ABSTRACT
Together the life and work of African-American author Richard Nathaniel Wright (1908-60) form a significant narrative in American literary, cultural, and social history.1 In his large corpus of novels, short stories, and works of non-fiction, Wright offered critical and sometimes disturbing analysis of several of the most pressing issues of the twentieth century, including race relations and the legacy of slavery in the United States; the possibilities and failures of communism; and the effects of colonialism on Third World development. Wright is best known for his novel Native Son (1940)2 and his autobiography Black Boy (1945),3 both of which were set in the context of black America and sought to expose the harsh realities of racial violence and discrimination in the United States. Another novel, The Outsider (1953),4 is less well known, but has been noted for its impact on, and reflection of, American existentialism. The Outsider raises pressing questions about the ultimate meaning of
1 For helpful general biographies on Wright, see Michel Fabre, The Unfinished Quest of Richard Wright, Urbana: University of Illinois Press 1993 [1973]; Hazel Rowley, Richard Wright: The Life and Times, New York: Henry Holt and Company 2001; Margaret Walker, Richard Wright: Daemonic Genius, A Portrait of the Man: A Critical Look at His Work, New York: Warner Books 1988; and Jerry W. Ward, Jr. and Robert J. Butler (eds.), The Richard Wright Encyclopedia, Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press 2008. 2 Richard Wright, Native Son, New York and London: Harper & Brothers 1940. 3 Richard Wright, Black Boy: A Record of Childhood and Youth, New York and London: Harper & Brothers 1945. Originally, Wright had submitted his full autobiography to Harper & Brothers under the name American Hunger. When his book was being considered for inclusion in the Book-of-the-Month Club, however, representatives from the Club asked him to drop sections of the book that they felt were too pessimistic about racism against AfricanAmericans. Wright made the revisions and changed the name of his book to Black Boy for publication in 1945. In 1977, Harper and Row published the originally omitted sections as American Hunger, and in 1991 the Library of America published the restored text in its entirety as Black Boy (American Hunger): A Record of Childhood and Youth. For Wright’s publishing history of the book, see The Richard Wright Encyclopedia, ed. by Jerry W. Ward,
life and how to find freedom in the face of despair and fear, themes that are present but less explicit in many of his other works.
