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The origins of Cameroon Literature are embedded in the past of the country. The advent of the colonial powers in Cameroon led to the influence of the colonizers over the literature of the colonized, the Cameroonians. The written literature of Cameroon like the writings of Sultan Ibrahim Njoya and Rudolph Doula Manga Bell, was lost or abandoned during the colonial period.
One of the widely appreciated books written by a Cameroonian was ' Vision of the White World from a Black Perspective' by Joseph Ekolo. The Cameroonian authors writing in 1920s to 1950s wrote in French. Among them the famous contributors to Cameroon literature were Issac Moume Etia and Louis Pouka Mbague.
The first novel in the literature of Cameroon was Nnanga Kon written by Jean-Louis Njembe Medou was published in 1932. The language used was Boulou. The novelists like Francis Bebey, Mongo Beti, Rene Philombe and others concentrated on the subject of colonization.
The women writers of Cameroon contributed a significant part to the literature of the country. Women writers like Theresa Kuoh Morkouri,a novelist, Marie Pauline Thorbecke, Marie Claire Matip and others wrote before independence while names like Lydie Dooh Bunya, Marie Theresa Assiga, Werewere Liking and Rabiatou Njoya dominated the Cameroonian literary scene after independence.
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