Mongo Beti facts for kids

Alexandre Biyidi Awala (born June 30, 1932 – died October 8, 2001), known as Mongo Beti or Eza Boto, was a famous writer from Cameroon.

Mongo Beti spent a lot of his life in France. He studied at the important Sorbonne university. Later, he became a professor at Lycée Pierre Corneille, a high school.

Life Story

Even though he lived away from his home country for many years, Mongo Beti always cared deeply about improving Cameroon. One person who wrote about him after he died said: "This writer, who was also a reporter and novelist, always had one main goal: to help African people gain their respect and pride."

Early Years

Alexandre was born in 1932 in a small village called Akométan. This village was near Mbalmayo, which is close to Yaoundé, the capital city of Cameroon. His parents were Oscar Awala and Régine Alomo.

From a young age, Beti saw the desire for change spreading across Africa. This happened after World War II. His father passed away when Beti was seven. His mother and other family members raised him. Beti remembered talking with his mother about religion and how European countries ruled Africa. He also heard the ideas of Ruben Um Nyobe, a leader who wanted independence.

Beti shared these strong views in school. Because he spoke his mind, he was asked to leave the missionary school in Mbalmayo. In 1945, he started at the lycée Leclerc in Yaoundé. After finishing school in 1951, he moved to France. He continued his studies in literature, first in Aix-en-Provence, then at the Sorbonne in Paris.

First Writings and Living Away from Home

By the early 1950s, Beti started writing to share his protests and ideas. He wrote regularly for a magazine called Présence Africaine. One of his articles was a review of a book by Camara Laye. Beti felt that Laye's book showed a false picture of Africa. He thought it ignored the unfairness of colonial rule.

Beti's first story was "Sans haine et sans amour" ("Without hatred or love"). It was published in 1953 in the magazine Présence Africaine. His first novel, Ville cruelle ("Cruel City"), came out in 1954. He used the pen name "Eza Boto" for this book.

However, he became widely known in 1956. His novel Le pauvre Christ de Bomba ("The poor Christ of Bomba") caused a stir. It made fun of missionaries and colonial life in a sharp way. Religious leaders and colonial rulers in Cameroon banned the book. After this, he published Mission terminée in 1957. This book won an award called the Prix Sainte Beuve in 1958. He also published Le Roi miraculé in 1958. During this time, he also worked as a reporter for another magazine, Preuves.

In 1959, he became a certified professor. He taught at the Lycée Pierre Corneille in Rouen from 1966 until 1994. After Ruben Um Nyobe was killed in 1958, Beti stopped writing for over ten years. He stayed living away from his home country. His wife, Odile Tobner, said that living in exile was hard for Beti. He was always worried about his country.

Later Work

In 1972, he started writing again in a big way. His book Main basse sur le Cameroun ("Cruel hand on Cameroon") was stopped from being published in France. This happened because the government of Cameroon asked for it. The book was a critical history of Cameroon. It said that Cameroon and other former colonies were still controlled by France. It also said that leaders in Africa helped this control continue. Beti was inspired to write this book after Ernest Ouandie was executed by the Cameroon government.

In 1974, he published Perpétue and Remember Ruben. The latter was the first of three books about the life of Ruben Um Nyobe. After a long legal fight, Mongo Beti and his publisher finally got the ban on Main basse lifted in 1976.

Beti started writing critical and political essays again, along with his novels. In 1978, he and his wife, Odile Tobner, started a magazine called Peuples Noirs. Peuples africains (Black People. African People). This magazine was published until 1991. It reported on and spoke out against the problems in Africa caused by new forms of colonial rule. During this time, he published more novels. He also wrote Lettre ouverte aux Camerounais (1984) and Dictionnaire de la négritude (1989, with Odile Tobner). Beti felt that governments after independence had not brought true freedom to Africa. So, his later works showed even stronger views.

While living away, he stayed very involved in the struggles in Cameroon. In the 1970s and 1980s, knowing Beti or his books could cause trouble for people in Cameroon. Many times, Beti used his connections in France to help young readers who were in danger. For example, Ambroise Kom was arrested just for subscribing to Beti's magazine. Beti's actions in France helped save him.

Final Years

In 1991, Beti went back to Cameroon. He had been away for 32 years. In 1993, he published La France contre l'Afrique, retour au Cameroun. This book tells about his visits to his home country. After he stopped teaching in 1994, he moved back to Cameroon for good.

He tried to start some businesses in his home area, but they did not work out. Eventually, he opened a bookstore in Yaoundé called Librairie des Peuples noirs (Bookstore of the Black Peoples). He also organized farming activities in his village. The bookstore aimed to encourage reading and thinking in the capital city. It also provided a place for books with critical ideas.

During this time, Beti also supported John Fru Ndi, a leader who was against the government. Beti created groups to protect citizens. He also wrote many articles protesting against things he saw as wrong. The government tried to stop his activities. When he first returned to Cameroon, police stopped him from speaking at a planned meeting. Instead, Beti spoke to a crowd outside the locked room. In January 1996, police attacked him in the streets of Yaoundé. He was also challenged at a protest in October 1997. In response, he published more novels.

He was taken to the hospital in Yaoundé on October 1, 2001. He had serious liver and kidney problems. He could not get the treatment he needed. He was moved to a hospital in Douala on October 6, and he died there on October 8, 2001. Some people noted that his death was similar to a character in one of his books. That character also died waiting for treatment in a hospital that was too busy.

