Nigerian literature in Czech translations
28.06.2018 / 14:32 | Aktualizováno: 28.06.2018 / 14:47
Nigerian literature is probably, beside South African literature, the most translated and the most appreciated fiction from the Sub-Saharan area in the Czech Republic. The tradition of translations of important authors of the Nigerian literary scene to the Czech language dates back to the 1960s. The Nigerian writers are publishing by the publishing house Host in Brno nowadays. A doyen among translators and experts of Nigerian literature is the Afrikanist Vladimír Klíma. So, what of the rich collection of Nigerian literary works can be found in the Czech language?
The very first Nigerian novel, People of the City (1954), from Cyprian Ekwensi was translated into Czech in 1962 by K. F. Růžička as “Lidé z města”. The second novel Jagua Nana (1961), “Světla Lagosu”, was published in 1976 and translated by Vladimír Klíma.
People of the City
Jagua Nana
An older author, but published some years after Ekwensi, is Amos Tutuola. His famous book The Palm-Wine Drinkard (1946, published 1952), “Piják palmového vína”, which was translated by Vladimír Klíma and Petr Zima, has been published two times: 1966 and 1998.
Pal Wine Drinkard
An author of the world format and a candidate of the Nobel Prize for Literature Chinua Achebe was first published in 1964. The novel No Longer At Ease (1960), “Už nikdy klid”, was translated by Jiří Valja.
No Longer At Ease
Another one, A Man of the People (1966), “Muž z lidu”, translated by Vladimír Klíma was published in 1979.
Man of the People
However, for his eldest and the most popular novel, Things Fall Apart (1958) “Svět se rozpadá” translated by Vladimír Klíma, Czech readers had to wait until 2003.
Things Fall Apart
It is surprising that two crucial novels of the most famous ones of Professor Achebe are still waiting to be translated into Czech: Arrow of God (1964) and Anthills of the Savannah (1987).
Wole Soyinka, a writer and an author of many theatrical plays, is the winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature. Only the autobiographical memories of Soyinka: Aké: The Years of Childhood (1981), “Aké: Léta dětství”, were translated into Czech by Vladimír Klíma in 2003.
Aké: The Years of Childhood
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie became famous in the Czech Republic, for the first time, with her novel The Half of a Yellow Sun (2006), “Půl žlutého slunce”, published in 2008 and translated by Vladimír Klíma.
Half of a Yellow Sun
The novel Americanah (2013), “Amerikána”, translated by Petr Štádler was published in 2017.
Americanah
The same publisher, in cooperation with the translator Petr Štádler, released on June 15, 2018, two Adichie books about feminism: We Should All Be Feminists (2014), “Feminismus je pro každého”, and Dear Ijeawele, Or A Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions (2017), “Milá Iljeawele aneb Feministický manifest v patnácti doporučeních“.
We Should All Be Feminist
Dear Ijeawele, Or A Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions
In October 2018, the Publishing House “Host” in Brno is going to come out with a famous apocalyptic science fiction fantasy novel of Nigerian author Nnendi Okorafor, Who Fears Death (2010), “Kdo se bojí smrti”, translated by Adéla Bartlová.
Who Fears Death
For more information see: