Their Champagne Party Will End! Poems in Honor of Bate Besong : Poems in Honor of Bate Besong

Education of the Deprived is a perceptive socio-artistic examination of the key works of some major writers of Anglophone Cameroon literary drama today. For over two decades now socio-political developments in Cameroon, including the liberalization of the press, have led to an unprecedented proliferation of political, journalistic and imaginative writings. Availing themselves of their new-found freedom of expression, Cameroonians in general are forcefully articulating their views more than even before, and creative writers, in particular, are artistically recording intimate and painful experiences in the on-going endeavour to make sense of the socio-political environment; they are mapping out, through images and symbols, the peculiar contour of the collective Cameroonian soul. What observers have noticed, with regard to Anglophone Cameroon imaginative writing, however, is that there are few significant critical works to match the burgeoning creative literature. While in the 1970s there was a cry concerning the scarcity of imaginative works by Anglophone Cameroonians, the complaint now, at the turn of the 21st century, is that there is a dearth of critical literature capable of catapulting, on to the international literary scene, the Anglophone Cameroon literature being written. This book covers both traditional and modern drama as written by Anglophones, lays bare the technical differences between the two dramatic traditions, and brings out the central themes developed by these committed dramatists. Bate Besong was Cameroon's most vocal and controversial poet, playwright and scholar, who died in March 2007. The poems in this collection are a tribute to the man and his work, and provide a snapshot of the mood that prevailed after his death. Bate Besong ushered in a new kind of nationalist "fighting" literature in Cameroon, unapologetic in its defense of Cameroon's Anglophone minority and scathing in its denunciation of postcolonial African dictators and their foreign collaborators. These poems defy Bate Besong's death by affirming that his impact as a writer lives on. 34 poems are included from 30 poets. "Moving and tellingly generous, these tributes attest to the value of Bate Besong as humanist, artist, and patriot; the 'Inextinguishable Flame' of his inspiration; the triumph of his life over the pain of his departure. Here is a resonant celebration not only of the brief but boisterously bright fire of one of our bravest writers, but also of the unbreakable chord of our common humanity. The refrains in these elegies are anthems of hope. The ink in their lines will for ever stay aglow." Niyi Osundare, Nigerian writer & former teacher of Bate Besong "These poems put into perspective the essence of that Anglophone Cameroon literary icon, the fearless "Obasinjom Warrior" with the bemused smile, who once upon a time, was called Bate Besong." Ba'bila Mutia, Professor of Literature, ENS, University of Yaounde 1, Cameroon. Author of Coils of Mortal Flesh