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The Last White Man

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Last White Man
AuthorMohsin Hamid
LanguageEnglish
PublisherPenguin Publishing Group
Publication date
August 2, 2022
ISBN9780593538814

The Last White Man is a 2022 novel by Pakistani author Mohsin Hamid. It is Hamid's fifth novel.[1] The main themes of the book are love, loss, change, and identity.[2] The Last White Man was longlisted for the 2023 Aspen Words Literary Prize.[3][4]

Summary

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The novel uses the technique of magical realism, and it is about a white man, Anders, who one morning wakes up to find himself changed to a darker skin color and a different, unfamiliar appearance. Soon, more people begin to experience the same changes, and society finds itself divided and puzzled with questions about race, privilege, loss, love, belonging.[5]

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Hamid published a short story on the same theme as 'The Face in the Mirror' in the same year as the novel.[6]

References

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  1. ^ "The Last White Man by Mohsin Hamid". Penguin Random House. Archived from the original on 2022-08-21. Retrieved 2022-08-22.
  2. ^ Gunaratne, Guy (2022-08-03). "The Last White Man by Mohsin Hamid review – a hypnotic race fable". the Guardian. Archived from the original on 2022-08-21. Retrieved 2022-08-22.
  3. ^ "2023 Aspen Words Literary Prize Longlist". Aspen Words. Archived from the original on 2022-03-01. Retrieved 2023-03-07.
  4. ^ Schaub, Michael (2022-12-12). "Aspen Words Literary Prize Longlist Is Revealed". Kirkus Reviews. Archived from the original on 2023-03-07. Retrieved 2023-03-07.
  5. ^ "'The Last White Man' spins a deft, if narrow, fantasy about identity". NPR.org. Archived from the original on 2022-08-21. Retrieved 2022-08-22.
  6. ^ Mohsin Hamid, 'The Face in the Mirror Archived 2023-09-19 at the Wayback Machine', New Yorker (May 16, 2022), 60–67.