In this very riveting and well-researched essay, Julius Fondong ruminates on the continued relevance of the promises and principles that underpinned the creation of the post-colonial Cameroon nation-state, sixty years after unification in 1961.
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Under the misguided leadership of Chief Kamona, the people of Mballa village voraciously destroy their forests for fuelwood and money. However, most of the revenue goes to Kamona and his family. When the national government dispatches Functionary, a forestry agent, to caution them against the illegal and wanton destruction of their forests, Kamona and his people chase him away from their community.
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Paradise of Love and Pain is an excellent first novel that explores the extent to which sexual promiscuity and marital infidelity disrupt the life of Cameroonian families bringing untold suffering to children and parents alike. The main plot of the novel hinges on the actions of a wealthy and free-spirited woman who poisons her husband, Mr. Peng, to indulge her sexual appetite with her selfish and arrogant boyfriend, Tom. The plot is further complicated by Lydia’s affair with her young Pastor which results in the birth of a son, whom Tom thought was his.
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The foremost English critic, Matthew Arnold, once observed that “poetry is, at bottom, a criticism of life; that the greatness of a poet lies in his (her) powerful and beautiful application of ideas to life; to the question: How do we live?” Arnold here simply meant that poetry should be relevant to the lives of people and shouldn’t be far-fetched as to have no direct contact with humankind. This observation aptly applies to Beatrice Fri Bime’s Shades of Sorrow, Tears and Laughter; a poetic tapestry of 66 pieces of varying length rendered in 12 shades of unequal length. Here, Fri Bime’s appealing lyricism, her uniquely simple but witty voice, invites an engagement with issues that pertain to life; to all of life, in her immediate vicinity and beyond.
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