{"title":"A ‘School' Person in a ‘Red' Blanket: The Case of SEK Mqhayi","authors":"M. Chapman","doi":"10.1080/1013929X.2021.1901411","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"The article considers the scope and purpose of the project, “Translating (South) African Literatures”, in relation to the early twentieth-century Xhosa writer, SEK Mqhayi, two of whose works have been translated into English in the project. Turning to the several prompts to reflection offered by the project, I evaluate Mqhayi's contribution to an ‘expanded' South African literary history. As does the project, my argument requires a return to the archive, in this case of Mqhayi's dual commitment to both Xhosa custom (‘Red') and colonial-Christian modernisation (‘School'). A brief comparison of Mqhayi's plain voice of ethical justice and, in the mid-1920s, the experimental modernism of his contemporary, William Plomer, raises the issue of an appropriate aesthetic in an expanded literary history, while I conclude with a key consideration in any translation project: the need for a ‘usable’ theory and practice of translation.","PeriodicalId":52015,"journal":{"name":"Current Writing-Text and Reception in Southern Africa","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.1000,"publicationDate":"2021-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/1013929X.2021.1901411","citationCount":"1","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Current Writing-Text and Reception in Southern Africa","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1080/1013929X.2021.1901411","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"0","JCRName":"LITERATURE","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 1
Abstract
The article considers the scope and purpose of the project, “Translating (South) African Literatures”, in relation to the early twentieth-century Xhosa writer, SEK Mqhayi, two of whose works have been translated into English in the project. Turning to the several prompts to reflection offered by the project, I evaluate Mqhayi's contribution to an ‘expanded' South African literary history. As does the project, my argument requires a return to the archive, in this case of Mqhayi's dual commitment to both Xhosa custom (‘Red') and colonial-Christian modernisation (‘School'). A brief comparison of Mqhayi's plain voice of ethical justice and, in the mid-1920s, the experimental modernism of his contemporary, William Plomer, raises the issue of an appropriate aesthetic in an expanded literary history, while I conclude with a key consideration in any translation project: the need for a ‘usable’ theory and practice of translation.
期刊介绍:
Current Writing: Text and Reception in Southern Africa is published bi-annually by Routledge. Current Writing focuses on recent writing and re-publication of texts on southern African and (from a ''southern'' perspective) commonwealth and/or postcolonial literature and literary-culture. Works of the past and near-past must be assessed and evaluated through the lens of current reception. Submissions are double-blind peer-reviewed by at least two referees of international stature in the field. The journal is accredited with the South African Department of Higher Education and Training.