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Black Skin, White Masks

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an awesome and very clean book! thanks. The item was very well kept as the sender had described even better than I expected. I am really happy with my product.

Written in 1952, Fanon's novel is a response to Mannoni's 'Prospero complex', which states that white colonizers have a symbiotic relationship to the races they colonize, and that this relationship is built upon a system of mutual dependence. The whites have a need to dominate, and the other races have a need to be dominated. Fanon passionately and accurately REJECTS this theory, saying that the only neurosis resides in the white male, and his innate fear of other races. Taking his discourse to the sports arena and the bedroom, Fanon argues that the white male possesses a sexual-performance anxiety toward other races, especially the African. He fears he will be outmatched on the field, and outlasted in bed, by the African. It is this fear that causes the xenophobic anxiety within the white male, and propels him to subdue and dominate the other races. Fanon argues that the Africans were doing pretty well before the colonizers came along, but now all worlds are forever changed. Although this book is an angry argument against white ideas of dominance, I find it to be largely accurate and an imperative read for anyone hoping to gain greater insight into the 'true' motivations behind racialism.

Black skin, white mask by Frantz Fanon's is a mind-opening novel for humanity irrespective of race or the color of the skin. This book helped me to come to terms with many of the attitudes around. The author's insights into the psychological damage of the black man from colonialism, incomprehension, self-denial, racism, continuous bitterness and other negative consequences still stand as powerful guides in helping us to grapple with the problems of our world. You read the book to the end and come out of the experienced feeling enlightened and a better person. One feels better placed to navigate in our rapidly becoming multicultural world.

I recommend this book along with: THE USURPER AND OTHER STORIES, A BLADE OF GRASS, DISCIPLES OF FORTUNE

Fanon's amazing book is one of the landmarks in modern thinking, as far as I am concerned. Fanon says he wants to expose the sickness in order for it to be cured. He exposes the sickness inflicted on Africans by the contact with the colonizing white West in a razor sharp accuracy and courage. Fanon is completely honest, sparing no criticism from the Africans nor the Europeans. He gets help from giant figures like Cesaire and Senghor, and creates an emotionally and intellectually charged masterpiece.

I learned from Fanon about the use of language as a colonialist tool, the terrible affect on African self esteem, the psychological turmoil that erupts as a result of the contact with white society.
It is clear the world is not the same today as it was in the 50's, but Fanon's book is just as relevant.
Quoting from Sartre talking about another book by Fanon: "Have the courage to read this book !".

This publishing of this treatise saw the roots of Black Consciousness expand outside the limits of Negritude. More clearly at the time, Fanon began his transformation from 'European intellectual' to polemic scholar to socialist revolutionary that would culminate in the release of Les Damnees de la Terre and Fanon's tragic death due to leukemia. Black Skin, White Masks, however, may in fact be the most enduring of Fanon's work, and it reads as well today as it did in 1953. Upon its completion, Fanon became a cult icon in French intellectual circles, rubbing shoulders with Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Bouvoir, among others. It is not difficult to see why; from the first page, Fanon emotes his most heartfelt anger. It is a work as passionate as it is intelligent, and as concise as it is dynamic. Through it all, the reader is treated to Fanon's magnificently fluid writing style, brilliantly translated by Constance Farrington.

Frantz Fanon's work is an excellent insight of how people of color throughout the world have been effected by colonization.

A must read for anyone trying to understand the basics about living in the western world as a person of color.

a tome on the black man in europe, mainly martinique...basically what fanon is saying is : brothas try to be like the other, because they hate them selves and they desire to sleep with the other to give themselves worth and that a bad environment and colonialism makes a black man bad ...reading the book is like reading a long prose poem, thoughtful and stunning...take the chance. it's extremely interesting...

frantz fanon's black skin, white mask has something for every reader of every color (including white). his insights into the psychological damage resulting from colonialism, self-denial, racism, and other connected phenomena provide a path for those of us still grappling with these issues some forty years after the publication of this text. moreover, his intellectual contributions are secondary to the compelling force of his personality and integrity that one senses between the lines. this book is as compelling as a novel and as englightening as a mentor.

Isn't it interesting that the groves of academe, still excessively populated by white males, are more interested in reading the George Orwell-type of writer, rather than a courageous and angry voice such as Fanon's. I of course recognize that Fanon never properly contextualized a feminist perspective when he wrote on Algerian nationalism, etc., but he is brilliant here, exposing the white patriarchal hegemony inflicted upon people of African descent. A tremendous book, much better than dry as dust psuedo-'classics' like Orwell and co.

This book was remarkable in helping me to confirm some of the many behaviors that I had observed among family and friends, but was unable to pin down or understand. Fanon has incredible insight into the effect of colonialism onthe self-concept and consecutive behaviors of the Caribbean individual and all balck people and culture that has been forever changed by the penetration of European culture and ideology.