Synopses & Reviews
“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.
Right 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, Richard 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.
Review
“For terror in narrative, utter and compelling, there are few pages in modern American literature that will compare with this story.” Saturday Review
Review
“It’s difficult to write temperately of a book which abounds in such excitement, in so profound an understanding of human frailty.” New York Herald Tribune
Review
“Native Son taught me that it’s all right to have passion within your work, that you don’t need to shy away from politics in order to write fiction.” Gloria Naylor
About the Author
Richard Wright won international renown for his powerful and visceral depiction of the black experience. He stands today alongside such African-American luminaries as Zora Neale Hurston, James Baldwin, and Toni Morrison, and two of his novels, Native Son and Black Boy, are required reading in high schools and colleges across the nation. He died in 1960.