The Lost Spell by Yismake Worku Translated by Bethlehem Attfield
Now I am only a sorrier version of the dog that traversed through the forest with the grace of a cheetah.
For this week’s Translation Tuesday, visionary novelist Yismake Worku adopts fantasy and satire as probing social commentary in this excerpt from The Lost Spell. While researching a book of spells, a wealthy man transforms himself into a dog. We follow the (now) canine protagonist as he journeys to Addis Ababa, and through his eyes we witness the sublime beauty of the Ethiopian landscape. The story of one man’s literal dehumanization allegorizes the abasement our narrator witnesses around him as he simultaneously lauds and laments his country. Through the narrator’s unique position as both subjective participant and objective bystander, Worku presents a fly-on-the-wall (or a dog-on-the-road) view of contemporary Ethiopia that is at once a critique and a bittersweet love letter. Follow the link below to read the published article:
https://www.asymptotejournal.com/blog/2020/02/11/translation-tuesday-the-lost-spell-by-yismake-worku/#disqus_thread
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