Tenth meeting of the seventh edition of the Reading Group "The Garden"
"The Shadow King" by Maaza Mengiste.
Reading and commentary by Cosimo Adamo
The work:
It is 1974, Ethiopia is on the brink of a new uprising. Hirut is at the capital's train station, two days ahead of the Italian photographer with whom he is to meet. The long flashback with which Maaza Mengiste takes us to the days of the occupation desired by Mussolini in 1935 and carried on with unprecedented violence despite the warnings of the League of Nations. When, in 1936, Emperor Haile Selassie, commanding his army, is defeated at Mai Ceu and forced into exile, on the highlands and in villages throughout the country Ethiopian women and men organize a victorious resistance, fighting battles whose clamor recalls the epic clashes of the Iliad. Everything happens according to the sometimes bloody rules of a feudal society that nonetheless boasts ancient independence and a solid military tradition. The king has boarded a train that is taking him out of his country, but on the ridges of the hills appears the unknown and beloved profile of the ruler. Is this a deception? A mirage? Perhaps it is the power of the shadow, restoring confidence and courage to the subjects.
Author:
Maaza Mengiste, born in Addis Ababa in 1971 and now living in New York City, where she is a professor of writing at Queens College. She is the author of two novels, The Lion's Gaze (2009) and The Shadow King (2019).
Texts and event by The Garden Social Center