Why should you read Flannery O’Connor? - Iseult Gillespie

Translator: Julie Mbeyella Reviewer: Doris Mangalu

A garrulous grandmother and a roaming bandit face off on a dirt road.

Bibi muongeaji na mhalifu anayezurura wakizozana katika barabara chafu.

A Bible salesman lures a one-legged philosopher into a barn.

Muuza Biblia anampeleka mwanafalsafa mwenye mguu mmoja bandani.

A traveling handyman teaches a deaf woman her first word on an old plantation.

Fundi anaesafiri anamfundisha mwanamke kiziwi neno lake la kwanza shambani.

From her farm in rural Georgia,

Kutoka shambani kwake vijijini Georgia,

surrounded by a flock of pet birds,

akizungukwa na kundi la ndege wa kufugwa,

Flannery O’Connor scribbled tales of outcasts,

Flannery O'Connor aliandika simulizi za waliotengwa,

intruders and misfits staged in the world she knew best:

wavamizi na wasioleweka waliunda dunia aliyoifahamu vizuri:

the American South.

Marekani Kusini.

She published two novels,

Alichapisha riwaya mbili,

but is perhaps best known for her short stories,

lakini anajulikana zaidi kwa simulizi zake fupi,

which explored small-town life with stinging language, offbeat humor,

ambazo zilichunguza maisha ya mji mdogo kwa lugha kali, na ucheshi usio wa kawaida,

and delightfully unsavory scenarios.

na mazingira ya kufurahisha yenye karaha.

In her spare time O’Connor drew cartoons,

Kwenye muda wake wa ziada O'Connor alichora katuni,

and her writing is also brimming with caricature.

na uandishi wake pia umejaa masihara.

In her stories, a mother has a face “as broad and innocent as a cabbage,”

Kwenye simulizi zake, mama na sura "pana na ya upole kama kabichi",

a man has as much drive as a “floor mop,”

mwanaume ana nguvu sana kama "dekio la sakafuni",

and one woman’s body is shaped like “a funeral urn.”

na mwili wa mwanamke mmoja una umbo kama "chombo cha kuzika".

The names of her characters are equally sly.

Majina ya wahusika wake yamejawa ujanja.

Take the story “The Life You Save May be Your Own,”

Chukulia simulizi "Maisha Unayoyaokoa Yanaweza Kuwa ya Kwako",

where the one-handed drifter Tom Shiftlet wanders into the lives

ambapo mtembezi mwenye mkono mmoja Tom Shiftlet anaenda kwenye maisha

of an old woman named Lucynell Crater

ya ajuza mmoja aitwae Lucynell Crater

and her deaf and mute daughter.

na binti yake ambaye ni kiziwi na bubu.

Though Mrs. Crater is self-assured,

Japo mama Carter anajiamini,

her isolated home is falling apart.

nyumba yake iliyojitenga inaanguka.

At first, we may be suspicious of Shiftlet’s motives

Mwanzoni, tunaweza kushuku nia za Shiflet

when he offers to help around the house,

alipojitolea kusaidia kwenye nyumba,

but O’Connor soon reveals the old woman to be

lakini O'Connor anaenda kuonyesha kuwa yule ajuza ni

just as scheming as her unexpected guest–

mjanja kama mgeni wake asiotarajiwa-

and rattles the reader’s presumptions about who has the upper hand.

na kutikisa mategemeo ya msomaji kuhusu nani ana faida zaidi.

Kwa O'Connor, hamna somo lililokuwa na kizuizi.

For O’Connor, no subject was off limits.

Though she was a devout Catholic,

Japo alikuwa ni Mkatoliki aliyejitoa,

she wasn’t afraid to explore the possibility

hakuogopa kufuatilia uwezekano

of pious thought and unpious behavior

wa mawazo mema na tabia isiyo njema,

co-existing in the same person.

inayokuwepo kwa mtu mmoja.

In her novel The Violent Bear it Away,

Kwenye riwaya yake ya Wajeuri Wanaiondolea Mbali,

the main character grapples with the choice to become a man of God –

mhusika mkuu anatingwa na mawazo ya kuwa mtu wa Mungu -

lakini pia anawasha moto na kuua.

but also sets fires and commits murder.

