Antoine Abel

Antoine Abel ( born November 27, 1934 in Anse Boileau, Seychelles, † 19 October 2004) was an important Seychelles writer and poet. He was the first author who wrote about his literary home islands and therefore is considered the father of Seychelles short stories and poetry. Many of his works deal with the folklore of the Seychelles and the natural environment of the islands. He wrote primarily in French and Seychellenkreol.

Life and work

Life

Antoine Abel was born in 1934 in the district of Anse Boileau on the Seychelles island of Mahe, the son of farmers. He made the completed primary school and then worked as a bricklayer. After four years of secondary school education in Switzerland Abel 1959 teachers. A little later he studied at the University of Reading, received a Certificate of Advanced Studies and taught on Mahé agriculture. At the University of Bristol he attended a training course to train teachers at the Teacher Training College in Victoria. This profession he said, until his retirement in 1986. In 2004, he died after a long illness and was buried in Anse Boileau.

He has worked in the education and the Ministry of Culture of the country and had two children.

Work

In Antoine Abel's short stories oral traditions play a major role. Again and again Soungoula before: a trickster who is half-ape and half-human. Soungoula occurs in some cases as a hero and partly as a villain, but always triumphs. Abel's poems are often short and devote himself to nature and rural issues. However, he also wrote a number of political and very emotional poems. which are in contrast to the simplicity of his usual poetry.

As a teacher, Abel published in 1969, the collection of poems Paille en queue ( German: Tropikvögel ), in which he tells of his childhood memories. Thus it was the first published on the Seychelles poetry.

In the 70 years he continued his literary activity and regularly published articles in English in the newspapers and bulletin Seychelles Seychelles -culture. With the publications of Coco sec, Une tortue se rappelle! and Contes et poèmes the Seychelles in 1977 in Paris, Antoine Abel was the first published in Europe Seychellois writer.

Coco sec describes the work of local farmers and fishermen. In Une tortue se rappelle! ( German: A turtle remembers! ) is the turtle symbolic of the Seychelles, who never hurries and believes, perhaps to possess the truth. The legend is told humorous, historically correct is supplemented with Abel's own inventions. Allusions to the legends of Lemuria can be seen. In 1979 he received - as a co- winner alongside Jean -Henri Azéma - the French Prix des Mascareignes for his book Une tortue se rappelle! .

Contes et poèmes of Seychelles ( German: short stories and poems of the Seychelles) are a collection of orally transmitted poems and stories in the country. Abel wrote himself in the book that he would thereby preserve the cultural heritage from oblivion, previously handed down by the bards. He had written after interviews with the elders of the islands stories. With the 1981 published book Contes des Seychelles ( German: Tales of the Seychelles) he sat in front of this work.

After independence from the British in 1976 Seychellenkreol was the official language of the Seychelles and there have been many books translated into this language. Abel took part in the movement by writing the first novel to Seychellenkreol with Restan kamira (1980 ), the first play and Mon tann s leokri (1982).

Some of his French and Creole poems and a large part of new unpublished texts were published in the early 1980s in anthologies, such as on La Reunion ( Anthology de poésie seychelloise ) and the Antilles ( anthology de la nouvelle poésie créole ).

After his death, the Roman Carcassaille as well as the collection of poems Faune, flore et sentiments were discovered that were not previously published.

Jean -Louis Joubert describes him as humble writer who hides behind the population of the Seychelles, whose stories he writes down. In addition, Joubert writes that " the clear language unaffected Antoine Abel, susceptible to the charm of the Seychellenkreols, is probably the one that is most suitable for the birth of a literature ".

Pri Antoine Abel

The Literature Prize Pri Antoine Abel was awarded twice (2007 and 2010) as part of the Festival Kreol des Seychelles Creole from the Institute. Wisely were only publications on Seychellenkreol.

Bibliography

  • Jean François Sam - Long: Anthologie de poésie seychelloise ( = Collection Anchaing ). Éditions Collectif. Reunion 1984.
  • Lambert -Félix Prudent: Anthologie de la nouvelle poésie créole ( = caribéennes Editions, Volume 3 ). ACCT, West Indies 1984, ISBN 978-2-903033-50-7.
  • Paille en queue. Imprimerie Saint- Fidele, 1969.
  • Une tortue se rappelle! P. J. Oswald, Paris 1977 978-2-71-720824-5.
  • Coco sec P. J. Oswald, Paris, 1977, ISBN 978-2-7172-0808-5.
  • Contes et poèmes the Seychelles. P. J. Oswald, Paris 1977, ISBN 978-2-7172-0816-0. ( also includes poems)
  • Contes des Seychelles - CLE International, Paris 1981 978-2-19-031747-2.
  • Faune, flore et sentiments. Unpublished.
  • Mon tann s Leokri. Piblikasyon Nasyonal, Seychelles in 1982.
  • Carcassaille. Unpublished.
  • La femme et l' seychelloise héritage culturel. École internationale de Bordeaux. In 1976.
  • Contribution aux études et ethnobotanic floristiques aux Seychelles. In: Médecine et traditionnal Pharmacopée. ACCT, Paris 1983, ISBN 978-92-9028-046-0.
  • Tizan, Zann ek loulou. ACCT 1981. (Text Abel, drawings by Paul Yerbic )
  • Restan Kanmira. In 1980.
October 19 Victoria, Seychelles Lyric poetry Lemuria (continent) Intangible cultural heritage
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