Richard Wright (1) (1908–1960)
Auteur van Zoon van Amerika
Voor andere auteurs genaamd Richard Wright, zie de verduidelijkingspagina.
Over de Auteur
Richard Wright was generally thought of as one of the most gifted contemporary African American writers until the rise of James Baldwin. "With Wright, the pain of being a Negro is basically economic---its sight is mainly in the pocket. With Baldwin, the pain suffuses the whole man. . . . If toon meer Baldwin's sights are higher than Wright's, it is in part because Wright helped to raise them" (Time). Wright was born on a plantation near Natchez, Mississippi, the son of a sharecropper. At the age of 15, he started to work in Memphis, then in Chicago, then "bummed all over the country," supporting himself by various odd jobs. His early writing was in the smaller magazines---first poetry, then prose. He won Story Story's $500 prize---for the best story written by a worker on the Writer's Project---with "Uncle Tom's Children" in 1938, his first important publication. He wrote Native Son (1940) in eight months, and it made his reputation. Based in part on the actual case of a young black murderer of a white woman, it was one of the first of the African American protest novels, violent and shocking in its scenes of cruelty, hunger, rape, murder, flight, and prison. Black Boy (1945) is the simple, vivid, and poignant story of Wright's early years in the South. It appeared at the beginning of a new postwar awareness of the evils of racial prejudice and did much to call attention to the plight of the African American. The Outsider (1953) is a novel based on Wright's own experience as a member of the Communist party, an affiliation he terminated in 1944. He remained politically inactive thereafter and from 1946 until his death made his principal residence in Paris. His nonfiction writings on problems of his race include Black Power: A Record of Reactions in a Land of Pathos (1954), about a visit to the Gold Coast, White Man, Listen (1957), and Twelve Million Black Voices: A Folk History of the Negro in the United States. (Bowker Author Biography) Richard Wright was born on a plantation near Natchez, Mississippi. His father left the family when Wright was only five years old, and he was raised first by his mother and then by a series of relatives. What little schooling he had ended with his graduation from ninth grade in Memphis, Tennessee. At age 15, he started to work in Memphis, and later worked in Chicago before traveling across the country supporting himself with odd jobs. When Wright finally returned to Chicago, he got a job with the federal Writer's Project, a government-supported arts program. He was quite successful, winning a $500 prize from a magazine for the best fiction written by a participant in that program. In Chicago, he was also introduced to leftist politics and became a member of the Communist Party. In 1937, Wright left Chicago for New York, where he became Harlem editor for the Communist national newspaper, The Daily Worker, and where he met future novelist, Ralph Ellison. Wright became a celebrated author with the publication of Native Son (1940), a novel he wrote in only eight months. Based on the actual case of a young black murderer of a white woman, it was one of the first of the modern black protest novels, violent and shocking in its sense of cruelty, hunger, rape, murder, flight, and prison. This novel brought Wright both fame and financial security. He followed it with his autobiography, Black Boy (1945), which was also successful. In 1942, Wright and his wife broke with the Communist Party, and in 1947, they moved to France, where Wright lived the rest of his life. His novel The Outsider (1953) is based on his experiences as a member of the Communist Party. Wright is regarded as a major modern American writer, one of the first black writers to reach a large white audience, and thereby raise the level of national awareness of the continuing problem of racism in America. In many respects Wright paved the way for all black writers who followed him. (Bowker Author Biography) toon minder
Fotografie: Richard Wright (1908-1960)
Photograph by Gordon Parks, May 1943
(Farm Security Administration-
Office of War Information Photograph Collection,
Library of Congress)
Photograph by Gordon Parks, May 1943
(Farm Security Administration-
Office of War Information Photograph Collection,
Library of Congress)
Werken van Richard Wright
Richard Wright: Early Works: Lawd Today!, Uncle Tom's Children, Native Son (1991) 378 exemplaren, 4 besprekingen
Richard Wright: Later Works: Black Boy {American Hunger}, The Outsider (1991) 318 exemplaren, 3 besprekingen
Black Power: Three Books from Exile: Black Power; The Color Curtain; and White Man, Listen! (2008) 91 exemplaren
