Es'kia Mphahlele

Ezekiel Mphahlele (* December 17 1919 in Marabastad, Pretoria, South Africa, † 27 October, 2008 Lebowakgomo; 1977 Es'kia Mphahlele ) was a South African author and literary critic.

Biography

Mphahlele grew up near the former Pietersburg (now Polokwane ) in Maupaneng on. At 13, he moved with his siblings to his grandmother in the impoverished slums of his native city of Pretoria. He worked there in the Laundromat of his grandmother and attended school. Training as a teacher secured him a job as a secretary in a school for the blind. He then received his B. A. and his M. A. in English Literature at the University of South Africa. From this time he began to publish and published several short stories in various African magazines, such as drum and New Age. In 1945 he married Rebecca Mochadibane. His first short story collection Man Must Live was released in 1946.

With his publications, he attacked the apartheid regime in general and the Bantu Education Act to specifically and so the teaching authorization was withdrawn in 1951. He began working as a literary editor at Drum. In 1955, he joined the African National Congress and left South Africa in 1957 in the direction of Lagos, Nigeria, where he worked for the Church Mission Society.

From then on, he spent 20 years in exile and taught in various countries such as Kenya and Zambia. In the United States, he obtained at the University of Denver in 1968, the doctorate and taught from 1974 at the University of Pennsylvania.

During the long years of his exile, he published several short stories and his autobiography Down Second Avenue. His first novel, The Wanderers appeared in 1971. He also published the two critical books, The African Image (1962) and Voices in the Whirlwind (1972 ), which were assessed positively by the experts.

In 1977 he returned to South Africa and taught at the University of Witwatersrand, one of the leading universities in his home country. He was the first black professor at this university, where he founded an institute for African literature. In his return, he changed his first name to Es'kia. 1980 and 1984 published two more novels, Chirundu and Father Come Home, the second part of his autobiography was published in 1984 under the title Africa My Music.

In 2002 he founded the Es'kia Institute, which is committed to the collection and the continued existence of African culture.

Importance

Mphahlele was referred to as " Nelson Mandela " of African literature and as the founder of modern South African literature. His autobiographical novels give an insight into the situation of blacks during the apartheid regime.

Bibliography (selection)

English-language publications

Autobiographies

• Down Second Avenue (1959 )
• Africa My Music (1984 )

Novels

• The Wanderers (1969 )
• Chirundu (1979 )
• Father Come Home (1984 )

German translations

• Pretoria, Second Avenue. Aufbau-Verlag, Berlin 1961
• Chirundu. Peter Hammer Verlag, Wuppertal 1984