Carmen in Swahili (Carmen kwa Kiswahili)

Description

Carmen in Swahili: Prosper Mérimée’s novella of the soldier Don José and Carmen in Andalusia.

Original author: Prosper Mérimée. Original title: Carmen. Translated into Swahili from the English text (the work was first written in French).

Katika majira ya kupukutika kwa majani ya mwaka 1830, msomi Mfaransa anayetafuta uwanja wa vita wa kale huko Andalusia anakutana na mgeni hatari kando ya kijito milimani, na baadaye huko Cordova na msichana mjipsi mwenye macho meusi anayetaka kumbashiria bahati yake. Mwanamume huyo ni Don Jose; msichana huyo ni Carmen.

Miezi kadhaa baadaye, Jose anasubiri kunyongwa gerezani, na anamsimulia msimulizi jinsi, akiwa askari, alivyoacha kila kitu kwa ajili ya Carmen: heshima yake, kikosi chake, na mwishowe maisha yake.

“…lakini Carmen atakuwa huru kila wakati. Calli alizaliwa, na calli atakufa.”

Riwaya fupi ya Prosper Mérimée, chanzo cha opera ya Bizet, imetafsiriwa kikamilifu kwa Kiswahili, pamoja na sura zake zote nne.

Tafsiri hii ya Kiswahili imefanywa kutoka tafsiri ya Kiingereza ya Lady Mary Loyd, inayofuata matini ya Kifaransa ya Mérimée. Sura zote nne zimetafsiriwa kikamilifu, ikiwemo ya nne, ambamo msimulizi anaandika kuhusu wajipsi wa Hispania na lugha yao.

About this edition: translated from the English text of Project Gutenberg #2465 (Lady Mary Loyd’s English translation). Paperback, 152 x 229 mm, 68 pages, published by Colombo Aspen. Cover painting: Édouard Manet, Portrait of Émilie Ambre as Carmen, 1880 (Philadelphia Museum of Art).