Prior to becoming a psychiatrist, Frantz Fanon wanted to be a playwright and his interest in dialogue, dramatisation and metaphor continued throughout his writing and career. His passion for theatre developed during the years that he was studying medicine, and in 1949 he wrote the plays The Drowning Eye (L' il se noie), and Parallel Hands (Les Mains parall les). This first English translation of the works gives us a Fanon at his most lyrical, experimental and provocative.