Publisher's Synopsis
After six years of revolutionary activities in Africa, Frantz Fanon arrived in New York in early October 1961, suffering from an advanced case of leukemia. Admitted to Bethesda Naval Hospital, he died on December 6th. He was 36 years old. Born in Martinique in 1925, Fanon was a product of the French colonial system. In 1943, he joined the free French forces to help defend "liberal France" against the racist French sailors stationed in Martinique during the war - those "sailors who had forced [him] to defend and thus discover [his] color." The experience in the army sharpened his awareness of a world where division and racism were the rule. That and a keen, sensitive mind made him the most lucid observer of the realities inherent to colonialism and its principal forensic analyst. Until the Algerian Revolution, Fanon adhered to the principles of négritude espoused by Aimé Césaire, his lycée teacher. Black Skin, White Mask is a négritude testimonial in which Fanon acknowledges blackness albeit from the point of view of his French colonial upbringing and Césaire's adaptation as to the place of peoples of African descent in the French empire. His uncompromising efforts on behalf of the Algerian Revolution shortened his life, while giving him unparalleled insight into and appreciation for the national liberations and struggles found in his writing. Today, we speak of a Fanon legacy. The ideal epilogue to the narrative of The Last Day of Frantz Fanon is an interview the author conducted with his friend, Josie Fanon, the wife of the legendary humanist-anticolonialist.
