Kuwako na Wakati: Mipaka ya Lugha kama Hatua za Falsafa katika Mashairi ya Euphrase Kezilahabi (Esistenza e Tempo: Confini linguistici nel pensiero poetante di Euphrase Kezilahabi)

This paper is a contribution to the 26th Swahili Colloquium in Bayreuth 2013. As the main theme of the conference was Tafsiri ‘Translations’, an analysis of Euphrase Kezilahabi’s poetry will be presented, with particular focus on the limits of both language and translation. Looking at the linguistic properties of Kezilahabi’s poetry these linguistic limits seem to represent the various stages of his philosophy; in this journey language is the means and the goal itself as it is an important unit of existence. Kezilahabi transfers many "African" and Swahili elements from past to present and he transfers foreign elements, from outside to inside, written anew and revived through the poet’s words. This analysis will consider the poetic word as a result of this comparison. The poetic of Euphrase Kezilahabi is also an original result of a comparison between his culture and literature and foreign literature.