In The Tears of the Black Man, award-winning author Alain Mabanckou explores what it means to be black in the world today. Mabanckou confronts the long and entangled history of Africa, France, and the United States as it has been shaped by slavery, colonialism, and their legacy today. Without ignoring the injustices and prejudice still facing blacks, he distances himself from resentment and victimhood, arguing that focusing too intensely on the crimes of the past is limiting. Instead, it is time to ask: Now what? Embracing the challenges faced by ethnic minority communities today, The Tears of the Black Man looks to the future, choosing to believe that the history of Africa has yet to be written and seeking a path toward affirmation and reconciliation.

About the Author

Alain Mabanckou is a Franco-Congolese author and Professor of French and Francophone Studies at the University of California, Los Angeles. His novels include Blue White Red, African Psycho, Broken Glass, Memoirs of a Porcupine, Black Bazaar, Tomorrow I'll Be Twenty, The Lights of Pointe-Noire, and Black Moses. He is the recipient of numerous literary prizes, such as the Grand Prix Litteraire de l'Afrique noire, Prix Renaudot, Prix Georges Brassens, and the Grand Prix de Litterature Henri Gal from the Academie Francaise for his life's work.

Dominic Thomas is Madeleine L. Letessier Professor of French and Francophone Studies at the University of California, Los Angeles. His books include Nation-Building, Propaganda, and Literature in Francophone Africa; Black France: Colonialism, Immigration, and Transnationalism; and Africa and France: Postcolonial Cultures, Migration, and Racism.

Reviews

Africans, Mr. Mabanckou is asking us to wake up from such dreams and do something that matters in the present rather than live in the past. It is not helping us in the least. Also, he is asking us, for God's sake, to stop blaming everything on the white man and acknowledge our share of responsibilities.

-- Ndeye Sene Mbaye, author of 'Under the Neem Tree'

In this slender but intellectually dense collection of 12 essays, Franco-Congolese novelist Mabanckou (Black Moses) reveals and reshapes notions of black identity, arguing that in today's global community, 'identity goes far beyond notions of territory or blood.' . . . Mabanckou's challenging perspective on African identity today is as enlightening as it is provocative.

* Publishers Weekly *

Africa's Samuel Beckett ... one of the continent's greatest living writers

* Guardian *

Mabanckou's challenging perspective on African identity today is as enlightening as it is provocative.

* Publishers Weekly *



Book Information
ISBN 9780253035837
Author Alain Mabanckou
Format Paperback
Page Count 86
Imprint Indiana University Press
Publisher Indiana University Press