The Ethiopian book industry is one of the least developed sectors even by East African standards. Ethiopia has a long history of literary development stretching back to millennia even though this fact is seldom appreciated. Worse still, Ethiopia’s literary heritages have not so far lived up to the challenges of building a strong literary tradition able to compete with other countries in the quantity and quality of literary output. Ethiopia may boast of being the first country to import modern publishing machines at the turn of the 20th century when emperor Menelik ordered the launching of the first Amharic newspaper in the country with machineries imported from Europe.
According to one study, “It is generally believed that modern printing was started in Ethiopia in the last half of the 19th century around the port town of Massawa, now part of Eritrea. Available historic evidence also suggests that Europeans first introduced printing in the north of the country. In 1865, a certain Lorenzo Bianchi had printed a book on Amharic language method in Massawa. And in 1880, Lazarist missionaries had published a book of Ge’ez and Amharic grammar in Keren. And around 1886, Swedish missionaries had set up a printing press at a place called Monkulo in Eritrea.”
The publishing industry in Ethiopia could not develop for many reasons. Economic development in general was slow to come and the literacy level of the general population was very low. Publishing as an industry was inconceivable at a time when even the rudimentary requirements were not present. The little progress that could be achieved could only come as a result of the personal initiatives and visions of the emperors and pioneering minds. Even now, a publishing industry in the full meaning of the term has not yet appeared in Ethiopia although hundreds of books are published and distributed every year. Thus, Ethiopia boasts of a long history of literary production but not yet of a history of publishing in its modern sense.
We have to wait until the mid-20th century before even a quasi modern literary publishing house appeared. The Ethiopian revolution of 1974 had created opportunities for the growth of the reading culture as many books were imported from abroad while many Ethiopian authors started to look for publishers after they produced their literary works. The Ethiopian Book Centre which was established sometime in 1975 was the first such modern publishing house that encouraged writers to bring their works and publish at the cost of the publishing company.
We had to wait another change of government to witness the birth of another publishing house that was organized under the leadership of the then ruling EPRDF party that controlled official publishing and printing enterprises. The Mega Printing Enterprise subsequently appeared doubling both as a printing and publishing house and encouraged selected authors and books to see the light of the day.
The Ethiopian Book Centre was the first privately owned publishing house while Mega still is the first biggest party/state owned printing and publishing enterprise. The fate of the Ethiopian Book Centre was not however one of success. It went out of business after publishing so many fiction and non-fiction works by so many established and new writers until it went out of business for quite unknown reasons.
The contributions made by the Ethiopian Book Centre towards the growth and development of Amharic literature were nevertheless considerable if not unforgettable. Although it went out of business under mysterious circumstances that need no further elaboration.
When one speaks of the Ethiopian Book Centre, one is inevitably drawn to its creator, operator and legendary editor Amare Mamo who left a thriving career at the defunct Voice of the Gospel radio station to assist the birth of a publishing house. Amare Mamo studied literature at a college in Norway and returned to his country to pursue a literary career. He ended up taking the respected chair of editor at the publishing house where he started a long and laborious work of bringing Ethiopian writers and their works to the public. The book centre was initially successful in bringing its objectives to fruition but government pressure coupled with a poor book market decided its fate in the long run.
Anyone who has a close acquaintance with the publishing world both here at home and abroad must be acquainted with two outstanding publishers. The first is of course Amare Mammo from Ethiopia and the second is Maxwell Perkins from the United States. I came to know Perkins after reading about his celebrated talent as an editor and publisher.
As one of his biographers later on wrote, “After working as a reporter for The New York Times, Perkins joined the publishing house of Charles Scribner’s Sons in 1910 as an advertising manager, before becoming an editor. At that time, Scribner’s was known for publishing older authors such as John Galsworthy, Henry James, and Edith Wharton. However, Perkins wished to publish younger writers. Unlike most editors, he actively sought out promising new authors; he made his first big find in 1919 when he signed F. Scott Fitzgerald. Initially, no one at Scribner’s except Perkins had liked The Romantic Egotist, the working title of Fitzgerald’s first novel, and it was rejected. Even so, Perkins worked with Fitzgerald to revise the manuscript until it was accepted by the publishing house.”
