Mongo Beti's work falls within the context of [the] reaction against the imposition of western culture on African society. Taken as a whole it probably gives the most thoroughgoing exposure of the stupidity of the imperialist attempt to devalue traditional education and religion and replace them by an inadequate western educational system and a hypocritical Christian religion. One of the most elegant and sophisticated of African writers, Mongo Beti's urbanity of tone should not lull the reader into a feeling that he is complacent about the issues he raises. His intelligence and wide-ranging wit correlate with a determination to face the uglier realities and expose them.

Beti's first novel The Poor Christ of Bomba was so effective in its exposure of French imperialist attitudes that it provoked a storm on its publication in 1956. This largely underrated novel deserves more attention, if only because of the adroit manipulation of...