Es’kia Mphahlele

 Es’kia Mphahlele 

African Writing in English

South African writer, best known for his autobiography Down Second Avenue (1959), which portrays his early life as a black South African. The characters in Mphahlele's fictional works are drawn with vivid realism and are portrayed not as victims but as survivors who overcome the harshness of their lives.Mphahlele's first book, Man Must Live (1947), is a collection of short stories about black life in South Africa. Down Second Avenue, his second and perhaps most famous work, achieved great critical and popular success and is considered a classic of South African literature. The Wanderers (1971) is an autobiographical novel dealing with themes of exile. His novel Chirundu (1979) focuses on the conflicts felt by a fictional African politician. Afrika My Music (1984) is another autobiographical work, describing Mphahlele's exile and return to South Africa. His novel Father Come Home (1984) is concerned with the suffering caused by the Natives Land Act of 1913, which restricted blacks from residing in certain areas in South Africa. Mphahlele's other books include the critical works The African Image (1962) and Voices in the Whirlwind, and Other Essays (1972). A collection of his letters, Bury Me at the Marketplace, was published in 1984.