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The Goddam White Man
hors serie litterature
- GenresFiction
191 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1960
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
July 21, 2019
David Lytton, a white South African man who moved to England when he was 21, wrote this novel from the perspective of a young biracial man living in the Cape Town area of segregated South Africa. Upon its publication in 1960 the book was banned in South Africa for its brutally honest representation of the apartheid system. In the United States it was reviewed favorably in Jet, Ebony, and many black-owned local newspapers. A humorous anecdote at the expense of the police about Harlem bookseller Lewis Michaux's experience with promoting the book outside his shop appears in Michaux's great niece Vaunda Micheaux Nelson's novelization of his life and work. Lytton's book is a compelling novel with a highly nuanced narrator who sardonically exposes many uncomfortable truths about race relations. It is tinged with pathos and humor. Yet it was hard to keep the fact of the author's whiteness out of my head as I read. Does the fact that Lytton is white completely negate the book's value as a literary and historical artifact? I'm not sure. Perhaps some would now dismiss it out of hand as cultural appropriation. At the time of its publication many people considered it to be inflammatory, but today it appears to be mostly forgotten.
October 30, 2025
Sometimes I am embarrassed by the fact I am a white South African, and this book really encapsulates why I SHOULD be. Apartheid and being oppressed were written with such claustrophobic language it was genuinely really hard to read. Me think my grandparents were probably not such grand people and I probably have quite a bit of karmic debt to pay.
September 29, 2018
I highly recommend that anybody of African Descent (whether you are on the continent of Africa, a so called African American or wherever around the world we may be) read this book. This book although with a serious tone to it had me laughing so hard there were tears in my eyes. A very accurate book that is still relevant to be as old as it is.
It shows the hatred that develops in people due to being mistreated. The book was in a way a releasing of some tension in myself after reading the part when he killed his first white man. For some reason I found that to be funny. The calmness of him doing it and the event that led up to it is something that I'm sure many blacks have imagined but never acted on. We tend to take our frustrations out on each other.
It was comical of how he committed his crimes and he had this smoothness to him. I could relate to his situation when he was a young adult and began experiencing with women. Especially White women. Just like him I didn't know any better and had to learn the hard way (not as hard as him though).
After reading this book, I really wanted to meet him in person if I could. This book gives a good perspective of So called Black people who have lived in Societies that have been and are still ruled over by white people. This even gives more reason of why it's a waste of time for white people to speak on Black peoples behalf when they have NO clue of what it's like being Black in a white world...a white world that in 2018 is dying a slow death. A white world that's dying a slow death that it rightfully deserves.
I sure hope that the South Africans manage to get their land back from the white people who literally stole it with their con games and trickery.
The interesting thing is that in the book, he managed to trick the white man. Instead of the white man conning him.... he actually managed to con them.
In real life a lot of white people like to brag about their "I.Q's" and how "Intelligent" they are and in the book the character makes note of that. He even manages to tell how stupid the white man is because he managed to trick him throughout the events in the book. Some poor, uneducated Bastard "Biracial" child managed to outsmart the "ALMIGHTY" white man.
This book was so satisfying.
This book is unfortunately out of print, so if you can get a hold of it there are copies out there. I may even photograph the pages so people can read. VERY GOOD BOOK.
It shows the hatred that develops in people due to being mistreated. The book was in a way a releasing of some tension in myself after reading the part when he killed his first white man. For some reason I found that to be funny. The calmness of him doing it and the event that led up to it is something that I'm sure many blacks have imagined but never acted on. We tend to take our frustrations out on each other.
It was comical of how he committed his crimes and he had this smoothness to him. I could relate to his situation when he was a young adult and began experiencing with women. Especially White women. Just like him I didn't know any better and had to learn the hard way (not as hard as him though).
After reading this book, I really wanted to meet him in person if I could. This book gives a good perspective of So called Black people who have lived in Societies that have been and are still ruled over by white people. This even gives more reason of why it's a waste of time for white people to speak on Black peoples behalf when they have NO clue of what it's like being Black in a white world...a white world that in 2018 is dying a slow death. A white world that's dying a slow death that it rightfully deserves.
I sure hope that the South Africans manage to get their land back from the white people who literally stole it with their con games and trickery.
The interesting thing is that in the book, he managed to trick the white man. Instead of the white man conning him.... he actually managed to con them.
In real life a lot of white people like to brag about their "I.Q's" and how "Intelligent" they are and in the book the character makes note of that. He even manages to tell how stupid the white man is because he managed to trick him throughout the events in the book. Some poor, uneducated Bastard "Biracial" child managed to outsmart the "ALMIGHTY" white man.
This book was so satisfying.
This book is unfortunately out of print, so if you can get a hold of it there are copies out there. I may even photograph the pages so people can read. VERY GOOD BOOK.
March 7, 2018
Despite this book being fictional, it really had some great points and made me realize lots of things.
The book takes place in South Africa. A biracial kid named Johannes is born to a black mother and white father but his father abandons his mother (he must, white people and black people can't have kids together and if they did, the black parent suffers). His mother later dies and this is when Johannes begins growing up. From living in the slums, he realized the plight of his people. Disgusted he does what he can to get up from his current situation. He let's his work speak for itself instead of what many blacks at the time, and in some ways today, do and that is just talk but no action.
The greatest part of this book is how Johannes, David Lyttons character, is able to realize that many of the things preventing upward mobility is due to the laws the whites have made but he doesn't let that prevent him from greatness. He let's his bitterness lead him into conning the white man but in a careful manner. He kills a white man after the hate reachs a boiling point.
He masterminds many plans to get himself up. Yes, to some he may seem like a criminal. But to me, what he did was only necessary to get to where he needed. Had their been opportunities for him to enjoy himself and earn a respectable living, he would have done it. But he had to turn to a life of crime, in essence, to live. Despite his gangly ways, he did everything in a careful manner.
A takeaway I had of this book is that whites sometimes try and speak for minorities despite never having lived their lives. Even, I as a proud African, can't speak for blacks in American ghettos. I've never lived there. But there are many injustices facing my people and it's time we start working together. This book has awaken the prideful African in me
The book takes place in South Africa. A biracial kid named Johannes is born to a black mother and white father but his father abandons his mother (he must, white people and black people can't have kids together and if they did, the black parent suffers). His mother later dies and this is when Johannes begins growing up. From living in the slums, he realized the plight of his people. Disgusted he does what he can to get up from his current situation. He let's his work speak for itself instead of what many blacks at the time, and in some ways today, do and that is just talk but no action.
The greatest part of this book is how Johannes, David Lyttons character, is able to realize that many of the things preventing upward mobility is due to the laws the whites have made but he doesn't let that prevent him from greatness. He let's his bitterness lead him into conning the white man but in a careful manner. He kills a white man after the hate reachs a boiling point.
He masterminds many plans to get himself up. Yes, to some he may seem like a criminal. But to me, what he did was only necessary to get to where he needed. Had their been opportunities for him to enjoy himself and earn a respectable living, he would have done it. But he had to turn to a life of crime, in essence, to live. Despite his gangly ways, he did everything in a careful manner.
A takeaway I had of this book is that whites sometimes try and speak for minorities despite never having lived their lives. Even, I as a proud African, can't speak for blacks in American ghettos. I've never lived there. But there are many injustices facing my people and it's time we start working together. This book has awaken the prideful African in me
April 19, 2023
This is one great book. Although t's not about American racism it is a bit familiar. Love the main character and how he shows his world to us through the many twists and turns his life takes. A must read for anyone that wants to understand the "why" of black feelings.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews