That the divided self-perception of the Black Subject who has lost his native cultural origin, and embraced the culture of the Mother Country , produces an inferiority complex in the mind of the Black Subject, who then will try to appropriate and imitate the culture of the colonizer. Such behavior is more readily evident in upwardly mobile and educated Black people who can afford to acquire status symbols within the world of the colonial ecumene , such as an education abroad and mastery of the language of the colonizer, the white masks.
Based upon, and derived from, the concepts of the collective unconscious and collective catharsis , the sixth chapter, "The Negro and Psychopathology", presents brief, deep psychoanalyses of colonized black people, and thus proposes the inability of black people to fit into the norms social, cultural, racial established by white society.
That "a normal Negro child, having grown up in a normal Negro family, will become abnormal on the slightest contact of the white world. That such unconscious mental training of black children is effected with comic books and cartoons , which are cultural media that instil and affix, in the mind of the white child, the society's cultural representations of black people as villains.
Moreover, when black children are exposed to such images of villainous black people, the children will experience a psychopathology psychological trauma , which mental wound becomes inherent to their individual, behavioral make-up; a part of his and her personality.
First published in French in Martinique, Black Skin, White Masks did not attract much mainstream attention in English-speaking countries. It explored the effects of colonialism and imposing a servile psychology upon the colonized man, woman, and child. The adverse effects were assessed as part of the post-colonial cultural legacy of the Mother Country to former imperial subjects. Together with Fanon's The Wretched of the Earth , it received wider attention during cultural upheavals starting in the s, in the United States as well as former colonial countries in the Caribbean and Africa.
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It is considered an important anti-colonial , anti-racist , and Afro-pessimist work in Anglophone countries. But in Francophone countries, the book is ranked as a relatively minor Fanon work in comparison to his later, more radical works. The topic is explicitly connected culturally to the societies of the ethnic African and other peoples of color living within the French Colonial Empire — The psychological and psychiatric insights remain valid, especially as applied by peoples of diverse colonial and imperial histories, such as the Palestinians in the Middle East, the Tamils in Sri Lanka, and African Americans in the US, in their contemporary struggles for cultural and political autonomy.
Contemporary theorists of nationalism and of anti-colonialism , of liberation theology and of cultural studies , have preferred Frantz Fanon's later culturally and politically revolutionary works, such as The Wretched of the Earth In , leading African studies scholar Lewis R. Gordon published a book titled What Fanon Said: I think this feeling of destabilization, of being on the lookout constantly as if you know everything might change overnight, as a huge existential stressor, is what Elias Khoury manages to imprint best.
An interesting glimpse into Lebanese society and culture also gets painted throughout the pages, in its permanent state regardless of the war described. Customs, servant-master relationships, the casual mistreatment of women, the fervor of young intellectuals who are always looking for the next thing to revolutionize - I think these are all a bit glimpsed throughout the lines. I loved it and I look forward to read more from the author.
Apr 28, Darryl rated it it was amazing. Elias Khoury was born to a Lebanese Christian family and lived for many years in Beirut, including the years of the Lebanese civil war , in which as many as , civilians were killed and over a million were injured, half with debilitating and lifelong injuries. The war involved multiple factions, including Palestinians displaced from their homeland after the creation of the state of Israel, Lebanese Christians, Syrians, Israeli and American military forces, and smaller gro Elias Khoury was born to a Lebanese Christian family and lived for many years in Beirut, including the years of the Lebanese civil war , in which as many as , civilians were killed and over a million were injured, half with debilitating and lifelong injuries.
The war involved multiple factions, including Palestinians displaced from their homeland after the creation of the state of Israel, Lebanese Christians, Syrians, Israeli and American military forces, and smaller groups and militias.
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The conflict was notable for shifting alliances and betrayals, and nonaligned civilians often found themselves accused by one faction of abetting another one, based on family ties and old friendships. Corruption was rampant, and traditional roles and social customs were ignored, as those who had guns and money ruled over besieged communities.
This novel was originally published in in Arabic, translated into English by Maia Taber, and released by Archipelago Books last month. In White Masks , Khoury uses the murder of Khalil Ahmad Jaber, an ordinary civilian with no known enemies or suspicious alliances, as a vehicle to describe the lives of those affected by the Lebanese civil war in Several family members, neighbors, and others who have come into contact with him are interviewed to learn more about this senseless killing, and we come to learn about the hardships, despair and frustrations that plague civilians caught between the shifting factions.
The following excerpt effectively characterizes the views of the average person: What is happening to us is very strange One wonders if it is the result of unexplained mental disorders No one is able to control all the crime It's grown into an epidemic, a plague devouring us from within I suppose that is what is meant by social fragmentation in civil conflicts—I've read about it, but somehow this seems different But it's not just him Khoury effectively uses several metaphors throughout the book, to describe the decay and breakdown in Lebanese society, and the accounts of the characters provide vivid descriptions of the effects of the war on those who survive the daily carnage.
White Masks is a stunning and essential literary achievement, which nearly reaches the brilliance of his later novel Gate of the Sun. A story of stories which reflects the agony and despair of the Lebanese people during the civil war. Although the author states that the characters are fictional, I have a strong belief that each story has occurred maybe with people of different names.
It's sad to see how wars turn people into beasts. Apr 16, John marked it as to-read. I saw some guy reading this on the subway last night and almost gave myself a headache trying to read the cover flap without, you know, looking like I was reading the cover flap.
