ABSTRACT
Born in 1961 in Douala, Calixthe Beyala is an Éton from Saa, situated about seventy-two kilometers from Yaounde, the capital city of Cameroon. In the early years of her life, Beyala lived with her Cameroonian mother and Central African stepfather in the Republic of Central Africa. She was separated from her mother at age five and was then raised by an elder sister, four years her senior, in one of the ghettos of Douala. Although her childhood was characterized by loneliness, with her elder sister as her only close companion, Beyala claims to have been raised in a women’s world, one in which women like her aunt and her grandmother were extraordinarily powerful. These women, unlike many others, never chose prostitution as a means of survival. They were self-determined and hardworking and, according to Beyala, could divorce their husbands whenever they wanted. Beyala was therefore molded by these strong women and learned at an early age to have a firm grip on life.
