Novel
Afrika Ba'a
Not translated into English
Rémy Gilbert Medou Mvomo · 1969
Synopsis
In Afrika Ba'a, a Beti village short of food where animals ravage the fields, Kambara, who studied up to the second year of secondary school, sees no way out of his family's poverty. He also needs the means to pay the bride price demanded by his fiancée's family, and the monotony of the village weighs on him: he leaves for the city, where he finds Esther's hospitality, the beer she serves him, and a series of misadventures.
Context
The narrative was published in Yaoundé in 1969 by éditions CLE, in 184 pages. Written in the time of independence, it shows an Africa divided between the town and the village. Hilaire Atiogo, of the University of Dschang, reads in it in 2022 a post-independence Beti society where poverty pushes people towards the town, and where work, clan solidarity and shared life, the common field, meals taken together, form the values the book sets against the exodus; he also notes its hybrid mentalities, mixed with habits from the town.
Who it is for
In French, a short narrative. It is worth knowing that the dowry is owed there by the fiancé to the girl's family.
Prizes and reception
No prize found. A 2008 AllAfrica article presents it among the readings of the third and fourth technical years.