Sur les traces de Frantz Fanon

Catherine Simon, Le Monde

Certains morts ont de l'avenir. Ils deviennent, non pas des fantômes, mais des ancêtres doués de parole et capables, quelquefois, d'écouter les vivants. Frantz Fanon, par exemple. Emporté par une leucémie, en 1961, un an avant l'indépendance algérienne pour laquelle il s'était battu, le psychiatre martiniquais a laissé derrière lui une oeuvre d'une puissante radicalité. Et un cercle d'opiniâtres fidèles qui, en dépit du temps, poursuivent le dialogue avec lui. Parmi eux : le grand écrivain américain John Edgar Wideman. Son roman, évidemment inachevé – comme le laisse entendre son titre –, explore mille et une pistes.

En voici une, qui ouvre le récit : un type comme vous et moi (presque...) décide, près d'un demi-siècle après avoir lu Les Damnés de la terre (Maspero, 1961), le dernier livre de Fanon, de lui écrire.

Veneration and Struggle: Commemorating Frantz Fanon

A Special Issue of the Journal of Pan African Studies

As tradition has it, golden jubilees usually provide perfect occasions to reflect back on historical accomplishments that are recent enough to reminisce and important enough to still matter. The second decade of the 21st century marks such a reflective moment across the African world for those who find value in the lessons of the past, their contemporaneous applications and the implications of both for the visions of progress, prosperity and peace. The importance of this decade has already been determined by historical forces that are at least five decades old and the constant need to never forget them. Wherever in the African Diaspora one might exist, the significance of the decade of the 1960s reverberates in both the collective memories and the objective realities. As such, our effort in 2011 to eagerly and unapologetically reflect on the legacy of Frantz Fanon is motivated in one sense by the need to appreciate the iconic figures of the past.
- Kurt B. Young, from the Introduction

Fanon: A Novel

Fanon by: John Edgar Wideman
ISBN-13/EAN: ISBN-10: pages Publication Date: 02/07/2008

Description of the book by Houghton Mifflin:

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.