Date: Wed, 1 Nov 1995 09:52:16 +0800
Subject: Fanon's "dual narcissism"


I am reading _Black Skins White Masks_ for my thesis and I have just
finished a close reading of the Introduction and Chapter One. I am still
unclear about Fanon's term "dual narcissism" p.10. I have read Freud's paper
'On Narcissism: An Introduction' for further clarification, but I am not
much clearer.  Fanon I think links the idea of "dual narcissism"  to the
notion of an authentic seal of 'whiteness' for the white man and 'blackness'
for the black man (man = men in Fanon's work here!).  I take the meaning of
dual as twofold or double then perhaps what is being suggested is two
"instincts of self-preservation" (Freud 66) that parallel each other in the
desire for authenticity of 'whiteness' and 'blackness'. Yet it is the
authenticity of 'whiteness' that has been constructed as 'civilised' through
the 19th century discourses of the natural sciences.  I would welcome anyone
elses view/comments.

Regards
Debbie

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Debbie Rodan
Dept. English and Comparative Lit.
d_rodan-AT-central.murdoch.edu.au



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