Richard Wright

 Born in Mississippi in 1908  Father deserted family when Richard was

five.  Mother suffered strokes and became

dependant on her mother.  Grandmother was a fundamentalist who

crushed Richard’s imagination.

 He and his brother lived in an orphanage for awhile.

 Never finished high school but a good student.

 Harassed by whites and fled to Chicago in 1927.

  Wrote based upon his exposure to Realism and Naturalism.

  Studied and belonged to Communist and Existentialist groups.

  Tried to represent reality as he understood it.   Communist party offered him and other writers a

sense of political purpose and intellectual connections.

 At center of novel is Bigger’s consciousness. –  Wright met at least five Bigger’s in his youth. –  He believed there were millions of Bigger’s and

they weren’t just just black.

 Sold 250,000 copies in the first year.  Sales dropped when people discovered it

wasn’t and entertaining detective story.  Renewed interest in 1960’s.

–  WHY?  Suffered again in 1980’s .

–  WHY?

 Naturalism  Capitalism  Liberalism  Communism  Religion  Existentialism  Racism

 Psychoanalytic  Feminist  Marxist  New Historicism