Es'kia Mphahlele : themes of alienation and African humanism / Ruth Obee.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Obee, Ruth, 1941-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Mphahlele, Es'kia, 1919-2008--Criticism and interpretation.

Mphahlele, Es'kia.

Mphahlele, Es'kia, 1919-2008.

Criticism and interpretation.

Literature and society--South Africa--History--20th century.

Literature and society.

Alienation (Social psychology) in literature.

History.

South Africa--In literature.

South Africa.

Humanism in literature.

Physical Description:

xv, 243 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Athens, Ohio : Ohio University Press, [1999]

Summary:

Es'kia Mphahlele's life is well documented in Down Second Avenue, his autobiography about growing up in a black township in South Africa under apartheid, and in his memoir Afrika My Music. In 1952 he was banned from teaching in government schools because of his political activism but he continued his writing and teaching career in exile in other African nations and in Europe and the United States. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in literature and received the Ordre des Palmes from the French government in 1984 for his contribution to French language and culture. He has honorary degrees from Rhodes University, the University of Natal, the University of Pennsylvania, and, most recently, from the University of Colorado at Boulder (1994).

Mphahlele's most gratifying reward, however, was to witness the transfer of South Africa's leadership into the hands of Nelson Mandela in May of 1994. Except for his academic sorties, Mphahlele has been a permanent resident of his homeland since 1977, when he returned to an appointment in the department of African Literature at the University of the Witswatersrand. He became head of the department in 1983.

Obee's fine study assesses Mphahlele's concept of African humanism as a key influence on Black Consciousness thought and as a philosophical basis for a landmark body of South African criticism.

Contents:

Chronology xiii

1. Mphahlele and His Context 1

2. Man Must Live From Social Darwinism to African Humanism

A Divided Voice 23

3. Formulating a National Consciousness: From Slaves and Noble Savages to Township Tsotsis and ANC Heroes 38

4. The African Image Making the Label Stick 61

5. Down Second Avenue The Autobiography of an African Humanist 78

6. "Mrs Plum" The Authoritarian Personality and Black Consciousness 121

7. Back from the Wilderness Afrika My Music 155

8. Colonials in Black Skins Chirundu 172

9. The Unbroken Song Stories and Poems 183

10. Father Come Home 202.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [229]-238) and index.

ISBN:

0821412485

0821412493

OCLC:

39013821