Mphahlele, Es’kia (1919-2008), a South African writer, became best known for his autobiography Down Second Avenue (1959). This account of his early life of poverty under racial oppression became a classic of South African literature.
Mphahlele’s autobiographical novel The Wanderers (1971) explores the theme of exile. Another novel, Chirundu (1979), portrays the tensions in the life of a fictitious African politician. Mphahlele’s major work of criticism is The African Image (1962), a study of African literature. Voices in the Whirlwind (1972) is a collection of essays. He wrote many short stories, a number reflecting political protest. They were collected in Man Must Live (1947), The Living and the Dead (1961), and In Corner B (1967). Mphahlele also wrote Let’s Talk Writing: Prose (1985) and Let’s Talk Writing: Poetry (1986). A collection of his letters, Bury Me at the Marketplace, was published in 1984.
Ezekiel Mphahlele was born on Dec. 17, 1919, in Marabastad Township, Pretoria, Transvaal province (now Gauteng province). He trained as a teacher but was banned from schools in the early 1960’s because of his opposition to apartheid, the government’s policy of racial segregation (see Apartheid).
Mphahlele was awarded a master’s degree from the University of South Africa in 1956. Shortly afterward, he went into exile for 20 years, traveling from Nigeria to the United States. On his return to South Africa in 1977, he changed his name to Es’kia. In 1978, he became head of the department of African literature at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg. Mphahlele helped establish the first independent black publishing house in South Africa. He also edited and contributed to anthologies of modern African writing. Mphahlele died on Oct. 27, 2008.
