French Literature Reviews - 2026

C. E. Owono Zambo, Language of Writing, Language of Resistance. Mongo Beti and the Novels of Return
Francophone and Oral Literatures

Claude Eric OWONO ZAMBO

Language of Writing, Language of Resistance. Mongo Beti and the Novels of Return.

Foreword by Professor Helge Vidar HOLM (University of Bergen, Norway)

Afterword by Professor Joseph OZELE OWONO (ENS-University of Yaoundé I, Cameroon)

Publication date: 07/01/2014.

Publisher: Edilivre, 2014, 366 p.

ISBN: 9782332670168.

Price: 23.28 €

Publisher's overview:

Francophone African literature showcases a hybrid writing style characterized by a clash of norms. The French used by certain authors such as Sony Labou Tansi, Kourouma, or Ouologuem blends elements from within (endogenous norms) and from without (exogenous norms) to form a neo-norm known as interlanguage. In this book, moving beyond the political dimension, the sociolinguistic and cultural perspectives of Mongo Beti's "novels of return" in Cameroon help decode the nature of hybridity, the interlinguistic phenomenon, and the symbolism it imposes on the novelist's new form of commitment.

Table of contents:

Part One: The Context of Militant Writing

Part Two: Mongo Beti's Scriptural and Novelistic Components

Part Three: Editorial Policy and the Framework of Writing in Francophone Africa

Part Four: Particularities of Mongo Beti's Language of Writing

Part Five: Mongo Beti: Mere Pseudonym or Concept?

Holder of the Agrégation in Modern Literature, Claude Eric Owono Zambo holds a PhD in Language Sciences and Francophone African Literature from the University of Bergen (Norway). His research interests include discourse analysis, intercultural identities, discursive dialogism, exile, sociolinguistics, and polemical discourse.

The phenomenon of linguistic hybridity in Francophone African literature often involves the blending of endogenous and exogenous norms to create what is termed an interlanguage. Writers working across postcolonial contexts frequently navigate multiple linguistic traditions, reflecting complex cultural realities through distinct stylistic choices.

Readers interested in sociolinguistic approaches to Francophone African prose and the works of Mongo Beti may find this study relevant. The book explores the author's scriptural components, editorial contexts, and the particularities of his writing style, looking beyond purely political readings to consider the cultural symbolism inherent in his commitment.