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Down Second Avenue
Down Second Avenue | Es'kia Mphahlele
6 posts | 5 read | 11 to read
Es kia Mphahlele s seminal memoir of life in apartheid South Africa available for the first time in Penguin Classics Nominated for the Nobel Prize in 1969, Es kia Mphahlele is considered the Dean of African Letters and the father of black South African writing. Down Second Avenue is a landmark book that describes Mphahlele s experience growing up in segregated South Africa. Vivid, graceful, and unapologetic, it details a daily life of severe poverty and brutal police surveillance under the subjugation of an apartheid regime. Banned in South Africa after its original 1959 publication for its protest against apartheid, Down Second Avenue is a foundational work of literature that continues to inspire activists today. For more than sixty-five years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,500titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust theseries to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-datetranslations by award-winning translators."
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laurenduke300
Down Second Avenue | Es'kia Mphahlele
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It‘s amazing how books can make you feel so connected to a person of a different ethnicity, from a different time and place. We really do have more in common than we know.

review
ErinSBecker
Down Second Avenue | Es'kia Mphahlele
Pickpick

I finished this during the #readathon but forgot to post a review. This autobiography from South Africa was really interesting, especially the last part of the book which was about his adult life (up to about 35?). He continued to write, and published a second autobiography of his later years, which I'm excited to read. My favorite part was his discussion of the education system under apartheid and his political activity against that system.

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ErinSBecker
Down Second Avenue | Es'kia Mphahlele

My #readathon plans are to finish Down Second Avenue (South African autobiography), Let The Dead Lie (South African murder mystery), and The Division Bell Mystery (1920s British parliamentary mystery). I'm about half way through each going into the readathon.

review
1001BooksPodcast
Down Second Avenue | Es'kia Mphahlele
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Pickpick

Down Second Avenue was a thought provoking memoir about the rise of the apartheid regime in South Africa and the hard choices that immigrants have to make every day. #1001books #soundcloud #applepodcasts #googleplay

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shawnmooney
Down Second Avenue | Es'kia Mphahlele
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TOKYO USED BOOKSTORE HAUL - BOOK 6 OF 15

Mphahlele is South African writer that I never quite got around to reading despite having several of his books on my shelves for a time. I was even going to do a PhD thesis on South African writers in exile, with him as one of the central foci. This is his autobiography. Maybe now it's finally time!

saresmoore Yes, write that thesis! Oh, wait, you mean time to read one of his books. That does sound infinitely more enjoyable. 7y
batsy Great find! 7y
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