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Fanon: A Novel

by John Edgar Wideman

Fanon: A Novel Cover

Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments:

Wideman's first novel in a decade conjures the author of The Wretched of the Earth and his urgent relevance today.

Wideman's fascinating new novel weaves together fiction, biography, and memoir to evoke the life and message of Frantz Fanon, the influential author of The Wretched of the Earth. A philosopher, psychiatrist, and political activist, Fanon was a fierce, acute critic of racism and oppression. Born of African descent in Martinique in 1927, Fanon fought to defend France during World War II and then later against France in Algeria's war for independence. The Wretched of the Earth, written in 1961, inspired leaders of liberation movements from Steve Biko in South Africa to Che Guevera to the Black Panthers in the United States.

Wideman's novel is disguised as the project of a contemporary African-American novelist, Thomas, who undertakes writing a life of Fanon. The result is an electrifying mix of perspectives, traveling from Manhattan to Paris to Algeria to Pittsburgh. Part whodunit, part screenplay, and part love story, Fanon introduces the French film director Jean-Luc Godard to ailing Mrs. Wideman in Homewood, and chases the meaning of Fanon's legacy through our violent, post-9/11 world, which seems determined to perpetuate the evils Fanon sought to rectify.

Review:

"Psychiatrist and revolutionary Frantz Fanon (1925 — 1961) fought to free Algeria from French rule, and wrote several key texts on colonialism, including The Wretched of the Earth. Wideman (Brothers and Keepers) offers a fragmented look at Fanon's life, presenting three narratives in fits and starts. The first documents episodes from Fanon's life, including his Martinique childhood and death in a Bethesda, Md., hospital. In the second, a 60-year-old novelist named Thomas writes a screenplay about Fanon that he hopes to sell to Jean-Luc Godard, and, in a jarring narrative turn, receives a package that contains his own head. In the third, a character named John Edgar Wideman writes about his 'twin' (Thomas), wrestles with his obsession with Fanon, visits his imprisoned brother Rob and thinks about his wheelchair-bound mother in the Homewood section of Pittsburgh (where Wideman grew up and has set many past stories). Some of the Fanon anecdotes are excellent, but the book as a whole is a series of glittering dead ends, interspersed with thoughts on writing and current affairs, and the irritating story of Thomas's head. Beautifully written but inconclusive, Wideman's 18th book is best approached as a meditation on fiction and character." Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)

Review:

"The cover of John Edgar Wideman's latest novel — Fanon's name boldly inscribed in gray against a black background — immediately attracts attention. Riding on the Metro, my copy in hand, I notice another passenger — an African-American man in his mid-40s — carrying a copy, too. Our eyes meet and we nod to each other, almost conspiratorially, as if we are members of a secret fraternity. But as I... Washington Post Book Review (read the entire Washington Post review)

Review:

"[N]ot so much about Fanon the man as it is about writing about Fanon, about writing in a world in which revolutionary hopes have soured, about writing, period." Los Angeles Times

Review:

"This is an engrossing search for meaning in life and in the enduring legacy of Fanon at a time when racial animus, sadly, continues unabated." Booklist

Review:

"Wideman grounds the novel in powerful chapters set in his native Pittsburgh, specifically the impoverished, gang-ridden streets of Homewood." San Francisco Chronicle

Synopsis:

Widemans fascinating new novel weaves together fiction, biography, and memoirto evoke the life and message of Frantz Fanon, the influential author of "TheWretched of the Earth" and acute critic of racism and oppression.

About the Author

John Edgar Wideman won the PEN/Faulkner Award in 1984 for Sent for You Yesterday and in 1990 for Philadelphia Fire. His second memoir, Fatheralong, was a finalist for the National Book Award. His most recent books are Hoop Roots and The Island: Martinique. He teaches at Brown University.

Product Details

ISBN:
9780618942633
Author:
Wideman, John Edgar
Publisher:
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (HMH)
Location:
Boston
Subject:
General
Subject:
Fanon, Frantz
Subject:
Literary
Subject:
Non-Classifiable
Subject:
Biographical fiction
Edition Number:
10
Publication Date:
February 2008
Binding:
Hardcover
Grade Level:
General/trade
Language:
English
Pages:
229
Dimensions:
849x702x91 78

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