The Voice of Africa: A Bit of Bunyan

Extract

Translation is not commonly esteemed to rank among the highest of literary arts; but it is a very useful art. Here is an example of what Africans are doing to naturalize glories of English literature. It is taken from the rendering of John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress into Ila (a language of Northern Rhodesia) which won the prize in the Institute's Competition, 1937–8: the immortal scene of the trial of Christian and Faithful in the town that was named Vanity. The Rev. J. W. Price, who spent nearly twenty-seven years among the Ba-ila, has put it back into English as literally as possible, to show the degree to which Moses Mubitana has caught the meaning and spirit of the original.