The book opens with the reluctant prophet in a particularly compromising position:

Kitabu kinaanza na nabii amaesita akiwa kwenye nafasi yenye utata:

“Francis Marion Tarwater’s uncle had been dead for only half a day

"Mjomba wa Francis Marion Tarwater alikua amekufa kwa nusu siku tu

when the boy got too drunk to finish digging his grave.”

pale huyo mvulana alipolewa sana akashindwa kumalizia kuchimba kaburi lake".

This leaves a passerby to “drag the body from the breakfast table

Hii inamuacha mpita njia "kuvuta mwili kutoka kwenye meza ya chai

where it was still sitting and bury it […]

ambapo ulikuwa umekaa bado na kuuzika [...]

with enough dirt on top to keep the dogs from digging it up.”

na udongo wa kutosha kwa juu kuzuia mbwa kuufukua".

Though her own politics are still debated,

Japokuwa siasa zake bado ni za kulumbana,

O’Connor’s fiction could also be attuned to the racism of the South.

bunilizi ya O'Connor inaweza pia kulinganishwa na ubaguzi wa Kusini.

In “Everything that Rises Must Converge,”

Kwenye "Kila Kinachopanda Lazima Kikutane",

she depicts a son raging at his mother’s bigotry.

anaelezea mvulana anayechukizwa na upendeleo wa mama yake.

But the story reveals that he has his own blind spots

Lakini simulizi inaelezea kuwa ana mapungufu yake

and suggests that simply recognizing evil

na inasema kwamba kuyagundua mabaya tu

doesn’t exempt his character from scrutiny.

haitetei tabia yake kutokuthibitiwa.

Even as O’Connor probes the most unsavory aspects of humanity,

Hata O'Connor anavyochunguza mambo potofu ya ubinadamu,

anaacha mlango wa ukombozi wazi kidogo.

she leaves the door to redemption open a crack.

In “A Good Man is Hard to Find,”

Kwenye "Mwanaume Mzuri ni Mgumu Kupata",

she redeems an insufferable grandmother for forgiving a hardened criminal,

anamkomboa ajuza anayeteseka kwa kumsamehe mshitakiwa aliyekubuhu,

hata anavyoikaribia familia yake.

even as he closes in on her family.

Though we might balk at the price the woman pays for this redemption,

Japo tunaweza kushtushwa na malipo anayolipa huyu mama kusamehewa,

we’re forced to confront the nuance in moments

tunalazimika kukabiliana na yanayoendelea kwenye mda

we might otherwise consider purely violent or evil.

tunapoweza kuzingatia kuwa ukatili au ubaya.

O’Connor’s mastery of the grotesque

Uwezo wa O'Connor wa ajabu

and her explorations of the insularity and superstition of the South

na tafiti zake za kujitenga na ushirikina wa Kusini

led her to be classified as a Southern Gothic writer.

ulimpelekea kutambuliwa kama mwandishi wa Kigothi wa Kusini.

But her work pushed beyond the purely ridiculous

Lakini kazi yake ilisogea kupita tabia za kijinga kabisa

and frightening characteristics associated with the genre

na za kutisha zilizohusishwa na huo mtindo

to reveal the variety and nuance of human character.

kuvumbua tofauti na mchanganyiko wa tabia za binadamu.

She knew some of this variety was uncomfortable,

Alijua baadhi ya hii tofauti ilileta karaha,

and that her stories could be an acquired taste –

na kuwa hadithi zake zingekuwa na ladha inayohitajika -

but she took pleasure in challenging her readers.

lakini alisikia raha kuwachanganya wasomaji wake,

O’Connor died of lupus at the age of 39,

O'Connor alikufa kwa lupus akiwa na miaka 39,

after the disease had mostly confined her to her farm in Georgia for twelve years.

baada ya ugonjwa kumweka shambani mwake Georgia kwa miaka kumi na mbili.

During those years,

Kwenye miaka hiyo,

she penned much of her most imaginative work.

aliandika kazi zake nyingi alizokuwa akiwaza.

Her ability to flit between revulsion and revelation

Uwezo wake wa kuhama kati ya maudhi na uvumbuzi

continues to draw readers to her endlessly surprising fictional worlds.

unaendelea kuvutia wasomaji kwenye dunia yake ya kufikirika isiyoisha.

As her character Tom Shiftlet notes,

Kama mhusika Tom Shirlet anavyosema,

the body is “like a house:

mwili ni "kama nyumba:

it don’t go anywhere,

haiendi popote,

but the spirit, lady, is like an automobile:

lakini roho, mwanamke, ni kama gari moto:

always on the move.”

daima lipo kwenye mwendo".