Ma Jun
Area Studies. 2024, (3): 182-208.
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Literature, as a form of social creation and practice, as a medium of language, is visible and widely used in human life. Furthermore, literature can “reproduce” life, even the natural world and the inner or subjective world of individuals, which have always been the objects “imitated” by literature. However, literature is not simply a mirror or replica of life. By exploring the artistic techniques employed by authors and the relationship between the depiction of life in their works and the social reality they reflect, and discussing how does artistic creation organically combine the malleability of human self-consciousness with social reality, researchers can better transform literary studies into a “scalpel” for revealing the essence of life and provide a unique path for in-depth understanding of specific communities. Swahili dramatic literature, as one of the most important components of modern Swahili literature, is significant not only because it grants indigenous authors and readers great autonomy, enabling them to truly create, perform, and interpret the real life of their communities, but also because external readers can experience the authentic social life of East Africa through the literary medium of “drama” and glimpse the imprints of social transformations in East Africa embedded in ordinary people. This article takes the development history of modern Swahili dramatic literature as the macro background and focuses on Ebrahim Hussein's final work in Tanzanian modern dramatic literature, “Kwenye Ukingo wa Thim” (On the Edge of Nowhere), to explore the various dilemmas and responses of different groups hidden behind this play, as well as the evident collision between Tanzanian tradition and modernity depicted in the text. The aim is to provide a different perspective on the perception and understanding of Tanzanian society and culture in the current world.
