{"title":"Richard Wright","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"the-man-who-lived-underground-9780062971487b","title":"The Man Who Lived Underground","description":"Fred Daniels, a Black man, is picked up by the police after a brutal double murder and tortured until he confesses to a crime he did not commit. After signing a confession, he escapes from custody and flees into the city's sewer system.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\nThis is the devastating premise of Richard Wright's scorching novel, The Man Who Lived Underground, written between his landmark books Native Son (1940) and Black Boy (1945), at the height of his creative powers. Now, for the first time, by special arrangement between the Library of America and the author's estate, the full text of the work that meant more to Wright than any other (\"I have never written anything in my life that stemmed more from sheer inspiration\") is published in the form that he intended, complete with his companion essay, \"Memories of My Grandmother.\" Malcolm Wright, the author's grandson, contributes an afterword.","brand":"HarperCollins Publishers","offers":[{"title":"Bargain","offer_id":42818516516944,"sku":"9780062971487B","price":9.99,"currency_code":"CAD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0592\/8173\/5760\/files\/9780062971487-l.jpg?v=1785872078"},{"product_id":"black-boy-olive-editions-9780063458345b","title":"Black Boy (Olive Editions)","description":"\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: bold;\"\u003eCelebrating its eightieth anniversary, Richard Wright’s eloquent autobiography about growing up in the Jim Crow South that gives unique voice to being Southern, black, and male in early 20th century America—now available as a special \u003cspan style=\"font-style: italic;\"\u003eHarper Perennial Olive Edition.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWhen \u003cspan style=\"font-style: italic;\"\u003eBlack Boy\u003c\/span\u003e exploded onto the literary scene in 1945, it was both praised and condemned. Orville Prescott of the \u003cspan style=\"font-style: italic;\"\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/span\u003e wrote that “if enough such books are written, if enough millions of people read them maybe, someday, in the fullness of time, there will be a greater understanding and a more true democracy.” Yet from 1975 to 1978, \u003cspan style=\"font-style: italic;\"\u003eBlack Boy \u003c\/span\u003ewas banned in schools throughout the United States for “obscenity” and “instigating hatred between the races,” and continues to remain controversial, coming under the scrutiny of censors today who are banning an alarming number of books.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWright’s celebrated autobiography measures the raw brutality of the Jim Crow South against the sheer desperate will it took to survive it while Black. Enduring poverty, hunger, fear, abuse, and hatred while growing up in the woods of Mississippi, Wright lied, stole, and raged at those around him—whites indifferent, pitying, or cruel and blacks resentful of anyone trying to rise above their circumstances. Desperate for a different way of life, he made his way north, eventually arriving in Chicago, where he forged a new path and began his career as a writer. At the end of \u003cspan style=\"font-style: italic;\"\u003eBlack Boy\u003c\/span\u003e, Wright sits poised with pencil in hand, determined to “hurl words into this darkness and wait for an echo.” Eighty year later, his words continue to reverberate.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOne of the great American memoirs, Wright’s account is a poignant record of struggle and endurance—a pioneering literary work that still illuminates our own time.\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: bold;\"\u003e“Superb. . . . A great American writer speaks with his own voice about matters that still resonate at the center of our lives.”—\u003cspan style=\"font-style: italic;\"\u003eNew York Times Book Review\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"HarperPerennial","offers":[{"title":"Bargain","offer_id":42870212427856,"sku":"9780063458345B","price":6.99,"currency_code":"CAD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0592\/8173\/5760\/files\/9780063458345-l.jpg?v=1785876367"},{"product_id":"black-boy-9780061443084b","title":"Black Boy","description":"Richard Wright grew up in the woods of Mississippi, with poverty, hunger, fear, and hatred. He lied, stole, and raged at those around him; at six he was a \"drunkard,\" hanging about taverns. Surly, brutal, cold, suspicious, and self-pitying, he was surrounded on one side by whites who were either indifferent to him, pitying, or cruel, and on the other by blacks who resented anyone trying to rise above the common lot. Black Boy is Richard Wright's powerful account of his journey from innocence to experience in the Jim Crow South. It is at once an unashamed confession and a profound indictment - a poignant and disturbing record of social injustice and human suffering. \n","brand":"Harper Collins","offers":[{"title":"Bargain","offer_id":42821539823696,"sku":"9780061443084B","price":5.49,"currency_code":"CAD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0592\/8173\/5760\/files\/9780061443084-l.jpg?v=1785884102"},{"product_id":"native-son-9780061148507b","title":"Native Son","description":"\u003cp\u003eRight from the start, Bigger Thomas had been headed for jail. It could have been for assault or petty larceny; by chance, it was for murder and rape. Native Son tells the story of this young black man caught in a downward spiral after he kills a young white woman in a brief moment of panic. Set in Chicago in the 1930s, Wright's powerful novel is an unsparing reflection on the poverty and feelings of hopelessness experienced by people in inner cities across the country and of what it means to be black in America.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Harper Collins","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42823729676368,"sku":"9780061148507B","price":10.99,"currency_code":"CAD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0592\/8173\/5760\/files\/9780061148507-l.jpg?v=1785893625"},{"product_id":"uncle-tom-s-children-9780063139015b","title":"Uncle Tom's Children","description":"Richard Wright's powerful collection of novellas set in the American Deep South, now available as a limited Olive Edition from Harper Perennial.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eEach of the poignant stories in Uncle Tom's Children concerns an aspect of the lives of Black people in the post-slavery era, exploring their resistance to white racism and oppression. The collection also includes a personal essay by Wright titled The Ethics of Living Jim Crow.