The literary oeuvre of KPD Maphalla: a thematic analysis

Abstract

KPD Maphalla won several accolades for his literary achievements and was prolific in all literary genres, but his forté was poetry. This article investigates the prominent themes of his thirteen novels by employing biographical literary criticism as the theoretical framework, which connects the content of texts, or parts thereof, to the author’s life. The article concludes that biographical literary criticism enhances one’s understanding of a literary text and functions as a useful literary tool in the examination of Maphalla’s fictional texts.