Native Son: The Biography of a Young American: A Play in Eleven Scenes to Be Performed Without Intermission 9 exemplaren
The Man Who Was Almost a Man 5 exemplaren
Down by the Riverside 4 exemplaren
How "Bigger" was born; the story of Native son, one of the most significant novels of our time 3 exemplaren
Scoperte d'infanzia. Racconto 1 exemplaar
Mi vida de negro 1 exemplaar
Długi sen 1 exemplaar
Sanje nekega življenja 1 exemplaar
Sangre negra 1 exemplaar
Wright Richard 1 exemplaar
Fire and cloud 1 exemplaar
Five Famous Writers 1 exemplaar
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Tagged
Algemene kennis
- Gangbare naam
- Wright, Richard
- Officiële naam
- Wright, Richard Nathaniel
- Geboortedatum
- 1908-09-04
- Overlijdensdatum
- 1960-11-28
- Graflocatie
- Le Père Lachaise Cemetery, Paris, France
- Geslacht
- male
- Nationaliteit
- USA (birth)
France (naturalized 1947) - Geboorteplaats
- Roxie, Mississippi, USA
- Plaats van overlijden
- Paris, France
- Oorzaak van overlijden
- heart attack
- Woonplaatsen
- Jackson, Mississippi, USA
Chicago, Illinois, USA
New York, New York, USA
Paris, France - Opleiding
- Lanier High School, Jackson, Mississippi, USA
- Beroepen
- novelist
short-story writer
poet
essayist
editor
postal clerk - Relaties
- Wright, Malcolm (grandson)
- Organisaties
- John Reed Club
Communist Party
National Negro Congress
South Side Writers Group (chairman)
Left Front (editor)
Daily Worker (editor) (toon alle 7)
Works Progress Administration Federal Writers' Project - Prijzen en onderscheidingen
- Spingarn Medal (1941)
Guggenheim Fellowship
Chicago Literary Hall of Fame (2010)
Story Prize (1938)
Leden
Besprekingen
Uncle Tom's Children door Richard Wright
This book articulates the pain of being black in America like nothing else I've ever read. It's difficult to read in places, but it's a necessary difficulty.
This was a difficult but important book to read. The essay at the end, entitled “How Bigger was Born,” is equal parts an exploration of Wright’s creative process and a klaxon sounding against white ignorance of the black experience. When Wright began this essay talking about the overused trumped-up charge of r*pe levied against black men in the Jim Crow era, I couldn’t help but think of the reaction of many conservative whites to #MeToo, to the effect that they were worried that their sons’ or their own lives would be ruined by false accusations of sexual misconduct. Wright would surely say something to the effect of “Now, you understand something of what we’ve been going through.” I don’t recall if there were any black commentators who made this point, but it wouldn’t surprise me. A key difference, of course, is that the vast majority of mostly powerful whites who were accused were likely guilty, whereas the vast majority of kostly powerless blacks were likely innocent.
I also recognized some parallels to Winston Smith in George Orwell’s 1984: a strong desire to rebel against an oppressive system, couched even in terms of violence, but ultimately the same fate and failure.… (meer)
I also recognized some parallels to Winston Smith in George Orwell’s 1984: a strong desire to rebel against an oppressive system, couched even in terms of violence, but ultimately the same fate and failure.… (meer)
This actually consists of a novella-length story, plus a nonfiction essay. The short story is the one of the title. It’s set in the 1940s(?) (that’s when it was originally written, anyway), and a black man, Fred, leaving work, just having been paid in cash, is “arrested” by the police and “questioned”/tortured. Initially not knowing even what they police were talking about, it turns out the neighbours of the people Fred worked for had been murdered in their home earlier in the day. Fred manages to escape and moves underground via the sewers from building to building for a few days.
The essay talked about how the author grew up with his very religious Grandmother and how some things from that experience related to this story.
Overall, I’m rating it ok. The essay got pretty philosophical, so wasn’t all that interesting to me. The story itself was better, but also a little bit odd while Fred was underground. I definitely did not see the end coming (but maybe I should have?).… (meer)
The essay talked about how the author grew up with his very religious Grandmother and how some things from that experience related to this story.
Overall, I’m rating it ok. The essay got pretty philosophical, so wasn’t all that interesting to me. The story itself was better, but also a little bit odd while Fred was underground. I definitely did not see the end coming (but maybe I should have?).… (meer)
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Statistieken
- Werken
- 54
- Ook door
- 71
- Leden
- 17,556
- Populariteit
- #1,259
- Waardering
- 4.0
- Besprekingen
- 221
- ISBNs
- 367
- Talen
- 15
- Favoriet
- 32
