Songs of Love and War : Afghan Women's Poetry

The authors of oral literature in the Pashtun language create their work at a far remove from any books. Generally deprived of the support of schools and universities, their compositions are inseparable from song. Their poetry is never declaimed; rather, their rhyme and rhythm have melodic value. These popular improvisations do not exalt mystic love. In them there is no aspiration whatsoever to an unfathomable and incommunicable heaven, nor devotion to the lord, nor praise for an absolute master, nor any Adonis. To the contrary, they are songs of the earth. They celebrate nature, mountains, rivers, dawn and night’s magnetic space. They are songs of war and honor, shame and love, beauty and death. The repression of Afghan women has caused untold suffering, particularly through moral subjugation. Infant daughters and their mothers are received with scorn and shame, and lead lives of subordination and humiliation. Their rebellion against these tribal codes comes only through suicide and song. Translated from the Pashtun into French by the eminent Sayd Bahodine Majrouh, the greatest Afghan poet of the twentieth century, his text has been rendered into English in the expert hands of Marjolijn de Jager of the Translation Department at NYU. The Preeminent Afghan Poet Of The Twentieth Century, Sayd Bahodine Majrouh, Has Here Collected The Songs Of Anonymous Pashtun Women From The Time Of The Soviet Occupation Of Afghanistan. These Landays Consist Of Two-line Verses Of Nine And Thirteen Syllables. Their Brevity And Rhythym Are Meant To Catch The Ear. Village Women Improvise Landays As They Gather Water From Springs And When They Dance And Sing At Weddings, With The Most Resonant Of Them Claimed By Their Collective Memory. As Part Of An Oral Tradition, These Poems Avoid The Complex, Mystical, And Abstract Forms Of Their Cultural Canon. There Is No Aspiration Whatsoever Toward An Unfavorable And Incommunicable Heaven, Nor Devotion To The Lord, Nor Praise For An Absolute Master, Nor Any Adonis. To The Contrary, These Poems Are Songs Of The Earth. Here The Active Voice Of The Afghan Woman Affirms Simple Pleasures And Bemoans Widespread Suffering. The Poems Celebrate Nature, Mountains, Rivers, Dams, And Night's Magnetic Space. They Are Songs Of War And Honor, Shame And Love, Death And Beauty.--jacket. Sayd Bahodine Majrouh ; Translated From The Pashtun Into French, Adapted And Introduced By Andre Velter And The Author ; Translated From The French By Marjolijn De Jager. Translation Of: Suicide Et Le Chant. The preeminent Afghan poet of the twentieth century, Sayd Bahodine Majrouh, has here collected the songs of anonymous Pashtun women from the time of the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan. These landays consist of two-line verses of nine and thirteen syllables. Their brevity and rhythm are meant to catch the ear. Village women improvise landays as they gather water from springs and when they dance and sing at weddings, with the most resonant of them claimed by their collective memory. As part of an oral tradition, these poems avoid the complex, mystical, and abstract forms of their cultural canon. There is no aspiration whatsoever toward an unfathomable and incommunicable heaven, nor devotion to the lord, nor praise for an absolute master, nor any Adonis. To the contrary these poems are songs of the earth. Here the active voice of the Afghan woman affirms simple pleasures and bemoans widespread suffering. The poems celebrate nature, mountains, rivers, dawn, and night's magnetic space. They are songs of war and honor, shame and love, death and beauty.