Sebhat Gebregziabher is arguably one of the greatest Authors Ethiopia has ever seen. It will not be exaggerating to say his contribution to the development of modern Ethiopian literature is unmatched by any author in the country. From his early works of novels written in a sublime and beautiful Amharic to the latest ones, Gash Sebhat has proved time and again that he is worthy of the respect and recognition bestowed to him by his admirers. His brutal honesty coupled with his charming wit, makes him the “special one” of Ethiopian Literature.
Though he is best known for pioneering and promoting the naturalist writing style in Ethiopia, he has also shown that he can write in any style known to man. He is often criticized for being blunt and vulgar by his critics, which is not surprising at all since he is a naturalist. As a Naturalist writer he exposes the dark harshness of life, including problems in sexuality, poverty, racism, prejudice, disease, prostitution, and filth.
His major Influences came from the French naturalist writer Emile Zola and the Algerian born-French philosopher Albert Camus. He was exposed to their works at a very young age when he went to France for his graduate study which he didn’t complete. Instead, he spent most of his time reading books and writing one of his famous novels “tekusat” which means “Fever” in Amharic.
His works include: Tekusat, letum Aynegalign, sebategnaw melak, amst sedest sebat, and other short stories .Unfortunately, he was not able to publish most of his works for many years due to the repressive censorship during the Imperial and Dergue regimes which were not ready for his great ground breaking and eye opening works of art. He also wrote extensively throughout his career as a journalist and columnist on different newspapers and magazines.
Despite the strong storm of criticism from all corners and the various critics and “haters”; Gash Sebhat’s works remain unwavering and seem to stand the test of time. And, I for one will remain right behind this magnificent and prolific writer who deserves better respect and more gratitude from all Ethiopians for his life time contribution to the development of Ethiopian literature.
It is him who passed away man; not you. Please put his picture. Else it looks that you are marketing yourself to someone.
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ReplyDeletePlease note that Birhane posted this writing on March 9, 2010. I believe we were both directed to this page when we googled Gash Sebhat after learning about his death.
He came from well educated family but he contributed nothing for his country while his brothers were environmental scientists who did great research as world renowned by strategic enviro-economic policies his policy was fabricating ashamed society by producing worthless pornographic articles and novles
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