His Writings

From his first book to his last, Beti's writings followed two main ideas. For his writing style, he aimed to be realistic. He believed that if a story was realistic, it had a good chance of being strong and meaningful. He felt that realistic writing truly showed the "human" side of things.

For his themes, Beti's work always focused on fighting against colonialism. This included both the obvious control by other countries and the hidden ways they still influenced Africa. Even when he strongly criticized Cameroon's own government, Beti always wanted to make Africa stronger and more successful on its own.

"Sans haine et sans amour" (1953) was a short story. It was Beti's first important piece of writing.

Ville cruelle

Ville cruelle (1954) was like many first novels by African writers. It featured a young main character who felt stuck between European and African ways of life. The main character, Banda, tries to marry the woman he loves. He manages to do so through many lucky events. This novel is not read much today. Beti used the pen name Eza Boto for it. He later did not want to be linked to this work. Still, some people, like David Diop, praised the novel. They liked how it clearly showed the harm caused by colonialism.

Le pauvre Christ de Bomba

Le pauvre Christ de Bomba, published in 1956, was Beti's first big success. It is written like the diary of a young assistant to a priest. The story is about a missionary in the 1930s. The priest slowly realizes that trying to convert Africans is pointless. He concludes that they already worshipped God in their own way. In this novel, Beti uses the assistant's simple thoughts to make fun of the situation. The assistant's reflections show "the greed, the foolishness, and the sad misunderstandings of a whole time in Africa's history."

Mission terminée

Mission terminée, from 1957, is a funny novel. It describes a young Cameroonian man with a Western education visiting a village far away. The main character, Jean-Marie Medza, has just failed his important school exam. He expects to be shamed when he returns home. Instead, he is given a task: to travel to Kala, a distant village, to bring back a young woman. She had run away from her husband, who was mean to her. In Kala, Medza becomes friends with other young people his age. The rest of the novel shows many silly adventures. These adventures help Medza understand his own culture and himself better. The English version of the book is called Mission to Kala.

The novel was well-liked and won the Prix Sainte-Beuve award in 1958. Wole Soyinka praised its realism. He said that making things too perfect in literature is wrong. The novel also received some different opinions. Chinua Achebe criticized Beti for making the time before colonialism seem too perfect. On the other hand, Donatus Nwoga criticized Beti for being too "cynical" about the same topic.

Le roi miraculé: chronique des Essazam

Le roi miraculé: chronique des Essazam (1958) describes how a made-up African town changes. These changes are caused by capitalism (money-making), Christianity, and colonialism. The hero of this book, Le Guen, was a small character in The Poor Christ of Bomba. This novel takes place shortly after World War II. Le Guen seems to come back to life in a miraculous way. He uses this to convince the local Chief of Essazam to become Christian. The Chief does so with great enthusiasm. But he sends away his many wives, which causes a lot of confusion. Each wife tries to be his one "true" wife. This confusion worries both the Church and the colonial government. In the end, Le Guen is moved away, and Essazam goes back to its old ways.

Main basse sur le Cameroun and Les procès du Cameroun

Main basse sur le Cameroun and Les procès du Cameroun both came out in 1972. These long essays showed Beti's return to public writing. He was unhappy with the governments in Cameroon after independence. This unhappiness grew after UPC activist Ernest Ouandie and Bishop Albert Ndongmo were arrested and executed. They were accused of planning to overthrow the government. These books strongly spoke out against neocolonialism (new forms of colonial control). They were banned in Cameroon and France until Beti won a legal case in 1976. Beti later updated and re-released them in the early 1980s.

Perpétue et l'habitude du malheur

Perpétue et l'habitude du malheur, published in 1974, was Beti's first novel since The Miraculous King. It is sometimes seen as part of a group of three books, but it is quite different in its ideas and how it is written. The novel is about a man named Essola who investigates how his sister died. He finds that his greedy parents forced her into a marriage she did not want. Her husband treated her badly, which led to a series of events that caused her death. The novel shows the real conditions in the country after colonialism. It is also a symbol: Perpetua represents the nation. Her bad marriage symbolizes the incomplete freedom of the country.

• Peuples noirs, peuples africains, 1978 – 1991.
• Les langues africaines et le néo-colonialisme en Afrique francophone, 1982.
• Les deux mères de Guillaume Ismaël Dzewatama, futur camionneur, 1983.
• La revanche de Guillaume Ismaël Dzewatama, 1984.
• Lettre ouverte aux Camerounais, or, La deuxième mort de Ruben Um Nyobé, 1986.

Dictionnaire de la négritude This book came out in 1989. Beti worked on it with Odile Tobner and others from the magazine Peuples noirs – Peuples africains. In this book, Beti wanted to explain and largely disagree with the idea of négritude. His goal was to move this idea from being about race to being about history. He believed that in this new way, négritude could help understand African experiences. It could also help understand how colonialism shaped those experiences. The book includes entries about Africans both in Africa and around the world.

La France contre l'Afrique: retour au Cameroun This book, from 1993, is a work of journalism. It tells about Beti's return to Cameroon in 1991. He writes about his own experiences, like long-awaited family reunions and being bothered by the police. He also shares his thoughts on how more than two decades of independence and strict rule had affected his country and its people.

• L'histoire du fou, 1994.
• Trop de soleil tue l'amour, 1999.
• Branle-bas en noir et blanc, 2000.

See also

In Spanish: Mongo Beti para niños