The Rebel's Clinic: The Revolutionary Lives of Frantz Fanon
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- Create Date：2024-01-24 13:21:52
- Update Date：2025-09-06
- Status：finish
- Author：Adam Shatz
- ISBN：0374176426
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Reviews
J Earl
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The Rebel's Clinic， by Adam Shatz， is a detailed and nuanced look at both Frantz Fanon's life and ideas。 The key element of this volume is the nuance， in order to understand what can， at first glance， appear to be contradictions or conflicts within his thought。Like any thinker who is also heavily involved in real world struggles， there will be change and development in thought。 That said， what can appear to be a contradiction can often be better understood as more consistent at the core but pres The Rebel's Clinic， by Adam Shatz， is a detailed and nuanced look at both Frantz Fanon's life and ideas。 The key element of this volume is the nuance， in order to understand what can， at first glance， appear to be contradictions or conflicts within his thought。Like any thinker who is also heavily involved in real world struggles， there will be change and development in thought。 That said， what can appear to be a contradiction can often be better understood as more consistent at the core but presented or manifested in different ways based on place， location， and purpose。 Shatz brings these things into this critical biography， not to make everything Fanon said or wrote into an overly coherent whole but to let a reader understand the concepts at the foundation of the various expressions。While I have read his major works and a few of his shorter pieces， including a couple of his psychiatric essays， I never had a firm grasp of any big picture in his thought。 There is some advantage to that， though it isn't fair to him。 Namely that it allowed me to apply my understanding of his ideas more easily to my own activism and thinking about the world。 Gaining more insight from this book didn't disrupt my takeaways but it did highlight where I likely aligned more or less with his intentions。Whether you're a reader of Fanon or new to him， I would highly recommend this book。 If new to him， I don't think it makes a big difference whether you read this before， during， or after reading his major works。 Ideas are presented here but that is no substitute for how Fanon expresses them （and Shatz doesn't intend them to be）。As a quick note to those I am in groups with， I had hoped to be able to present Judith Butler's new book to you in the near future but apparently my studying and teaching her works doesn't qualify me for a review copy， so I apologize for getting your hopes up and I will find something from another publisher to start some debates with。 Happy reading and keep the ideas flowing。Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley。 。。。more
David
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It pleases my parsimonious heart to get free advance copies of books， like this one， from Netgalley for review。 My heart especially sings when I find a no-cost book about something which （or， in this case， someone who） I’ve noticed， know very little about， and wish to inform myself。 Such was the case with this book。I like reading 400+ fairly detailed pages about someone or something that I know nothing about （plus the inevitable detours to the internet to research references which I don’t unders It pleases my parsimonious heart to get free advance copies of books， like this one， from Netgalley for review。 My heart especially sings when I find a no-cost book about something which （or， in this case， someone who） I’ve noticed， know very little about， and wish to inform myself。 Such was the case with this book。I like reading 400+ fairly detailed pages about someone or something that I know nothing about （plus the inevitable detours to the internet to research references which I don’t understand） but I believe that this is not some people’s idea of a pleasurable reading experience。 This book gets deep into the weeds on the details of Fanon’s life， from angry youth to still-angry premature death。 Like revolution， don’t wade in unless you are prepared to be totally committed。Fanon died when I was in diapers， and now I have gray hair and take blood-pressure medication。 This Christmas season Fanon's book The Wretched of the Earth has pride of place in the front row of the loss-leader display of books at the independent bookstore in downtown Austin， Texas， that I sometimes visit。 The book's price is marked down just enough to entice you inside the store to engage in other wanton acts of commerce。 （This is Texas， however， so the display， in addition to other books of left-wing outlook， also has books about the Alamo and high school football， as well as a book with Matthew McConaughey on the cover。） How Fanon acquired such a long and durable posthumous reknown， which shows no signs of flagging at this writing， is an interesting question。 Look for an answer in this book's long epilogue （“Specters of Fanon”）， which has a good survey of Fanon's travels through modern political and cultural life of the last sixty years， during which he often inspired deep political and social thinkers and， more surprisingly， supplied the text for a 2007 jazz oratorio and was quoted with approval on Instagram by Jamie Lynn Spears in 2020 as part of her feud with her famous sister。Especially in the light of late 2023’s sad and bloody developments in Israel and Gaza， Fanon has experienced another uptick of relevance as supporters of revolutionary violence seek to find justification for the slaughter of unarmed civilians。 （One widely-quoted social media post put it this way: “What did y'all think decolonization meant？ Vibes？ Papers？ Essays？ Losers。”）Did Fanon， a psychiatrist by training， really endorse murder as a therapeutic act for the oppressed？ This question is also dealt with pretty thoroughly in this book and the answer is: It's complicated。A more nuanced analysis of this question appears in Chapter 16 of this book， starting around Kindle location 5580。 Here's a short excerpt of the author's opinion: 。。。 if [Fanon] advocates the logic and necessity of counterviolence by the colonized， he is also explicit in his criticisms of a politics based on revenge: the revolutionary movement's obligation is to direct the violent impulses of the colonized toward pragmatic objectives， not to foment bloodletting or to treat all members of the settler community as legitimate targets。 It is possible to find genuine quotes from Fanon which， when removed from their surrounding context， sound like someone saying: Go ahead， kill your oppressor， you’ll feel better， and you are perfectly justified。 I hope you don't think that I'm trivializing the matter when I say that the misuse of Fanon in this manner reminds me of the recent misuse of the songs of Bruce Springsteen。 The song “Born in the USA” is about the economic hardships of returning Vietnam veterans， but the people who are braying the title， over and over again， at the campaign rallies of Republican political candidates either don't know or don't care。 The words “Born in the USA” are all they have to say about the matter。 Similarly， you can quote Fanon accurately that， for example， “violence is a cleansing force”， but saying so doesn't mean you are acting in the spirit that he did， or understand his thought。I'm happy that this well-researched book presented me with the opportunity to know more about this interesting and often misunderstood thinker。To download short （eight page 。pdf） and readable 2018 academic paper which contends that Fanon has been “misread for decades” as an apostle and justifier of revolutionary violence， click here。The chapter entitled “On Violence” in the book The Wretched of the Earth is the bit of Fanon's writing most frequently cited by those wishing to justify murder in the cause of revolution。 Read the entire chapter free online here。I received a free electronic advance review copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley。 。。。more
Claudyne Vielot
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Thanks for NetGalley and Farrar， Straus and Giroux for permission to read this work prior to its publication date。 I read Franz Fanon's， "Black Skin， White Masks" and was blown away buy how this activist identified the perils of colonialism， colorism and oppression in a way that I could personally identify with。 Adam Shatz compiles interviews as well as documented experiences to weave an image of a somewhat unlikely revolutionary who begins his adulthood with a strong French identity， then winds Thanks for NetGalley and Farrar， Straus and Giroux for permission to read this work prior to its publication date。 I read Franz Fanon's， "Black Skin， White Masks" and was blown away buy how this activist identified the perils of colonialism， colorism and oppression in a way that I could personally identify with。 Adam Shatz compiles interviews as well as documented experiences to weave an image of a somewhat unlikely revolutionary who begins his adulthood with a strong French identity， then winds up fighting for the liberation of Algeria。 This is an interesting read with great excerpts from other scholars。 。。。more
Morgan
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