Frantz Fanon : Between Marxism and Existentialism

Frantz Fanon is the greatest black intellectual of the twentieth century. He has taken his place as an ideological mentor of the New Left alongside Herbert Marcuse, Che Guevara and Regis Debray. He is one of the greatest champions of the Third World.

The book identifies the elements of Marxism and existentialism in Fanon\'s thought and examines his attempt to reconcile the two incompatible traditions. The question of reconciliation arises because the two traditions are quite contradictory to each other and there are fundamental differences between the two. How can the exterior meanings of Marxism be reconciled with the interior meanings of existentialism? How can the objectivism of dialectical materialism be reconciled with the subjectivism of man making himself? The former is deterministic, the latter ardently anti-deterministic. Hence the relationship of Fanon\'s Marxism to his existentialism poses a serious problem. The book brings into sharp focus the ambiguities and contradictions which arise as a result of Fanon\'s attempt to reconcile the two antagonistic traditions.