SOURCE: A review of Chirundu, in African Affairs, Vol. 80, No. 319, April, 1981, pp. 292-94.

In the following excerpt, Kaye complains that Mphahlele had too many purposes in mind in Chirundu. She states, “The shifting tone which results from these many purposes is at times perplexing and detracts from the overall impact.”

In Chirundu, first published in 1969 in Johannesburg, Mphalele as a South African outsider has also attempted a satire on an independent African state, Malawi. The basic plot is of the down-fall of a government minister, Chirundu, because of bigamy charges brought by his first wife under a law which makes a second marriage illegal where both are performed under civil statutes laid down by the colonialists although polygamy remains legal where only the traditional African rites are observed. This plot has therefore something of a symbolic significance as Chirundu attempts to reconcile his traditional instincts, his desire for...