Oromay
War, betrayal and espionage in 1980s Ethiopia: a classic of African literature that sealed its author's fate
Published on 16. January 2025
Book
Hardback
400 pages
978-1-5294-2838-4 (ISBN)
Description
"A modern classic" Observer
"Astonishing and compelling . . . Impossible to put down" Maaza Mengiste, author of The Shadow King
Ethiopia, 1982: After a decade of conflict, the government is determined to quash the Eritrean insurgency once and for all. As head of propaganda, it's Tsegaye's job to keep the people onside.
When the Red Star Campaign lands him in Asmara, Tsegaye is swept up in the city's nightlife, the bars and coffeehouses buzzing with spies and government agents. But even as Tsegaye begins to fall in love with Asmara ? and with bold, dazzling, enigmatic Fiammetta ? his misgivings about the campaign grow, and soon his loyalties will be tested to their limit.
Tsegaye is confronted with the horror of war when the army attacks the insurgents' mountain stronghold, and encounters betrayals that shake his faith in both the regime and human nature.
A masterpiece of Ethiopian literature, Oromay is a thrilling political satire and a turbulent tale of love and war. It became an instant sensation when first published in 1983 and was quickly banned. Baalu Girma vanished in 1984, most likely kidnapped and murdered by the same regime in retaliation for this novel.
Translated from Amharic by David DeGusta and Mesfin Felleke Yirgu
"Astonishing and compelling . . . Impossible to put down" Maaza Mengiste, author of The Shadow King
Ethiopia, 1982: After a decade of conflict, the government is determined to quash the Eritrean insurgency once and for all. As head of propaganda, it's Tsegaye's job to keep the people onside.
When the Red Star Campaign lands him in Asmara, Tsegaye is swept up in the city's nightlife, the bars and coffeehouses buzzing with spies and government agents. But even as Tsegaye begins to fall in love with Asmara ? and with bold, dazzling, enigmatic Fiammetta ? his misgivings about the campaign grow, and soon his loyalties will be tested to their limit.
Tsegaye is confronted with the horror of war when the army attacks the insurgents' mountain stronghold, and encounters betrayals that shake his faith in both the regime and human nature.
A masterpiece of Ethiopian literature, Oromay is a thrilling political satire and a turbulent tale of love and war. It became an instant sensation when first published in 1983 and was quickly banned. Baalu Girma vanished in 1984, most likely kidnapped and murdered by the same regime in retaliation for this novel.
Translated from Amharic by David DeGusta and Mesfin Felleke Yirgu
Reviews / Votes
A fast, fluent and often gripping read . . . From clandestine Le Carre-style intrigue and steamy Fleming-esque trysts to scenes from a battlefield "hellscape" that nod to Hemmingway -- Boyd Tonkin * Spectator * Gorgeous physical settings . . . the dark chess games of the cold war; switchbacks and betrayals, hidden loyalties, cross-loyalties and grudges . . . This is fiction as reportage, in a context where the official reportage was often effectively fiction. It carries the shock of truth -- Aida Edemariam * Guardian * Impressive . . . Justifably a modern classic in Ethiopia -- John Self * Guardian * A gripping tale of love, war and espionage * Times Literary Supplement * Absoring . . . What makes Oromay so subversive is its counterpoint of war's horror with romance Oromay is an astonishing and compelling tale of revolution and betrayal. It is also the story of Tsegaye - witty, observant, and dedicated - who finds love at the same time as he discovers how dangerous his world really is. Written with breathtaking psychological precision, Baalu Girma's novel is still frighteningly relevant today. Oromay is impossible to put down. As the last book ever written before Baalu Girma disappeared, what you have before you is also an uncompromising testimony to the power of words to outlast regimes. Oromay is a gift to a new generation of readers -- Maaza Mengiste, author of The Shadow King A startling, intimate and gripping saga of war-time Ethiopia turned topsy-turvy. In his brave dissection of rampaging power and evasive language, Girma recalls George Orwell and Aldous Huxley -- Okey Ndibe, author of Foreign Gods, Inc. A novel widely believed to have cost its author his life, a prayer against war, oppression and the erosion of our humanity. David DeGusta and Mesfin Felleke Yirgu have done an outstanding job translating Oromay, giving the world access to one of the most important and enduring works of literature in Ethiopia -- Djamila Ibrahim, author of Things are Good Now Reading Oromay sent me back to when I first watched Casablanca. It has the same surefire set of ingredients that draws you into the story and makes you empathise with its characters. Eritrea in the 1980s, war, junta, coffee shops where local spies and CIA agents drink coffee, a love story . . . A gripping novel that has 'documentary' flavour -- Andrey Kurkov, author of Death and the Penguin Ethiopia has spent a hundred years composing extraordinary novels in Amharic, yet virtually none have been translated into English. David DeGusta and Mesfin Felleke Yirgu have provided the world a service by translating Oromay by Baalu Girma, one of the most important novels in Amharic. Banned within days of publication, this thinly veiled roman a clef by a former propagandist about Ethiopian government repression in Eritrea details the roguish main character's increasing disillusionment as he witnesses the bureaucracy of occupation and the horrors of war. In an admirably natural English, this lively translation captures the humor and verve of the original. The translators revel in all the strengths of this dialog-driven war journalism story and its sharp social observations about who sacrifices the most humanity, oppressor or oppressed -- Professor Wendy BelcherMore details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Quercus Publishing
Product notice
Trade binding
Dimensions
Height: 219 mm
Width: 141 mm
Thickness: 37 mm
Weight
494 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-5294-2838-4 (9781529428384)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Born in rural Ethiopia in 1939, BAALU GIRMA graduated from Addis Ababa University and later studied journalism in the United States. He rose to prominence in Ethiopia in the 1960s and 70s as both a journalist and novelist, eventually becoming a top official in the Ministry of Information under the Derg dictatorship. He wrote six popular and critically acclaimed Amharic-language novels: Beyond the Horizon, The Bell of Conscience, The Call of the Red Star, Haddis, The Author and his final novel, Oromay. His candid portrayal of the regime in Oromay caused a sensation and the government immediately banned the novel and fired Girma. Six months later, on Valentine's Day 1984, he vanished under suspicious circumstances. No definitive evidence has emerged as to Girma's fate, but the consensus is that he was murdered by the regime in retaliation for Oromay, which has since become one of Ethiopia's most famous and best-loved novels. It is partly for his courage in renouncing the hated Derg that Baalu Girma and Oromay hold such an honoured place in Ethiopian cultural history.