Enkilf ena Edme:
The Ethiopian nights

 

By Alemayehu Seife Selassie

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia – The young poet Bewketu Seyoum has been known for his unique poems. Having his first comedy video with the comedian Dereje Haile “Eyesaku Menor” released he has also tried his share at acting. But his recent book Enkilf ena Edme is one of the largest tasks he has ever under taken. Writing the novelette that is aimed to be the Ethiopian version of Arabian Nights, Bewketu has touched up on the chaotic election fever. And he explains, “My main goal is not to write about politics but to use what has happened as a background.”

It was a year ago that Bewketu started experimenting on transforming his short writings to a novel which later ended up being a long piece between a novel and a short writing.
The book entitled Enkilf [sleep] ena [and], Edme [age] has three pieces which each has a two phrase titles. Bewketu has written on Mewred ena Mewtat [up and down] in the beginning portion of his writing. His next piece is Mayet ena Megared [seeing and covering], and his third piece Mekrebina Merak [getting close and far].
The author that loves to experiment has been taken by different forms of writings and this time he hopes to address the novel as the best form of writing. “This is a bit harder than the poems. A poem is like a window frame where as the novel is the whole building. You can involve the poem in a book but not the book in a poem”, he explains.

Bewketu said that he does not want to involve real life characters in his writing but the characters which represent the idleness he faced during the time of the election aftermath seems to suit the idle period the author himself faced when the newspaper he used to work for was shut down. The university councilor that he has addressed also resembles his student days. The poet character that he put in his writing and the poetry nights that are included in his story are all representatives of the author’s personality. Bewketu however, stated that the characters might sound like someone the audience knew from before but they are fictitious.

“I picked the places I am familiar with and introduced new fictitious characters because I thought they would be good places that I can put my characters into”, he said. “My aim is not to write a story that is based on a true story. My aim is to beautify my writing and have my audience get the concept clearly”.
The author also explains that he chose those places in order to represent the academicians and art he is familiar with.

Other than the impacts of politics one other thing the author addressed in his book is the use of crude language. And he explains that he has shared a ray of light from the controversial writer Sibhat G.Egziabher. The late author Hadis Alemayehu and the international authors Antoine Chekov, William Cuvera and Charles Dickens are some authors, which Bewketu shares sentiments with.
When Bewketu started writing his book at the beginning he has hoped to write several hallucination inspired writing a trilogy just as the Shalazar’s narration in Arabian Nights. But later on he has decided to put the three in one novel and work on the other pieces later on.

The follow up of Nwari Alba Gojowoch [empty nests] - a poem that Bewketu has earned his respected name - is also the other recent project he wants to delve into in the near future.

 

July 14, 2007