Ye Gulelew Sekaram in Amharic or 'The Drunkard of Gulelle' is officially acknowledged as the first contemporary short story in Amharic literature, composed and released around 1946 by Temesgen Gebre, an obscure Ethiopian author and nationalist during the struggle against Italian domination of Ethiopia. He was a nationalist who opposed Italian fascism in 1936 and spent most of his life in a quiet northern area of the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa.
Temesgen's sole short story was found relatively late and was recognized as the first work in a genre that was scarcely known in Ethiopian literature at that time. It remains unknown if Temesgen wrote only one short story throughout his life or if he might have left behind additional stories that could have been lost without anyone realizing their existence.
As the first story written in Amharic from Ethiopia, Tmesegen's narrative is comparable to Washington Irving's "Rip Van Winkle" (1819), often recognized as the first American short story or tale. However, the genre did not gain significant recognition until Edgar Allan Poe's famous 1824 critique of Nathaniel Hawthorne's 'Twice Told Tales'.
In a similar manner, the sole short story by Tmesgen remained unnoticed for many years until the resurgence of Amharic short stories in the 1990s led to its recognition by scholars and eventually the general public.
The period I refer to as the short story surge spans roughly from the 1980s until the early 2000s. This surge significantly increased the popularity of the short story genre within Ethiopian literature. It was considered a surge because nearly all young and emerging writers began their literary journeys with short stories. Later, even the most accomplished and well-known Ethiopian novelists also turned to writing short stories. This era was marked by the genre's widespread appeal due to its relatively low time commitment and minimal effort required. When examining the short stories from this time, it becomes evident that they reflected universal human experiences during a specific phase in Ethiopian societal history.
I began my writing career with short stories, and my first book in this genre is titled "The Boys of Arada" or "Yarada Lijoch." In my opinion, the short story is the most accessible way to begin a long journey in writing. It is also an excellent method for learning to write through practice. Short stories teach the fundamental elements of creative writing, including character development, plot, theme, setting, and style. They help you master the art of concise writing before moving on to novel writing. The short story serves as the best training ground before becoming a recognized novelist. The second most beneficial training is writing for newspapers.
Generally, a newspaper article is brief, concentrating on one topic and designed to be read quickly. The same applies to a short story, which has a single theme, a simple plot, and can be read in a short period. The distinction between a short story and a newspaper article is that the former comes from imagination, while the latter deals with real events. Since I began writing for newspapers, it was easier for me to move to short stories. I only needed to read books on fiction writing to make a smooth shift to fictional works. However, this does not mean that writing short stories is an easy task.
Crafting an effective short story is especially challenging since it demands the ability to envision both the start and conclusion of the narrative in one instant, while also excelling at demonstrating rather than explicitly stating throughout the storytelling. It also necessitates the use of concise language, with strong openings and conclusions designed to engage the reader and provide a fulfilling resolution. The story's beginning must immediately capture the reader's interest. The first sentence and paragraph of a compelling tale are expected to act as a cliffhanger, ideally prompting the reader to keep reading instead of losing interest from the outset.
The short story is a relatively recent development in Ethiopian literature. For many centuries, Ethiopian literature was dominated by Ge'ez, the language of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, which held a dominant position in all forms of religious writing, including chronicles of saints and later in Amharic literature. Ge'ez literature primarily focused on the lives and miracles of saints and angels, essentially consisting of church records. It rarely addressed secular themes or the everyday lives of ordinary Ethiopians. Although Amharic is derived from Ge'ez, it eventually diverged significantly from this traditional approach and began to serve as a medium for expressing the emotions, aspirations, hopes, and frustrations of common Ethiopians.
Nevertheless, it required a significant amount of time and the rise of a more secular intellectual class in Ethiopia for this to occur. The implementation of modern education, along with the arrival of Western culture and new modes of thought and writing, played a crucial role in this development.
The first complete novel, which some critics regard as the first contemporary Amharic novel, is titled Tobia by Afewerk Gebretyesus. Literary scholars typically view Tobia as the pioneering modern novel in Amharic, featuring a well-structured storyline, fictional characters, locations, and conversations . . . etc.
The Amharic short story originates from a more recent era. Scholars argue that the first printed Amharic short story was not published until "ye gulelew sekaram" (The Drunkard of Gulele), which came out about fifty years ago. This editor has incorporated it in this initial collection. This is done to illustrate how storytelling in Amharic started and evolved over time. The 1950s and 1960s saw the growth of written Amharic literature through novels and short stories.
It was during this period that what is regarded by many as an Amharic classic, specifically a novel authored by the leading Ethiopian writer Haddis Alemayehu, was published under the well-known title fikir eske mekabir (Love unto Death). Although Haddis Alemayehu is primarily known as a novelist, he has also composed folk tales or fairy tales similar to the renowned fables of the French writer La Fontaine.
A set of fables authored by Addis Alemayehu was initially released by Kuraz Publishing Agency in 1960 with the title teret teret yemeseret. This editor has selected the story from the fifth chapter of the collection. He has done so due to the tale's value and the author's particular attention to it in the introduction of the same collection.
Ba'alu Girma is an Ethiopian author renowned for his exceptional literary style and language. He has inspired many younger writers and mysteriously vanished from the literary world in 1984. He was considered the leading modern Amharic novelist and a master of style. Ba'alu wrote a single short story during his writing career.
He forwarded it to a now-defunct Amharic language magazine called Yekatit (February). This occurred on the day before the release of the doomed Oromay (1985), which he is said to have criticized the previous officials in, ultimately costing him his life. His story was published under the title yefitsamew mejemeria (The Beginning of The End). This editor has translated and incorporated it into this collection.
As mentioned earlier, the majority of new short story writers came into prominence during the late 1980s. They explored various styles, themes, and linguistic approaches. The editor has chosen these stories based on their inherent quality.
Daniachew Worku composed short stories in both English and Amharic. He also authored a renowned novel in Amharic titled Adefris. He is the writer of another novel in English, part of the African Writers Series - The Thirteenth Sun. I came across one of his stories in a former bilingual magazine named Guramayle. There were several other writers who used English for their literary works. It was during the 1990s that I was motivated to translate some of them into English, aiming to publish them for an international audience.
To be more precise, the concept of creating this collection came to me as early as 1993. I was convinced that Amharic literature—or any literature in the Ethiopian languages, for that matter—deserved to be available to non-Amharic readers. I believed it could also function as supplementary reading for English students in Ethiopian schools. These stories, through their narrative styles and themes, are more relatable to Ethiopian students and readers than works by authors such as Nathaniel Hawthorne, Anton Chekhov, or Guy de Maupassant.
This could be the initial effort to create a collection of Ethiopian stories in English. Future endeavors in this area will likely be necessary as well. English serves as the global lingua franca and acts as a medium for universal culture, science, and technology. It is expected to remain so in the future, and the most effective way to learn it might involve combining it with local cultural elements. This approach is commonly seen in developing nations where English functions as a second language or as a teaching tool in educational institutions. However, it has made a lasting impact on the history of Ethiopian literature.
The surge in Amharic short story writing that I referred to was temporary. It emerged abruptly and disappeared just as quickly.
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