There is some parallel between Amare Mamo and Maxwell Perkins; the two coming to the publishing and editing world in their respective countries after leaving careers in the media and journalism respectfully. There is also a striking similarity between the two legendary editors and publishers for choosing young writers over established ones and for bringing fresh talents to their respective offices.
We know that celebrated Ethiopian writer Bealu Girma could not have become the author he became later on without meeting Amare the editor who read all his works and made drastic editorial interventions, so that they could assume the form and content the Ethiopian reading public is now popular with. Bealu’s original manuscripts, together with their edited versions were displayed at one of the publishing house’s sales outlets at Arat Kilo back in 1991 when the Derg regime left the political scene. It should be noted in passing that Bealu lost his life under the Mengistu regime for writing his book entitled “Oromay” and allegedly criticized the war that was going on in Eritrea, which was the then part of Ethiopia.
As Amare Mamo subsequently collaborated with many young writers in the editing and production process of their works and had a good sense of identifying fresh talents as well as turning authors into his personal friends. By the same token, Maxwell Perkins was a great influence on the literary genius of Tom Wolfe, the great American writer and author of “Of Tine and the River”. A masterpiece of modern American fiction a film entitled “Genius” was recently released in Britain depicting the life and work of Maxwell Perkins. There is an interview between a former assistant of Maxwell at Scribner’s, the publishing house where he spent half of his life, after the release of the film, part of the interview goes as follows:
Is it fair to say that he was not a co-author but a collaborator in Wolfe’s work?
He would never say he was a collaborator. I think in retrospect if you start to examine all the work he did, especially with Wolfe, I think it dips into collaboration. I think it’s fair to say that those books first of all would not have been published without Max Perkins and they certainly would not look like the way they look, they wouldn’t read as they do were if not for Perkins. But there is many a book editor today who does as much with some writers. You would never know but some writers get completely rewritten.
So, Perkins, Like Amare was not only a great editor but also a great collaborator who made things happen and helped young writers achieve fame if not fortune. Yet, there is a difference between Amare and Perkins in that the former was also a remarkable writer and translator while the latter spent his literary career editing books that went to become bestsellers and earned money to the publishing house and fame to the editor Maxwell Perkins.
Maxwell’s legacy and personality continue to attract public and professional attention as well as become inspirations for new artistic works such as the movie, “Genius” based on his life and work. As one of his biographers put it, Maxwell’s favorite book was “War and Peace”, which he read and re-read during times of trouble; he often sent a copy to one of his protégés. Although professional boundaries were blurred when it came to his friendships with authors, he was the steadfast rock upon which they could lean. His contemporary, John Hall Wheelock, said that Perkins did not prefer one type of writing over another, but was «simply devoted to talent.» Another friend said, «If Max is to be remembered…it was largely because of his sympathetic understanding and because of the standards he maintained.»
As far as our knowledge of Amare Mamo is concerned, his favorite book must be the Bible from which he got not only religious instruction but also used it as a source of literary inspiration. Amare once published a one-page poster-like reading materials that contained insightful sayings on life. He called it Desiderata and in those times one could see it on walls of restaurants and libraries. Amare Mamo once told me quite humorously that “Desiderata” was his bestselling “masterpiece” as far as commercial success was concerned.
There may be a lot of convergence between the careers of Amare and Maxwell; both being legendary editors in their respective countries. The sad fact is that Maxwell Perkins is celebrated as a genius while Amare did not enjoy such a status. Perkins died at the age of 64, while Amare passed away relatively later at the age of 84. Maxwell had a family and children, while Amare Mamo had one daughter, and an adopted son and many books. Maxwell lived in the glare of fame and celebrity status while Amare’s life came to light relatively lately and remains largely unknown, although both share the status of legendary editors who made a difference in the literary development in their respective countries.
Mulugeta Gudeta
THE ETHIOPIAN HERALD THURSDAY 21 APRIL 2022
