A Choice of Flowers, Chaguo la Maua

An Anthology of Swahili Love Poetry

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Printing Details

First edition. Paperback. 18.5 × 12cm, 202pp.

"These Swahili songs of love and passion make their first appearance in English translation [by Jan Knappert], printed parallel to their Swahili originals. Previously most attention has been paid to the narrative and epic poems written in difficult literary 'high' Swahili. Ordinary speech is here being used to convey the delicate, erotic and sensuous feelings of the people of the East African Coast over the last few hundred years. This is a rare insight into another culture. Swahili, like English, is a mixed language; it readily takes words from Arabic and the other languages round the Indian Ocean and uses them for its own alluring purposes. Jan Knappert has provided an introduction and notes to help with the densely-strewn allusions."

Condition

This copy is in good plus condition. There is some rubbing and chipping to the covers but the contents are in very good order.

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