Ethiopian novelist (1910?2003)
This article is about a person whose name includes a
patronymic
. The article properly refers to the person by his given name, Haddis, and not as Alemayehu.
Haddis Alemayehu
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Haddis Alemayehu in 1961
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Born
| (
1910-10-15
)
15 October 1910
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Died
| 6 December 2003
(2003-12-06)
(aged 93)
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Occupation
| Novelist
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Years active
| 1960s?2003
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Notable work
| Love to the Grave
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Haddis Alemayehu
(
Amharic
:
??? ?????
; 15 October 1910 ? 6 December 2003) was an
Ethiopian
novelist and
Foreign Minister of Ethiopia
. His
Amharic
novel
Love to the Grave
(Amharic: ??? ??? ????;
F?q?r ?ska Maqab?r
, 1968) is considered a classic of modern
Ethiopian literature
.
Biography
[
edit
]
Haddis was born in the Endodam Kidane Miheret section, the lower parts of
Debre Markos
, in the
Gojjam
province. He was the son of an
Orthodox
priest, Abba Alemayehu Solomon and his mother, Desta Alemu. He grew up with his mother. As a boy, he began his education within the system of the
Ethiopian Orthodox Church
, studying at the monasteries of
Debre Elias
,
Debre Werq
, and
Dima Giorgis where he finally graduated in Qine
(type of extended Ethiopian Orthodox Church education). Later, he moved to Addis Ababa where he attended several schools, including the Swedish mission school (1925?1927) and later at the
Tafari Makonnen School
for further education of the secular sort (EthioView 12 December 2003). He wrote his first play during this period,
YeHabeshan yewedehuala Gabcha
(
The marriage of Habesha and its backwardness
) which displayed remarkably mature style. In the early 1930s Haddis returned to Gojjam and worked as a customs clerk and school headmaster before moving to a teaching position at Debre Markos. Haddis Alemayehu fought during the Italian-Ethiopian war for colonialism (1935?36) until he was captured and sent to the Island of
Ponza
in the western Mediterranean and then to the island of
Lipari
, near
Sardinia
.
Freed by allied forces Haddis finally returned to Ethiopia (1943). After brief stints in the department of Press and Propaganda and Ministry of Foreign Affaires, he became the Ethiopian consul in Jerusalem (1945?46), where he stayed for about two years. There he met and married Kibebe-Tsehay Belay, who had lived and had been brought up in
Jerusalem
. Haddis then served as a delegate to the international communications conference in
Atlantic City
,
New Jersey
(1946). Afterwards, he received a posting to the Ethiopian mission in
Washington, D.C.
, and at the
United Nations
(1946?1950). His next assignment was in the Ethiopian Foreign Ministry, first as General Director and then as Vice Minister. During the 1956?1960s he worked as Ethiopian representative to UN. After his return Haddis briefly worked at the Ministry of Education (1960) followed by appointment as Ambassador to Britain and
Netherlands
(1960?65).
After his recall to Ethiopia, Haddis, who was not in good health, preferred not to enter into government service. Reluctantly, he agreed to become a minister of Planning and Development (1965?66) and also served in the
Ethiopian Senate
(1968?1974). During the era of the first two years of
Derg
regime (a newly brought military government taking the advantage of the
Ethiopian Revolution
), Haddis served as a member of the advisory body that had been created to replace the dissolved parliament. However, he declined the Derg's offer to become Prime Minister, thus removing himself from any meaningful governmental roles. In the meantime he returned to his literature career when he published
Fikr Eske Mekabr
, his famous novel about love in a feudal Ethiopia. Not only this, he had written
Wongelegnaw Dagna
(the criminal judge) and
yelemezat
(sweet only in dreams) and others. He was eventually awarded an honorary doctorate by
Addis Ababa University
.
List of publications
[
edit
]
- Y-Abe?a-nna Ye-Wedeh?ala gabi??a
(The Marriage of Ethiopia and the Future)
- Teret Teret Ye-Meseret
, 1955 (1948
AM
)
- F?q?r ?ska Maqab?r
(Love until Death),
B?rhan?nna Salam
Printing Press, 1965 (1958
AM
)
- Wen?elanna Danna
(The Criminal Judge), Addis Ababa:
n?gd
Printing Press (Kuraz Publishing Agency) 1981 (1974
AM
)
- Ye-Ilm I?at
, Addis Abeba:
n?gd
Printing Press (Kuraz Publishing Agency) 1987 (1980
AM
)
- Tizzita
(Memories), Addis Ababa: Artistic Printing Press (Kuraz Publishing Agency) 1992 (1985
AM
)
References
[
edit
]
- Thomas L. Kane.
Ethiopian Literature in Amharic
. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz 1975.
ISBN
3-447-01675-2
- Hailu Fulass, "Realism in Haddis Alemayehu", in: Taddesse Adera & Ali Jimale Ahmed,
Silence is not golden : a critical anthology of Ethiopian literature
. Lawrenceville, NJ: Red Sea Press 1995.
ISBN
0-932415-46-6
.
ISBN
0-932415-47-4
.
- Reidulf K. Molvaer.
Black Lions: the creative lives of modern Ethiopia's literary giants and pioneers
. Lawrenceville, NJ: Red Sea Press 1997.
ISBN
1-56902-016-7
.
ISBN
1-56902-017-5
.
- Girma Abebe.
"Addis Alemayehu (1910?2003)"
,
International Journal of Ethiopian Studies
, Vol. 1, No. 2 (Winter/Spring 2004), pp. 166?168.
Relevant litertature
[
edit
]
- Ayele, Tesfaye Woubshet. "Haddis Alemayehu’s Vision of the Old World: Literary Realism and the Tragedy of History in the Amharic Novel Fikir iske Mekabir."
Cambridge Journal of Postcolonial Literary Inquiry
(2023): 1-24.
External links
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]
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