Anyway, it looks like a fascinating read. Aug 28, Kamil Kopacewicz rated it liked it. The style was too chaotic for me. Sep 18, Didier Vanoverbeke rated it really liked it. This breathless book was my first run-in with Elias Khoury, though he'd been on my radar for a long time. While, in this novel, Khoury has the tendency to make his female characters exaggerated in demonstrating their piousness it is the men who get to engage in code-switching , and there is a rather uncomfortable pattern of no-means-yes sexual relations, at least part of this fits in with the narrative of a Beirut populace beset by paranoia and sheer survival instinct.
Our narrators often have This breathless book was my first run-in with Elias Khoury, though he'd been on my radar for a long time. Our narrators often have nothing to hide, they've done nothing wrong, said nothing to endanger themselves or their loved ones. Except, of course, they did, though given the punishment life exacts on them, they could hardly be blamed for scurrying along, fearful of every new exchange.
Khoury portrays a diverse set of personages caught in a civil war that is quite unsure of even its own violence. Most hear-retending of all is the murdered man around whom the plot revolves, father of a former boxer martyred for the cause, though what cause isn't exactly clear. He seems to have found an escape from the daily horrors of s Beirut, but has lost his mind in the process though he sometimes appears sanest of all to those around him. He seeks the avalanche that will blot out all this pain and violence, though ultimately becomes the umpteenth victim of a cycle of violence with a logic all its own.
Much like Garcia Marquez's Chronicle of a Death Foretold, we approach the story of Khalil, the murdered father, from all manner of perspectives, which in turn leads us to stories of other people and other suffering. Characters double back on their statements to shed more light, or a different light, on events, both related and not. What you're left with is a tapestry of life in Beirut from to , one that you won't soon forget.
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Mar 19, Russ rated it it was ok. The exquisite beginning of this novel was eclipsed by meandering mediocrity of the middle, which could not be salvaged by the unconventional yet fitting ending. Khalil Ahmad Jaber's son dies as a martyr in the Lebanese civil war. Khalil's riveting descent into madness is witnessed by his hapless wife, who tries desperately to snap him out of his fugue to no avail.
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Khalil appears to recover slightly, and leaves the house to return to "work. What a poignant metaphor for the horrible cheapening of human life that took place during the war. If you expect a conventional investigation by the reporter examining Khalil's death, you'll be sorely disappointed.
The story shifts through multiple points of view to people who have only tenuous connections with Khalil. Hard as I tried, I couldn't keep the slightest track of the characters' names, their relationships, or whose point of view was being conveyed. In short, a hot mess. The final chapter is entitled "Provisional Epilogue. If you are a reader of conventional mysteries rather than literary fiction, the epilogue will frustrate you to no end. That being said, it was appropriate for the subject matter and resonated with me. However, even a forlorn, fitting epilogue wasn't enough to make up for the tortuous tangents that took up the middle two hundred pages.
Feb 08, Amal Mara'beh rated it it was amazing. A fascinating book set in Beirut in at the height of the civil war. The book is a series of interviews with people who in some way have a connection with Khalil Ahmed Jabir an old man who's mutilated body has been discovered in a rubbish dump.
The narrative includes the stories of his wife, his daughter, a militia man who is present when he had been bought in for interrogation and a neighbour who has given him water. The book is an investigation by someone unconnected but it tells the vario A fascinating book set in Beirut in at the height of the civil war. The book is an investigation by someone unconnected but it tells the various tales of a country ravaged by civil war where gangs roam kidnapping at will, where marriage is dominated by violence, the fighters are viewed as martyrs when they die and generally life is very cheap.
As a read it was at times hard jumping from story to story within the same narrative but as a view of a society which I knew little about save the obvious headlines from the 80's and 90's it was very good and an interesting picture, well worth the effort. Apr 12, Manar Fleifel rated it really liked it. Seemingly nihilistic , yet not necessarily lacking meaning, or the many meanings of life and the lives of "honourable citizens" , Elias Khoury's White Masks is a novel that does not disappoint its reader.
From the start , the author is honest with his reader in asking her not to anticipate any solid content or some sort of conclusion , a characteristic dynamic in most detective novels. Instead , and if I may say, as most post-war Lebanese novels do , Khoury's novel dictates a part of the reali Seemingly nihilistic , yet not necessarily lacking meaning, or the many meanings of life and the lives of "honourable citizens" , Elias Khoury's White Masks is a novel that does not disappoint its reader.
Instead , and if I may say, as most post-war Lebanese novels do , Khoury's novel dictates a part of the realities of the "ordinary" Lebanese citizen during the Civil War and leaves us with an extraordinary existentialist cliff hanger than goes beyond the plot of the novel extending to both philosophical wandering and historical facts. A journey into the lives of Lebanese people during the war, through a patchwork of chaotic testimonies more or less closely related to the death of a man. Each story tells a bit about the small history, the one written in the streets and houses, and the simple, sometimes spoken style makes it as easy as interesting to read.
The way the narrator plays with us, lies to us, spices up the end.
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Really interesting stream of consciousness type novel from Khoury. Learnt that I am happy I don't live in Beirut and also learnt that the Lebanese are still pretty open to superstition and spirituality. I like how he writes, graphic and clear and though nothing was ever resolved in the end, I didn't care because the journey there was worth it. Jul 18, Ghassan Zakhour rated it really liked it. Throughout the book, the author tends to ramble and digress, making it a difficult and incoherent book to read.
But just when you think you're lost, a pice of e puzzle comes into play.