![]() Top row: Richard Wright | Right, the first hardcover edition of the novel, it sold 250,000 hardcover copies within three weeks of its publication by the Book-of-the-Month Club, a staggering number for the era. However, in either form, Native Son is, unarguably, one of America’s greatest novels. ![]() Concerning the novel, James Baldwin once wrote, “No American Negro exists, who does not have his private Bigger Thomas living in his skull.” Initially abridged by the publisher who feared offending its readers, the author’s original text wasn’t restored until the 1991 Library of America edition. Through a tragic chain of events, Bigger accidentally commits a horrendous act that leads to his inevitable fate as Wright saw it. ![]() Dalton but, despite his employer’s kindness, Bigger feels uncomfortable around the Dalton family, particularly the daughter, Mary. He gets a job as a chauffer for the wealthy Mr. In the novel, Bigger Thomas lives impoverished in Chicago’s South Side, sharing a one room flat with his mother, brother, and sister. The Many Faces (and Book Covers) of Native SonĪs relevant today as when it first appeared in 1940, Richard Wright’s Native Son captures the hope, anger, fear, and frustration that African American’s experience on a daily basis, both then and now. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |