Angalia Tena
He told James Baldwin to "Look again"
KISWAHILI
“Nakumbuka nikisimama kwenye kona ya barabara pamoja na mchoraji mweusi Beauford Delaney kule Kijijini, tukingoja taa za kuongoza magari zibadilike, naye akaelekeza chini na kusema, ‘Angalia.‘ Nilitazama na nikaona ni maji tu. Naye akasema, ‘Angalia tena,’ niliyofanya, na nikaona mafuta juu ya maji na jiji likionekana kwenye dimbwi.
“Ilikuwa ni ufunuo mkubwa kwangu. Siwezi kueleza. Alinifundisha jinsi ya kuona, na jinsi ya kuamini kile nilichokiona. Wachoraji mara nyingi wamewafundisha waandishi jinsi ya kuona. Na mara tu unapopata uzoefu huo, unaona tofauti."
- James A. Baldwin (1924-1987).
ENGLISH TRANSLATION
“I remember standing on a street corner with the black painter Beauford Delaney down in the Village, waiting for the light to change, and he pointed down and said, ‘Look.’ I looked and all I saw was water. And he said, ‘Look again,’ which I did, and I saw oil on the water and the city reflected in the puddle.
It was a great revelation to me. I can’t explain it. He taught me how to see, and how to trust what I saw. Painters have often taught writers how to see. And once you’ve had that experience, you see differently.”
- James A. Baldwin (1924-1987).
Kuhusu (About):
KISWAHILI
James Baldwin (1924-1987) alikuwa mwandishi, mwandishi wa tamthilia na mwanaharakati wa haki za kiraia wa Marekani.
ENGLISH TRANSLATION
James Baldwin (1924-1987) was an author, playwright, and vocal U.S. civil rights activist.
KISWAHILI: Asante na tutaonana tena,
ENGLISH TRANSLATION: Thank you and may we see each other again,
Mmerikani
Chanzo (source): Baldwin, James A. Conversations with James Baldwin. Edited by Fred L. Standley and Louis H. Pratt. University Press of Mississippi, 1989. Internet Archive at https://archive.org/details/conversationswit0000bald/page/235/mode/1up?q=beauford&view=theater. The excerpt in Conversations was an interview of James Baldwin by Jordan Elgrably for “The Art of Fiction LXXVII: James Baldwin,” a feature story in The Paris Review, 26 (Spring 1984), 49-82. The beginning of that Paris Review interview is at https://www.theparisreview.org/interviews/2994/the-art-of-fiction-no-78-james-baldwin.
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