Namibian Literature

Namibian literature develops in English , German and Afrikaans .

At the root of Namibian literature is a rich indigenous folklore : fairy tales , proverbs , myths . Bushman mythology is characterized in particular by the bull - the lord of rain and Tsagn - the first ancestor of the mantis. Tsagn is the master of life and death, he sees in a dream the past and the future. From him, people learned the names of places, taboos , ritual dances. At the same time, the Tsagn comic character- trickster : a lustful old man and a prankster. In the mythology of the Hottentots (Nama) a great role is played by the great leader and the hunter Heitsi-Abib, who has the features of a thunderer, a dying and resurrecting God. He is opposed by the personification of evil Gaunab. These characters are mentioned in their novels by the South African writer Andre Brink. One can note the first ancestor of the people of Herero Mukuru ("very, very, old") Mukuru and his wife - the first people left the sacred tree of Omuborobong. Mukuru established sacrifices, taboos, initiations, he handed over to his descendants holy utensils. The supreme deity of the Damar people is Gamab. He lives "on the other side of the stars" surrounded by the spirits of his ancestors, the "eider". The battle song of the people of Herero is given by V.I. Lenin in "Notebooks on Imperialism". Tales and songs of the people of Ovambo translated into Russian by Yuri Ivanovich Gorbunov.

The first written monuments created by Namibians date back to the beginning of the nineteenth century. This correspondence, chronicles, codes of laws of local leaders (mainly in Dutch ). Among them are the diaries of Yonker Afriener published in Cape Town in 1929 .

Marci Rautanen, a native of the present Leningrad Region, created a script in the Ndong language and translated the Bible into it. There is a religious and educational literature in the Nama language.

The formation of the modern literature of the country is closely connected with the struggle for independence from South Africa in 1960-1980. The works of the authors of this period are represented by poetry, journalism , and autobiographies of political figures. Among the poets one can mention Mvulu Ya Ngolu, J. Tobis - their poems have been translated into Russian and German. They are focused on the African reader, from European poetry is borrowed mainly rhyme. Prose is represented, in particular, by the memoirs of the leaders of SWAPO : John Ya Otto, “The Field of Battle - Namibia”, Vigny Nandi “Breaking the Contract” - published in the USSR , they give a certain picture of African society in the country.

The first Namibian novel Born of the Sun, from the history of the Stone Age, Joseph Disho, also a participant in the anti-apartheid movement, was released in 1988 in New York. The following work by this author, “Scattered Waters,” appeared in 1993 in Windhoek . Before this, books came to the country mainly from abroad.

The country's first president, Sam Nujoma, published memoirs in 2001 : “Where others faltered ...”, containing, in particular, stories about the author’s meetings with Soviet political figures, for example, M. S. Gorbachev , A. A. Gromyko . The autobiography was published in 2015 by the long-term rival of Nujoma, the founder of the Democratic Alliance, Turnhalle, the governor-governor of the country during the colonial era, Dick Madge.

Gabriela Lubovski wrote the novel “On Solid Ground” about her husband Anton Lubovski, a white defender of the rights of the black population. Anton Lubovski was an educated man. He knew the works of A. S. Pushkin , F. M. Dostoevsky, L. N. Tolstoy , A. P. Chekhov , Goethe , Heine , Byron , Hugo . Of the modern poets, we can call Christina Warner, Dorian Haarhoff - closely associated with South Africa.

Namibia is mentioned or is the site of many works of Russian, Western or South African writers. In particular, A. S. Novikov-Priboy ’s Tsushima , A. Efremov’s Razor Blade (described “Skeleton Coast”), Alexander Prokhanov’s “Choice of Weapons” (Sam Nujoma is one of the main characters), Wilbur Smith “ Diamond Hunters ”, William Malwihill“ In the sands of the Kalahari ”,“ Rainbow of the Earth ” Thomas Pynchon . The poem "Damara. Gotentota cosmogony ”was written by N. S. Gumilev. The theme of South West Africa occupies an important place in German literature. In particular, in the work of Hans Grimm, who was called German Kipling and whose works played an important role in the formation of the ideology of Nazism. Windhoek, as well as the uprising of Nama and Herero are mentioned in the autobiographical novel “Farewell” written by the Soviet Union, the Communist poet and author of the GDR, Johannes R. Becher.