By Tame Valentine
INTRODUCTION
Indelible Footprints, edited by Francis Ekongang Nzante is a memorable
biography of Emeritus Cornelius Fontem Esua, Archbishop Emeritus of Bamenda, a
story which focuses on the life and ministry of a man of God who rose from
humble beginnings to become one of the great builders of the Catholic Church in
his Anglophone part of Cameroon in particular and in Cameroon in general. It is
the delectable story of Emeritus Esua’s birth and roots, beginning from his Mbo
provenance of extensive ilk, with its redolence of the sweet-sour drama that
informs Cameroon’s identity, through his growth in different worlds bestriding the
vastly disparate cultures that education brought him into contact with, through
his uniquely exceptional stint in the Lord’s vineyard to these days of deserved
rest after full-fledged exemplary service.
THE
BIOGRAPHY/AUTOBIOGRAPHY AS NON-FICTIONAL ART
A biography is a form of non-fiction, specifically a written
account of one’s life and achievements authored by another person, while an
autobiography is that story written by the subject. Biographies and
autobiographies are generally accounts of the lives of great persons, persons
who have done things worth writing about, (but also in rare cases, they are accounts
of the lives of some exemplary “ordinary” folk). Indelible Footprints
happens to be a “first hand biography” about the life of the Archbishop by
someone who knows him personally and closely, whose account includes insights derived
from research and analysis of data found but also especially, from accounts related
by the Archbishop himself as subject of the biography, which lends the text an
aura of the autobiography and the recital a complex narrative “I-He” point
of view.
Indelible Footprints as non-fictional art is literature par excellence in
its own right, since both fiction and non-fiction constitute literary art.
While the writer who creatively distorts reality to come up with fictional art
does justice to literature, he who draws inspiration from simple but telling
events or from historic and exceptional incidents in the life of someone whose
example is seen as worthy of emulation, also writes literature. Yes,
biographies are narratives that aim at presenting as models the life-stories of
these heroes and heroines, stories that serve to inspire young, impressionable
ones in future eras but which also contribute greatly to the existing corpus of
works left.
This biography fits Emeritus Esua’s exemplary
pace-setting life story into its exemplary moral-functional mould. Here, we
recall Plato’s The Republic that tears to shreds amoral, non-functional art
and banishes its subjects from his ideal republic. By the token of that
analytical mould therefore, we realise that our Archbishop’s biography, which
constitutes functional art par excellence by virtue of its modelling propensity,
is literature in its own right. Its title, Indelible Footprints, tells the
reader to be ready to read a story whose influence will invariably span time
and space. Its selected, focalising biblical quotations that announce the different
sections are not given too much attention to turn the text into another
theological sermonising rostrum; they set the tone and leave the reader to
decide by the end of the section how focalising and/or complementary they were/are.
Therefore we can be assured that our presence here to launch this new literary
baby worth its place on any bookshelf the world over is justified.
POINT OF VIEW
The point of view in a biography is usually the
limited third person point of view – which, as Carroll Laverty et al ((1971)
explain, “is that of a persona (speaker) who does not use I but … tells the
story primarily as on or two main characters could know it. The persona
strictly limits himself to what those characters could have known, thought or
done” – a point of view which allows the writer more objectivity and
flexibility as well as a greater deal of concentration than the first person
narrative point of view. Indelible Footprints, which we have
described above as a first hand
biography with its accounts gleaned/gathered from others – the Archbishop
himself, his elder sister and many other acquaintances of his – give the reader
information from an alternating “He/I…”
perspective, with the benefits Laverty mentions above, and with an allowance
for the authorial voice – the voice of the speaker or persona – to always tie
the pieces of his narration together and so give it an air of conclusiveness, an
air of finality.
STRUCTURE
Indelible Footprints is neatly packaged into an artistic whole whose unity
of purpose derives from its clear-cut parts: a prologue, four parts of twenty
seven chapters and an epilogue, with the wonted introductory indicators –
acknowledgements and dedication.
Part One tells of his
tender and humble beginnings in Mbetta, of the early German and Missionary
activities there, of the effects of the Second World War on the sensibilities
of the precocious youth, of his life in Sasse College and of the stirrings of
his priestly vocation.
