Philosophiae Doctor - PhD (Foreign Languages)

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A study of myth and archetype in the novels of Calixthe Beyala
(Univeristy of the Western Cape, 2024) Glaeser, Jessica; Culpin, David J
This thesis uncovers the previously unremarked presence and significance of archetypes in the novels of the Franco-Cameroonian writer Calixthe Beyala. It shows how the worldview of her characters is constructed around three principal archetypal themes, lost paradise, exile and paradise regained, and that her novels are themselves peopled by archetypal characters, the barren woman, the absent father and the trickster among others. Dominant among these archetypes is the theme of apocalypse, which is understood not just as a catastrophe, but also as a revelation, opening the way to a new future, a heaven on earth from which the sufferings and injustices of the present world are banished. Surprisingly, given the scepticism of Beyala’s characters about all branches of the Christian church, these archetypal themes and characters are drawn predominantly from the Bible and from biblical myths such as the flood and the virgin birth, myths that are dominated by the presence of apocalypse. Thus, in Beyala’s works as in the Bible, the passage from Genesis to Revelation, from the beginning of the Bible to the end, parallels not just the hero’s journey as understood by the mythologist Joseph Campbell, but also the process of loss, wandering and reintegration illustrated notably in the works of Jung and other depth psychologists.