I lana tusi ʻua taʻua ʻo le Pōuliuli, tātou te fetaui ai ma le toeaʻina e ʻautū i ai le tala a le atamai o aliʻi, le susuga i le aliʻi tusitala ʻo Maualaʻivao Albert Wendt, ʻo Faleasa Osovae. E fitusefulu ma le ono lona matua, ma ʻo le aliʻi sili i le afioʻaga o Malaelua. ʻUa maleifua ʻo ia i se tasi taeao ma lona ʻinoʻino ʻua matuā mātuiā tele ʻi mea ma tagata ʻuma e pito ʻi sili ona pele ʻiā te ia, ʻaemaise le faʻateʻia ʻo ia lava ina ʻua ia iloa lona sao i lenei faʻalavelave.
E puna le vai o le tōfā loloto ma le mamana o le utaga i le Pōuliuli, ʻona ʻo suʻesuʻga a le aliʻi tusitala e faʻamatala ai le māfuaʻaga o le faʻalēaogāina o le māfaufau o le saʻo matua o se nuʻu. ʻO le Pōuliuli ʻo se tusi e faʻaali ai māfaufauga loloto o le tusitala i pūlega faʻakolone i se sosaiete i fetāulaʻiga ala o tū ma aga faʻaonapō nei, ʻoloʻo tūmau pea le mālosi i aso nei e pei ʻo le taimi muamua na lōmia ai i tausaga ʻua mavae.
ʻO le uluaʻi faʻaliliuga lenei o le Pōuliuli i le Gagana Sāmoa e le tamaʻitaʻi tusitala ʻo Sia Figiel (ma lana ʻaufaʻatonu āloaʻia o le Gagana Sāmoa: ʻo Niusila Faʻamanatu-ʻEteuati, Alvina Lutu, L.V. Letalu, ma Manumaua Luafata Simanu-Klutz). ʻOleʻā ʻavea lea ma se taimi muamua e momoli ai manatu ma māfaufauga o Maualaʻivao i la tātou gagana, ʻina ʻia faʻaopoopo i le tuputupu aʻe o tusitusiga ʻoloʻo ʻua ʻuma ona faʻaliliu mai i isi gagana, i le Gagana Sāmoa.
Pouliuli, Albert Wendt’s novel that explores the intricacies of the human condition and the complexity of Samoan society, is translated by Sia Figiel into the Samoan language for the first time.
Something changes when you use the language of the Samoan people to tell a Samoan story. Sia Figiel’s perceptive translation unveils an entirely different worldview through its use of language. To read the story of Faleasa in Samoan, almost fifty years after I first wrote it in English, is to become reacquainted with an old friend, and to realize that he has somehow grown more familiar in our time apart.
Albert Wendt (Author)
ʻO le atamai o aliʻi, le SusugaMaualaʻivao Albert Wendt ʻo se tusitala lāuiloa i le Pasefika ma ʻo se polofesa ʻua lītaea mai le Iunivesitē o “Aukilani, Niu Sila.
Maualaivao Albert Wendt is the Pacific’s most renowned writer. He is an emeritus professor at Auckland University.
Sia Figiel (Translator)
ʻO Sia Figiel ʻo se fatu solo ma se tusitala na tūsia le where we once belonged. ʻO lana uluaʻi tusi faʻaliliu lenei i le Gagana Sāmoa.
Sia Figiel is a poet and writer of the novel where we once belonged. This is her first work of translation into Samoan.
