously asking for a prophetic dialogue. People comfortably dance to the tune of the past in spite of the incessant call of the future. In the emerging trend of filmmaking, the old are at large, interacting with the present. The future seems to be in a design stage needing the help of all art lovers.
I think that there is a need to draw out a general contour of the sources that could guide the fertile imagination of the young. Because I can feel the youth trying to reach out when I listen to their uncertain pieces of poetry seeking certitude, their tentative short stories groping in the darkness of their loneliness, and the roundabout scripts of human fate and remorse looking for the way out into the future. Eritrea has a wealth of sources at the disposal of the future original writers and researchers.
To my surprise, none of the former colonizers has used Eritrea as an inspiring source of artistic writing. It is difficult to find novels based on Eritrean realities. The Italians, Britons, Ethiopians and Americans do not seem to have looked at Eritrea aesthetically. The colonial bonds and boundaries remained unrecognized by art. It seems that we were not that captivating to the artistic imagination of others. Did we, as people and culture, hide confidently ourselves within ourselves, deliberately becoming a mirage to the uncertain travelers in our country? Is the mirage effect still lingering in the vision of those visitors who wish to pass through the gate of our real source of art? The true face of Eritrea had been in veil due to many factors such as lack of an inspiring art education. Colonization has also a negative part in the growth of art. Initiation and development of the unveiling process of the true Eritrean feature will be the task of the young revolutionary writers, national and global institutions if they can muster the courage to face the immensity of our soul. On the other hand, the country possesses the enviable spiritual and physical characteristics that could be the inspiration of great works of literature and history. The potential source of studies and research is almost intact, waiting for the adventurous individuals and organizations.
If the temporal powers, who had come to take possession of the country, failed to see what could have been useful for their creative inspiration, it was probably because they had opted blindness to the warm embrace of art as an eternal source of truth and human relationship. The dominating instinct of subjugating other people must have dazzled their vision. What the sword gained must have perished by the sword. The pen could have metamorphosed the interrelationship of man, nature, history and idea into great works of love and literature.
I have casually written this article to be a part of the projected publication organized by the Alliance Française in Eritrea. At its best, it may raise questions, which need the cooperation of art lovers to deliberate and to answer at their convenient time. To me, this cultural organization seems to be at the forefront of forging an alliance based on the universality of art. Among other cultural activities, it has already attempted to translate novels from the French to Tigrigna or Tigrigna to French. Although unpublished, I have read a draft translation of the Little Prince by Eden Iyassu, which heightened my conviction of books as bridges between cultures. One of the proposed novels for translation into French happens to be my youthful novel, 'Is He Mad?' To my knowledge, the French novelists in the process of translation to Tigrigna are great writers like Jules Vern and Antoine Saint Exupery. I have seen Molier's Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme played in Tigrina at the Odion theatre in Asmara.
The creative future of the Eritrean writer finds himself in the midst of untapped wealth of culture and civilization of the past and the present. What did not attract the eyes of the colonizers may remain hidden if the writers do not arm themselves to unravel the truth. An in-depth look at French literature could help in the process of looking and finding truth through art. It may probably be true that real relationship between countries and people are the product of communications based on art. Literature says no less about our aspirations and dreams than many other methods combined.
Beyene Haile © 2012-2018