The substantial number of Kiswahili prose works published since the 1990s and the growing interest in their analysis play down some drawbacks that make Kiswahili literature vulnerable. Contrary to the usual celebrations of these texts, this article presents the other side of the coin, which suggests a potential crisis in Kiswahili literature. The article begins with Obi Wali’s plea for African literatures to be written in African languages, before narrowing it down to Kiswahili literature. The article shows that although writers in Kiswahili have between the 1970s and the 1990s qualitatively as well as quantitatively responded to Wali’s call, one needs to critically assess works published since the end of the 1990s and especially since the early 2000s. One needs to reconsider the question posed by Matundura: ‘what ails Kiswahili literature?’ This article explores the following challenges facing Kiswahili literature: authorial (im)posture and the ‘death of the critic’; ‘felicitous borrowings’; the demise of editing and the school book race and writers in Kiswahili; and Western midwives and disconnected readers.

中文翻译：

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斯瓦希里语文学处于危机中

自1990年代以来出版的大量斯瓦希里语散文作品以及对其分析的兴趣日益浓厚，淡化了使斯瓦希里语文学易受攻击的某些弊端。与这些文本通常的庆祝活动相反，本文介绍了硬币的另一面，这暗示着斯瓦希里语文学中的潜在危机。文章从奥比·瓦利（Obi Wali）呼吁非洲文学以非洲语言编写开始，然后才将其范围缩小为斯瓦希里语文学。文章显示，尽管斯瓦希里语的作家在1970年代至1990年代之间对Wali的呼吁进行了定性和定量的回应，但人们仍需要批判性地评估1990年代末以来，特别是2000年代初以来出版的作品。需要重新考虑Matundura提出的问题：“斯瓦希里文学有什么问题？” 本文探讨了斯瓦希里语文学面临的以下挑战：作者（im）姿势和“批评家之死”；“精美借贷”；斯瓦希里语中编辑的灭亡，教科书竞赛和作家的消亡；西方的助​​产士和与世隔绝的读者。