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.

文章考虑了“翻译（南）非洲文学”项目的范围和目的，该项目与 20 世纪早期的科萨作家 SEK Mqhayi 相关，其中两部作品已在该项目中被翻译成英文。谈到该项目提供的几个反思提示，我评估了 Mqhayi 对“扩展”南非文学史的贡献。与该项目一样，我的论点需要回归档案，在这种情况下，Mqhayi 对科萨习俗（“红色”）和殖民基督教现代化（“学校”）的双重承诺。对 Mqhayi 平淡的伦理正义声音与 1920 年代中期与他同时代人威廉·普洛默 (William Plomer) 的实验性现代主义的简要比较，提出了扩展文学史中适当美学的问题，