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 Somali
novelist, writing in English and Somali. The central theme in Farah's
work is the women's liberation in postcolonial Somaliland, which
he sees as a precondition for political and individual freedom.
The majority of his essays, novels, short stories, plays, and film
scripts are written in English, but he has also translated children's
stories from Arabic, Italian, French, and English into Somali. Farah
received in 1998 the Neustadt Award.
...Nasser believed she could remove her props
of age and mask of beauty whenever she wanted; it was as easy
for her as undressing before a near-stranger had been, a near-stranger
whom she imagined would make carry the seed which would multiply
in her womb and flourish the actress's splendour. She said, her
voice calm as her delivery had been rehearsed:
"Some of us have been catapulted into the centre-stage
of a century we actually don't belong in and have nothing in common
with. Some of us have been forced by circumstance to accept conditions
and the dictates of the century's needs. It's like living all
your life natural darkness or in an area bathed in moonlight.
Then suddenly powerful electric bulbs are switched on and you
become the spot on which the light falls, upon whom all the world's
eyes meet."
(from Sardines, 1981)
Nuruddin Farah was born in Baidoa, a city in Italian Somaliland,
which was at the time under British control. His father worked as
a translator for the British. Soon after Nuruddin's birth he was
transferred to work for the governor in the Ogaden (the Ethiopian
West). In 1948 the British restored the Ogaden to Ethiopian rule,
and a year later the recently formed United Nations returned the
south to Italy. Farah received his primary education at schools
in Kallafo, Ogden. He spoke English, Arabic, and Amharic, the official
Ethiopian language.
 Somalia
was granted independence by the British and Italians in 1960. Three
years later Farah moved to the southern region to flee from border
conflicts in the Ogaden. After studying literature and philosophy
in India at the University of Chandigarh, he returned to Somalia
and taught in Mogadisho. He lived then in England for a time. in
1874 Farah escaped from Somalia. Siyad Barres regime had banned
all of his works in Somalia and ordered that the author be killed.
Farah has held teaching positions at universities in the United
States, Germany, Italy, Nigeria, Sudan, Gambia, and India and has
visited the former Soviet Union. He has lived years also in Rome.
In 1996 Farah saw his home country first time after 22 years in
exile.
Farah made his debut as a novelist with FROM A CROOKED RIB (1970).
It told a story about a nomad girl who flees her family's camp because
she has been promised in marriage to an old man. The novel reveals
the authoritarian role of the patriarchal clan system, in which
women are exploited and denied individual rights. From a Crooked
Rib was published in 1970. Farah's Somali novel was serialized
in the local papers in 1973, but was discontinued when the government
found his work politically objectionable.
A NAKED NEEDLE (1976) explores the relationships of Somali men
and women with Westerners. The protagonist, Koschin, is a Mogadisho
teacher, whose favourite novel is Wole Soyinka's The Interpreters.
He has promised to marry an English girl while studying overseas.
The girl arrives in Somalia and expects Koschin to keep his promise.
Farah studies the crisis of Somali identity allegorically, and suggests
that women's lives are even more dominated by male authority since
the achievement of political independence.
 Farah's
trilogy, VARIATIONS ON THE THEME OF AN AFRICAN DICTATORSHIP (1980-1983)
draws parallels between the colonial practices and authoritarian
regimes in postcolonial Somalia. The first part, SWEET AND SOUR
MILK (1979), is a novel about political terror and two twins, Loyaan
and Soyaan, who dies mysteriously. In his inquiry about his brother's
death Loyaan finds out the Soyaan was a member of an organization
that aimed at overthrowing the regime. The book received the English-Speaking
Union Literary Award. SARDINES (1981) was praised for its consciousness
of style. In the story an editor of a national newspaper is sacked.
Her husband is lured to become a minister by false promises. He
rules his house with the iron hand of traditional Islam and she
fears that her daughter will be forced to submit to the horrors
of female circumcision.
MAPS (1986) is the first novel of a second trilogy, BLOOD IN THE
SUN, that studies the pain of cultural uncertainty in postcolonial
reality. GIFTS, (1999) is a love story set in Somalia. Duniya, a
nurse at a maternity hospital, is once widowed and once divorced.
She has no intentions getting entangled again - until she meets
an American-educated economist Bosaano. The novel offers the reader
more optimistic view of the war-torn land than Maps and SECRETS
(1998), in which a young successful businessman Kalaman learns the
truth about himself and his family. The story mirrors Somalia's
violent recent history and long-simmering tribal hatreds.
For further reading: Nuruddin Farah by Patricia Alden
and Louis Tremaide (1999); Encyclopaedia of World Literature in
the 20th Century, vol. 2, ed. by Steven R. Serafin (1999); Postcolonial
African Writers, ed. by Pushpa Naidu Parekh and Siga Fatima Jagne
(1998); The Novels of Nuruddin Farah by Derek Wright (1994); "The
Novels of Nuruddin Farah by Florence Stratton (1985, in World
Literature Written in English)
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