MR. MALULEKE & CO., BY EDUARDO MONDLANE, AND THE ALCOHOL CONTROVERSY

Abstract

The aim of this article is to analyse the structure of the play, Mr. Maluleke & Co. (commanding officer) by Eduardo Mondlane related to the historical circumstances. That is why, our starting point is the assumption that a play of an act, was the means through which the protesting writer expressed his opinion about the controversy raised over alcohol, is better understood when interpreted by the dialectic criticism, given that its appreciation brings together literary, historical and social features. Using the dialectical critical method, we conclude that by the reformulation, transformation and combination of two traditions, a Changana oral and a Protestant written, we have a theater play with the structure of ascending actions. Mr. Maluleke & Co., by Eduardo Mondlane, was intended to defend Protestant ideas against alcohol consumption, taking a stand in the controversies surrounding the issue of alcohol in colonial societies in southern Africa.