Es’kia Mphahlele and the Literary Project of African Humanism

Abstract: This essay considers the South African writer Es’kia Mphahlele’s concept of African Humanism in relation to his large and varied literary output. I argue that rather than being an idea that Mphahlele simply expressed in his writing, African Humanism developed through his sustained reflection on the possibilities and constraints of different kinds of literary forms. I read Mphahlele’s early short fiction, his novels Chirundu (1979) and Father Come Home (1984), and his poetry to demonstrate that his thinking about humanism is interwoven with his literary practice. I suggest that Mphahlele’s contribution to discussions concerning the relations between indigenous practices and written literature should be given more weight than scholars have generally accorded it.