Mbella Sonne Dipoko - An Eulogy by Prof. Isidore Okpewho

I am very saddened by the news of Mbella's death. When I heard many years ago that he had returned from Europe to his village to stay, I continually nursed the hope that one day I would meet him again. Sadly, it was not to be.

My personal knowledge of Mbella goes back to 1966. After graduating from Ibadan, I had spent one year (1965-66) in London training as a publisher with my employers, Longman. At the end of the period, Longman gave me a one-month European holiday which took me through France, Italy, and Greece and back to Italy for my return trip to Nigeria. For my stay in Paris I was introduced to Mbella, whose novel A FEW NIGHTS AND DAYS had just been published by Longman. I spent my three or four days in Paris with Mbella in his digs, whose location I cannot now recall.

Although he was trying to eke out a living under rather difficult circumstances, he gave me a good deal of his time, taking me to see some of the well-known cultural and tourists sites of the city and generally being a most cheerful and accommodating host. He had a very warm sense of humor, despite what seemed a somewhat harsh bohemian lifestyle. Those few days have remained indelibly in my memory, because he was one of the few African writers (the others being South African Lewis Nkosi and Ugandan Robert Serumaga in London) whose chance acquaintance partially inspired me to try my hand at writing while I was working with Longman in Nigeria. I believe I corresponded with Dipoko for some time after I returned to Nigeria, although I have no record now of any part ofthat communication.

I remember vividly he was nursing a beard in those days, and I wasn't surprised to see in a photograph that he had grown an even larger one later on, if I'm not mistaking him for someone else in our literary company. But even in the dimness of my memory, I can still vaguely discern the smile that often pushed through his beard whenever we shared a joke--a smile that helped him find some way of accepting the vicissitudes life threw his way in those struggling days. I also remember he talked about writing and writers with some passion at the time, although I have no way of knowing now if he retained that spirit when he returned to live in Cameroun, especially if his duties as a chief brought him to grapple with the harsh social and political realities his position entailed.

May his kind and friendly soul rest in peace, and his people find a worthy successor.

Isidore Okpewho is a State University of New York Distinguished Professor of Africana Studies, English, & Comparative Literature at Binghamton University.