THE FON OF BAFUT

by Pat Ritzenthaler ‧ RELEASE DATE: N/A

In 1954, Gerald Durrell wrote about the Fon in The Bafut Beagles. Pat Ritzenthaler, who went with her husband to the British Cameroons in 1959, tells about him and his culture through a biography of his eighty years. Bafut in that time has moved from German to British hands to independence, and there is some discussion here of influences. But in the main it is the tribal life that is described through the grooming of a chief, through disasters such as the desecration of the sacred pool, murder, smallpox, through the rituals of occasions and events, through the enumeration of marriages, births, deaths. Sound, but not so satisfying a portrayal in style or depth as the Edith Marshall Thomas studies.

Pub Date: N/A

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Crowell

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 1966

Categories: NONFICTION