The ways of "Dar Es Salam": Foregrounding and backgrounding in M. G. Vassanji e Hermann Schulz

Abstract

In daily life, street names primarily serve as navigational aids within urban environments. When examining their significance, they can either be descriptive or grouped thematically. Of particular interest in onomastic studies are commemorative street names, which, in essence, aim to evoke people, places, or events deemed significant to society. Beyond their semiotics, hodonyms can also feature prominently in literary works, either serving as a mere backdrop for the plot’s location or actively shaping it. This is exemplified in two novels: The Night of Dar es Salaam (2014) by German author Hermann Schulz and The Book of Secrets (1994) by Indian-Tanzanian-Canadian author M. G. Vassanji. Both novels are set in colonial Dar es Salaam, and a comparative analysis reveals distinct uses of street names. In Schulz’s novel, street names reinforce the protagonist’s sense of disorientation, elevating the stops along the way as narrative focal points. These stops serve to create a narrative space for the central events. Conversely, in Vassanji’s novel, street names establish a specific living environment where characters, firmly rooted in Dar es Salaam’s historical and socio-cultural reality, navigate their lives