Shakespeare in Swahililand: Adventures with the Ever-Living Poet

(Paperback)

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Investigating the literary culture of the early interaction between European countries and East Africa, Edward Wilson-Lee uncovers an extraordinary sequence of stories in which explorers, railway labourers, decadent migrs, freedom fighters, and pioneering African leaders made Shakespeare their own in this alien land.
Exploring the unexpected history of Shakespeares global legacy, Shakespeare in Swahililand is a breathtaking combination of travel, history, biography and satire. It traces Shakespeares influence in Zanzibar, Tanzania, Uganda, Ethiopia, Sudan and Kenya where Cambridge lecturer Edward Wilson-Lee was raised.

From Victorian expeditions in which the Bards works were the sole reading material, Wilson-Lee shows how Shakespeares works have been a vital touchstone throughout the region. The Plays were printed by liberated slaves as one of the first texts in Swahili, performed by Indian labourers while they built the Uganda Railway, used to argue for native rights, and translated by intellectuals, revolutionaries and independence leaders. Revealing how great works can provide a key insight into modern history, these stories investigate the astonishing poignancy of beauty out of place.

Reviews

Part travel book, part history of Swahili-speaking African nations, part exploration of Shakespeares power to touch the human spirit, this is a remarkable account of how his work is woven into the fabric of African life Daily Mail

Amid the dozens of books flooding this anniversary season this is one of the more interesting Wilson-Lees account of his East African Shakespeare-hunt is vivid and full of insights Independent

It has successfully told a lesser-known story of Africa, and it is a story worth knowing Economist

Part memoir, part weird and wonderful history of Shakespeare in East Africa Telegraph

A perceptive and entertaining guide to the Bards reception in Swahililand Literary Review

I thought nothing could surprise me about the impact of Englands greatest cultural figure, but this fascinating, readable book about his influence in East Africa certainly did The Lady

Wilson-Lee goes in search of Shakespeare in Africa and finds him entwined in every twist and turn of the drama of colonization and decolonization of the continent from the 17th century to the present. The result is a masterly literary detective adventure Ngg wa Thiong'o

Author Bio

Brought up in Kenya, the child of conservationist parents, Edward Wilson-Lee studied English at University College London and completed a doctorate at Oxford and Cambridge. He now lives in Cambridge with his wife and son, and teaches Shakespeare (among other things) at Sidney Sussex College. Over the past few years he has spent extended periods in Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Ethiopia and South Sudan.