The Textual Ceremony: Writing Against Trauma in Calixthe Beyala’s La petite fille du réverbère

This paper examines the mevungu, a rite of passage, in Calixthe Beyala’s La petite fille du réverbère (1998). Reserved for women, the mevungu privileges power, healing, and fecundity, and seeks to punish enemies.Within the narrative, it facilitates the success of the heroine.We also posit a metatextual use of the mevungu, following accusations of plagiarism against Beyala. The novel poses questions of authenticity, racism, and intellectual gatekeeping. Beyala performs a textualized mevungu, using the process of writing to settle scores, to exorcise demons, and to recover from traumas that exist beyond the scope of the narrative.