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOriginally published in 1938, Uncle Tom's Children was the first book from Wright, who would go on to win international renown for his powerful and visceral depiction of the Black experience. The author of numerous works, most notably the acclaimed novel Native Son and his stunning autobiography, Black Boy, Wright stands today as one of the greatest American writers of the twentieth century.","brand":"HarperCollins Publishers","offers":[{"title":"Bargain","offer_id":42824940257360,"sku":"9780063139015B","price":5.99,"currency_code":"CAD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0592\/8173\/5760\/files\/9780063139015-l.jpg?v=1785898710"},{"product_id":"native-son-vintage-classics-9781784877552b","title":"Native Son (Vintage Classics)","description":"\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: bold;\"\u003eBigger Thomas has grown up in Chicago’s slums, reckless, angry and adrift.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA respectable job with the affluent Dalton family provides hope but sets him on course for a catastrophic collision between his world and theirs. Hunted by citizen and police alike, and baited by prejudiced officials, Bigger finds himself the cause célèbre in an ever-narrowing endgame.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFirst published in 1940, \u003cspan style=\"font-style: italic;\"\u003eNative Son\u003c\/span\u003e shocked readers with its candid depiction of violence and confrontation of racial stereotypes. It went on to make Richard Wright the first bestselling black writer in America.","brand":"Vintage Books","offers":[{"title":"Bargain","offer_id":42825113075792,"sku":"9781784877552B","price":8.49,"currency_code":"CAD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0592\/8173\/5760\/files\/9781784877552-l.jpg?v=1785899457"},{"product_id":"rite-of-passage-9780064471114b","title":"Rite of Passage","description":"When Johnny Gibbs learns that the family he thought he belonged to are not his blood relatives, and that he must go to a foster home, he runs away.","brand":"Harper Collins","offers":[{"title":"Bargain","offer_id":42872706072656,"sku":"9780064471114B","price":4.99,"currency_code":"CAD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0592\/8173\/5760\/files\/9780064471114-l.jpg?v=1785899954"},{"product_id":"the-man-who-lived-underground-9781598536768b","title":"The Man Who Lived Underground","description":"\u003cb\u003eLiterati Book Club Pick\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFred Daniels, a Black man, is picked up by the police after a brutal double murder and tortured until he confesses to a crime he did not commit. After signing a confession, he escapes from custody and flees into the city’s sewer system.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThis is the devastating premise of this scorching novel, a masterpiece that Richard Wright was unable to publish in his lifetime. Written between his landmark books Native Son (1940) and Black Boy (1945), at the height of his creative powers, it would eventually see publication only in drastically condensed and truncated form in the posthumous collection Eight Men (1961).\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eNow, for the first time, by special arrangement with the author's estate, the full text of this incendiary novel about race and violence in America, the work that meant more to Wright than any other (“I have never written anything in my life that stemmed more from sheer inspiration”), is published in the form that he intended, complete with his companion essay, “Memories of My Grandmother.” Malcolm Wright, the author’s grandson, contributes an afterword.","brand":"Library of America","offers":[{"title":"Bargain","offer_id":42826078158928,"sku":"9781598536768B","price":10.49,"currency_code":"CAD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0592\/8173\/5760\/files\/9781598536768-l.jpg?v=1785904012"},{"product_id":"native-son-american-classics-edition","title":"Native Son (American Classics Edition)","description":"\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: bold;\"\u003eOne of The Atlantic’s Great American Novels\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: bold;\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn celebration of the 250th anniversary of the United States, HarperCollins is proud to present this library of American classics drawn from our storied catalog. When it was first published in 1940, \u003cspan style=\"font-style: italic;\"\u003eNative Son\u003c\/span\u003e established Richard Wright as a literary star. In the decades since, Wright's masterpiece—hailed as \"a novel of tremendous power and beauty\" (\u003cspan style=\"font-style: italic;\"\u003eNewsweek\u003c\/span\u003e)—has become a revered classic that remains as timely and relevant today as when it first appeared.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSet in Chicago in the 1930s, \u003cspan style=\"font-style: italic;\"\u003eNative Son\u003c\/span\u003e is the story of Bigger Thomas, a young Black man caught in a downward spiral after killing a young white woman in a brief moment of panic. Written with the distinctive rhythm of a modern crime story, this formidable work is both a condemnation of social injustice and an unsparing portrait of the Black experience in America, revealing the tragic effect of poverty, racism, and hopelessness on the human spirit. As Wright explained, \"I wrote \u003cspan style=\"font-style: italic;\"\u003eNative Son\u003c\/span\u003e to show what manner of men and women our 'society of the majority' breeds, and my aim was to depict a character in terms of the living tissue and texture of daily consciousness.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThis edition of \u003cspan style=\"font-style: italic;\"\u003eNative Son\u003c\/span\u003e is the restored text established by the \u003cspan style=\"font-style: italic;\"\u003eLibrary of America\u003c\/span\u003e—the novel as Wright intended it to be published. It also includes an essay by Wright titled, \u003cspan style=\"font-style: italic;\"\u003eHow \"Bigger\" was Born\u003c\/span\u003e, along with notes on the text.\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;\"\u003e“If one had to identify the single most influential shaping force in modern Black literary history, one would probably have to point to Wright and the publication of Native Son.” – Henry Louis Gates Jr.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"HarperPerennial","offers":[{"title":"Bargain","offer_id":42889292120144,"sku":"9780063484207B","price":11.49,"currency_code":"CAD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0592\/8173\/5760\/files\/9780063484207-l.jpg?v=1788330316"}],"url":"https:\/\/bookoutlet.com\/en-ca\/collections\/richard-wright.oembed","provider":"Book Outlet","version":"1.0","type":"link"}