This book brings together six seminal essays by Professor Bernard
Nsokika Fonlon, essays first published mostly in the 1960s in ABBIA
(Cameroon Cultural Review) and in the pages of leading newspapers in
Cameroon. Preoccupied with the cultural dignity, humanity and freedom of
Africa and Africans, Fonlon never contented himself with stating the
problem. In a very Socratic and scientifically systematic approach, he
proposed solutions as well. Patiently pedagogical, philosophical and
steeped in the classics he convinced his readers through the force of
argument. In 'The Task of Today;' Fonlon invites Cameroonians and
Africans to face the challenge of nation-building and development in a
world where imperialism is far from dead and buried. 'Random Leaves from
My Diary' shares his aspirations and challenging experiences as a young
seminarian learning to be relevant to God and the Catholic Church. In
'Will We Make or Mar' Fonlon is worried, and indeed frustrated, by the
temptations of material pursuits and the love of money threatening to
derail modern elites charged with the postcolonial destiny of African
nations. As a member of the Cameroon National Union, in 'Under the Sign
of the Rising Sun, ' Fonlon preaches patriotism and compromise. In 'Idea
of Literature, ' Fonlon expresses his passion for art as the pursuit of
beauty and the sublime, stressing, as he was wont to do, that no race or
culture has a monopoly of this aspiration. 'A Case for Early
Bilingualism' invites Cameroonians to take advantage of their English
and French linguistic colonial heritage, by embracing bilingualism in
early childhood and playing a major role in an interconnected world
where interpretation and translation is eternally neede
