US Ambassador hosts Café Littéraire to Discusses Writer’s “Quest for Freedom and Social Justice”

Originally posted on the US Embassy website

To commemorate Martin Luther King’s struggle for freedom and justice not only for African-Americans but also for the underprivileged worldwide, the Public Affairs Section organized a literary evening on January 19 at the Ambassador’s Residence to study “The Quest for Freedom and Social Justice in the Literary Work of Bate Besong.”

Born in 1954, Bate Besong was an Anglophone Cameroonian writer who published numerous plays, collections of poems, and essays before his tragic death in a 2007 car accident.  Participants included university lecturers, literary critics, writers, research students in literature, publishers, journalists, staff members from two foreign cultural centers in Yaounde, as well as the Ambassador and Embassy staff.

The presenter for the debate, Prof. Bole Butake, himself a seasoned playwright, stage director, lecturer at the University of Yaounde, and the deputy-dean of the Faculty of Letters, portrayed Bate Besong as a shy and quiet person who tended to live a hermetic and austere life; a very bright, sensitive and passionate person, with a deep-seated aversion to injustice.  Bate Besong, as he said, was absolutely intolerant of those he thought had done evil to his fellow countrymen and regarded them as his enemies.  This reflects in his works, where it often is linked closely with political issues and the marginalization of Cameroon’s Anglophone population

The debate that followed Prof. Bole Butake’s presentation explored the various facets of Bate Besong’s works, including content, style, and literary processes, and debated its present and possible future impact on the collective consciousness.  Some participants related his passion for freedom and justice to that of Martin Luther King.  Books by Bate Besong and Prof. Bole Butake were displayed at the Residence and the participants received information packages that provided additional information about Martin Luther King, Bate Besong, and the services provided by the IRC.  As they left, participants expressed gratitude for the opportunity to discuss literature in an open environment and asked the Ambassador continue the “Café Litteraire” program.