Abstract

BATIC, Gian Claudio. Alhaji Imam’s First Adventures: “In Search of the Water of Bagaja”, by Alhaji Abubakar Imam. Estud. Asia Áfr. [online]. 2023, vol.58, n.1, pp.159-176.  Epub Mar 27, 2023. ISSN 2448-654X.  https://doi.org/10.24201/eaa.v58i1.2727.

Ruwan Bagaja by Nigerian writer Alhaji Abubakar Imam (1911-1981), was first published in 1934 and is considered a classic of modern Hausa literature. In his novel, Abubakar Imam takes up the popular theme of the mythical healing water of Bagaja, in a story that integrates themes from the Hausa oral tradition with elements derived from the Middle Eastern and European traditions. The Spanish translation of the novel’s opening chapter, “Alhaji in Search of the Water of Bagaja”, is presented here. Narrated in the first person, the text describes the first adventures of the protagonist, Alhaji Imam, outlining his history and psychology. The reader is immediately immersed in a world where friendship and deception, subordination and power, and the natural and supernatural are inevitably intertwined.

Keywords : Ruwan Bagaja; Alhaji Abubakar Imam; Hausa; African literature; novel.