Reviews for Es'kia Mphahlele: Themes of Alientation and African Humanism

The average rating for Es'kia Mphahlele: Themes of Alientation and African Humanism based on 2 reviews is 3 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2016-09-18 00:00:00 Walter Matthews I think that Mortimer's introductory essay is really insightful and valuable to the project of understanding Maghrebian literature. The same cannot be said for the other essays included in this. Some of them were poorly researched, offering only broad, sweeping generalizations about the authors and novels explored. I was most disappointed, however, by the number of essays offering only a Euro-centric viewpoint of these novels, most without reflection on the problematics of this approach. For example, one article explores the Tunisian author Hélé Béji as using a Proustian model in her work. While it seems from the essay this is something that Béji affirms herself, it is nonetheless worthwhile to demand how we can move beyond the Proustian model to a Tunisian-feminine exploration of identity and memory. Another essay discusses how authors describe a postmodern Tunis using a sociologist's understanding of postmodernism. It seems to me extremely problematic to take this approach when taking about fictional literature; and, while I think it could be done or qualified in a legitimate way, the issue of this approach is never touched upon. Some of the essays might be better; I focused mainly on a few and didn't have a chance to read the section on Beur literature, but overall this was a disappointing and highly problematic collection of essays.

Review # 2 was written on 2011-09-08 00:00:00 Joe Arnold A controversial work...it is difficult to accept that this great distinguished author (camara Laye) might not really have written a classic like The radiance of the King; then how is it that the African ambience is so convincingly enacted in the work despite the kafkaesque background? Adele King as usual does her research very well - but one is still left with lingering feeling of disbelief; even anguish...