Part Two presents glimpses
of the life of the young seminarian in Bigard Memorial Seminary, Enugu-Nigeria
and in the Pontificio Collegio Urbano in Rome. It also presents glimpses of his
ordination in Mbetta with historic consequences for his people and his
community, hitherto an enclave and of the young priest’s inimitable ministry in
the vast, extensive Mamfe Parish comprising 56 Mission Stations; of his periods
of study in the Pontifical Biblical Institute and in the Hebrew University. It
as well gives the reader an idea of the remarkable impact of Cornelius Esua’s first
contact with the late literary luminary, Professor Bernard N Fonlon – even if
only but remarkably through the seminal “Open Letter to the Bishops of Buea and
Bamenda” spelling out the author’s opinion about the purpose of the Major
Seminary, the type of formation that should be given to prospective priests (with
its curriculum of studies) and the type of priests expected by the local church
after formation.
Part Three gives the reader a panoramic view of Bishop Esua’s life as a Bishop, of
the challenges (sometimes life threatening) that he faced undaunted and of his
relentless evangelisation, of his relationship with his brothers of the
Magisterium of Universal Mother Church, of the great inspirational impact of
his humility and of the huge legacy he forged for the local as well as for the
Universal Church.
Finally, Part
Four draws conclusions about his exemplary life as a Shepherd of the Lord
fold and of his indefatigability even in retirement.
THE FUNCTIONS OF
LITERARY ART
Students of literature at various levels know that art
that is timeless and universal
entertains/pleases, moves and teaches.
These placere, movere, docere fallouts
of sublime literature are also the props and footholds of Indelible Footprints.
Those who know our Archbishop as a humorous story teller will relish the
accounts of and anecdotes from the cordial life in his large family of siblings
and step-siblings, of his racy football games with his peers, of his travel via
the mammy wagons to get to the coast in his search for the golden fleece and of
his return via cargo boat on an idyllic sea, even his experiences as a young
priest and as Bishop/Archbishop – these are memorable stories. The reader will
equally enjoy the simple, modulated language, with its descriptive-expository-analytical
style. But most remarkably, the reader learns a lot from this life story of the
young boy from Mbetta who grew up and operated amidst and with all kinds of
hurdles, but who has indeed left indelible footprints on the fickle sands of
time.
Literature, we know is about man living in society,
and acting and interacting with fellow man. It is therefore about man in touch
with the realities of his community, about man the product of that community or
those communities which he comes into contact with. Indeed, the Archbishop in
this recital comes across as a real confluence of the historico-political turning points that inform the present
geo-political landscape of as well as the marginalised and embittered people in
Cameroon our Fatherland – nation whose gestation was marred from onset by
intrigue and subterfuge. Listen to the narrator:
Historically, before the Germans came to Cameroon, there was only one
big Mbo Tribe. However, after the Germans left …, the country was divided into
two. The Mbo Tribe is one of those tribes … directly affected by that division.
His mother came from what is dominantly referred to as French Speaking Mbo. So
the Archbishop’s parents came from different villages of the same tribe!
The story of the Archbishop therefore is the story par
excellence referred to as the Anglophone Problem.
The
Archbishop also come across to the reader in this text as a cultural watershed:
by virtue of his Anglophone/Francophone identity, by virtue of his versatility
endowing him with both Cameroonian and Nigerian roots (fact which made it
possible for him to evangelise among the Igbo tribes in Nigeria) and by virtue
of his African-European experiences which brought him into contact with a
mosaic of disparate culture which he still yoked together into the wonderful
blend of person that the world finally came to know him to be. There are many
more gold and diamond nuggets that can be broached but time and scope do not
permit. I leave those to the willing reader to discover and relish.
Conclusion
Cyril Connolly observes: “Literature is the art of
writing something that will be read (at least) twice”. In our world where
people are very busy, reading a work twice means engaging in a pleasurable and
memorable endeavour. Indelible Footprints is a literary
work which compels not just a second reading but reading over and over. Thank
you all for your kind and keen attention.
References
Ø Francis Ekongang Nzante (ed). Indelible Footprints …
Ø Laverty, C. D et al (1971). The Unity of English: Five Basic Focal Points. New York: Harper and Row
Ø Prochnow, H. V and Prochnow (Jr) H. V. The Toastmaster’s Treasure Chest. Wellingborough:
A Thomas and Company
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