Critical and Socialist Realism in Anglophone Cameroonian Poetry

The main thrust of the argument of this book is predicated on the basis that Anglophone Cameroonian poetry has evolved from the critical realist tradition to the socialist realist perspective.To achieve the objectives of this study, the new historicist critical theory was employed to interpret,analyze and evaluate the poetry of Bernard Fonlon, Sankie Maimo, Mbella Sonne Dipoko and Bongasu-Tanla Kishani(first generation Anglophone Cameroonian poets), and Bate Besong, Emmanuel Fru Doh, Nol Alenbong and Gahlia Gwangwa'a(second generation Anglophone Cameroonian poets)against the backdrop of critical and socialist realisms respectively. It was realized that Anglophone Cameroonian poetry is dynamic as it has moved from mere criticism to activism. Again the author has argued and demonstrated that while critics like Omafume Onoge, Ernst Fisher Maxim Gorky and Georg Lukacs have used the two concepts to periodise literature, the two concepts can also be used as interpretive tools.