Pōuliuli

I lana tusi ua ta’ua o le Pōuliuli, tatou te fetaui ai ma le toea’ina ‘e ‘autu iai le tala ‘a le atamai o ali´i, le susuga i le ali´i tusitala o Maualaivao Albert Wendt, o Faleasa Osovae, e fitusefulumaleono lona matua, ma o le ali’i sili i le afio’aga o Malaelua. Ua maleifua o ia ‘i se tasi taeao ma lona inoino ua matuā matuia tele i mea ma tagata uma e pito i sili ona pele ia te ia, aemaise le fa’ate’ia o ia lava ina ua ia iloa lona sao i lenei fa’alavelave.

E puna le vai o le tofa loloto ma le mamana o le utaga i le Pōuliuli, ona o su’esu’ga a le ali´i tusitala e faamatala ai le mafua’aga o le fa’aleaogaina o le mafaufau o le sa´o matua o se nu´u.O le Pōuliuli o se tusi e fa’aali ai mafaufauga loloto o le tusitala i pulega fa’akolone i se sosaiete i fetaulaiga ala o tu ma aga faaonaponei, o loo tumau pea le malosi ma le tumau i aso nei e pei o le taimi muamua na lomia ai i tausaga ua mavae.

O le ulua’i fa’aliliuga lenei o le Pōuliuli i le Gagana Samoa e le tama’ita’l tusitala o Sia Figiel (ma lana vaega fa’aliliupu aloa’ia o le Gagana Samoa: o Manumaua Dr. Luafata Simanu-Klutz, Alvina Lutu Perelini, LV Letalu ma Dr. Niusila Faamanatu-Eteuati). O le ‘a avea lea ma se taimi muamua e momoli ai manatu ma mafaufauga o Maualaivao i la tatou gagana, ina ia fa’aopoopo i le tuputupu a´e o tusitusiga o lo’o ua uma ona fa’aliliu mai i isi gagana, i le Gagana Samoa.

Pouliuli, Maualaivao 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.

• Albert Wendt, Author

  ʻO le atamai o aliʻi, le Susuga Maualaʻivao 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.

• 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.
  —Maualaivao Albert Wendt, author of Pouliuli