Advance Praise for The Conscript:
“The Conscript gives the Tigrinya novel its early framing contour, as it shows sophistication and maturity in the depiction of the inner turmoil and real-life characteristics of its characters. It is a novel that grapples with issues of identity, self-agency, war, and the traumatic effects of (de)colonization on the human psyche. Read it and see for yourself how canonical novels like Things Fall Apart, Weep Not, Child, Houseboy, The Bluest Eye, among others, are eerily prefigured in an early African-language novel.”
—Ali Jimale Ahmed, Professor and Chair, Department of Comparative Literature, Queens College, CUNY
“The Conscript is a harrowing journey into the experiences of an Eritrean man who, after being recruited into the Italian army, is forced to fight in its war to subjugate Libyans. This is a novel of great irony and power. Its translation into English is a gift to American readers.”
—Laila Lalami, author of Hope and Other
Dangerous Pursuits (2005) and Secret Son (2009)
“Gebreyesus Hailu does Africa great service in recounting an all but forgotten and therefore all the more reprehensible chapter in African colonial history. In the same spirit, Ghirmai Negash’s superb translation brings back to world literature an Eritrean literary jewel of global and timeless relevance.”
—Alemseged Tesfai, author of
Two Weeks in the Trenches (2002)
This series brings the best African writing to an international audience. These groundbreaking novels, memoirs, and other literary works showcase the most talented writers of the African continent. The series will also feature works of significant historical and literary value translated into English for the first time. Moderately priced, the books chosen for the series are well crafted, original, and ideally suited for African studies classes, world literature classes, or any reader looking for compelling voices of diverse African perspectives.
Welcome to Our Hillbrow: A Novel of Postapartheid South Africa
Phaswane Mpe
ISBN: 978-0-8214-1962-5
Dog Eat Dog: A Novel
Niq Mhlongo
ISBN: 978-0-8214-1994-6
After Tears: A Novel
Niq Mhlongo
ISBN: 978-0-8214-1984-7
From Sleep Unbound
Andrée Chedid
ISBN: 978-0-8040-0837-2
On Black Sisters Street: A Novel
Chika Unigwe
ISBN: 978-0-8214-1992-2
Paper Sons and Daughters: Growing Up Chinese in South Africa
Ufrieda Ho
ISBN: 978-0-8214-2020-1
The Conscript: A Novel of Libya’s Anticolonial War
Gebreyesus Hailu, translated by Ghirmai Negash
ISBN: 978-0-8214-2023-2
Gebreyesus Hailu (1906–1993) was a prominent and influential figure in the cultural and intellectual life of Eritrea during the Italian colonial period and in the post-Italian era in Africa. With a PhD in theology, he was vicar general of the Catholic Church in Eritrea and played several important roles in the Ethiopian government, including that of cultural attaché at the Ethiopian Embassy in Rome, member of the national academy of language, and advisor to the Ministry of Information of the Ethiopian government. Hailu’s novel, The Conscript, written in 1927, is based on a true story of Eritrean soldiers conscripted by the Italian colonial army to fight in Libya, whom Hailu met on his way to study in Italy.
Ghirmai Negash, translator of The Conscript, is a professor of English and African literature at Ohio University. He is the author of A History of Tigrinya Literature in Eritrea and coeditor of Who Needs a Story? His recent publications include articles and essays on Eritrean and South African literatures.
Laura Chrisman, author of the introduction to this English translation, is a professor of English at the University of Washington, where she holds the Nancy K. Ketcham Endowed Chair. She is the author or editor of several books, including, as coeditor, Colonial Discourse and Post-Colonial Theory: A Reader.