Richard Wright (1908-1960)

A selective list of online literary criticism for author Richard Wright, favoring signed articles by recognized scholars, articles published in reviewed sources, and web sites that adhere to the MLA Guidelines for Authors of Web Sites

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Literary Criticism

Briones, Matthew M. Call-and-response: tracing the ideological shifts of Richard Wright through his correspondence with friends and fellow literati. In African American Review, 3/22/03

Butler, Robert. Farrell's ethnic neighborhood and Wright's urban ghetto: two visions of Chicago's South Side - James T. Farrell, Richard Wright - Irish-American Literature 'Studs Lonigan' is compared to 'Native Son' to show contrasting views of the South Side of Chicago, IL. In Melus taken offline, 3/22/93

Costello, Brannon. Richard Wright's Lawd Today! And the political uses of modernism. In African American Review, 3/22/03

Cappetti, Carla. Black Orpheus: Richard Wright's "The Man Who Lived Underground" Melus taken offline, 12/22/01

DeCoste, Damon Marcel. To blot it all out: the politics of realism in Richard Wright's 'Native Son.' In Style, 3/22/98

Demirturk, Lale. Mapping the Terrain of Whiteness: Richard Wright's Savage Holiday. In Melus taken offline, 3/22/

Demirturk, Lale The making and unmaking of whiteness: Richard Wright's Rite of Passage. In Melus taken offline, 6/22/01

Eby, C. Slouching toward Beastliness: Richard Wright's Anatomy of Thomas Dixon. In African American Review, 9/22/01

Folks, Jeffrey J. Review of From Richard Wright to Toni Morrison: Ethics in Modern and Postmodern American Narrative (Peter Lang, 2001) In African American Review, 6/22/02 reviewed by Philip Page

Fowler, Gregory W. An introduction to Richard Wright from the Literary Encyclopedia, 03 March 2005

George, Stephen K. The horror of Bigger Thomas: the perception of form without face in Richard Wright's 'Native Son.' In African American Review, 9/22/97

Hakutani, Yoshinobu. Richard Wright's 'The Long Dream' as racial and sexual discourse. In African American Review, 6/22/96

Hakutani, Yoshinobu. Review of Richard Wright and Racial Discourse. (U of Missouri P, 1996) In African American Review, 9/22/99 reviewed by Alessandro Portelli

Jurca, Catherine. Sample chapter from White Diaspora: The Suburb and the Twentieth-Century American Novel. Includes section on Richard Wright and Native Son. Publisher's blurb

Lynch, Michael F. Haunted by innocence: the debate with Dostoevsky in Wright's 'other novel,' "The Outsider." African American Review, 6/22/96

Miller, Eugene E. Richard Wright, community, and the French connection In Twentieth Century Literature, 9/22/95

Orlans, Harold. Selling Richard Wright - how the Book of the Month Club influenced the works of Richard Wright. In Change, 5/1/00

Peterson, Dale. Richard Wright's long journey from Gorky to Dostoevsky - Maxim Gorky and Fyodor Dostoevsky. In African American Review, 9/22/94

Rayson, Ann. Short biography of Richard Wright with bibliography, from the Modern American Poetry web site, Univ. of Ill

Reuben, Paul. A list of Richard Wright's primary works, selected secondary criticism, and discussion questions, from Dr. Reuben's bibliography web site

Rodgers, Lawrence R. Review of Canaan Bound: The African-American Great Migration Novel. (U of Illinois P, 1997) In African American Review, 9/22/00 reviewed by Farah Jasmine Griffin

Rowley, Hazel. The 'Exile' Years? How the '50s Culture Wars Destroyed Richard Wright" in Bookforum, Dec/Jan 2006

Schultz, Elizabeth. The Power of Blackness: Richard Wright Re-Writes Moby-Dick. In African American Review, 12/22/99

Smith, Virginia Whatley, ed. Review of Richard Wright's Travel Writings: New Reflections(UP of Mississippi. 2001) African American Review, 9/22/02 by John M. Reilly

Tuhkanen, Miko Juhani. "A igger's place": lynching and specularity in Richard Wright's "Fire and Cloud" and 'Native Son.' In African American Review, 3/22/99

Introductory, overview

A web site on Richard Wright with excerpts from reputable critical discussions, from the Modern American Poetry site at Univ. of Ill

A teacher's guide for Richard Wright's works Native Son, Black Boy, 12 Million Black Voices, The Long Dream, Uncle Tom's Children, Black Power, The Outsider, and White Man Listen! An overview of Wright's career, a bibliography for discussion questions for Native Son and other novels, from Mississippi Educational Television, originally produced for PBS

An engaging essay about Richard Wright's Haiku by poet Ty Hadman

A Teacher's Guide to Richard Wright from textbook publisher Heath

The mysterious death of Richard Wright; suspicious event raise questions about last days of novelist, Ebony, 2/1/89, unsigned

A biography of Richard Wright from Yale University Library, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, and information about the Wright manuscripts at the Beinecke

A biography of Richard Wright with a list of his publications and some information about locating his manuscripts, from the University of Mississippi's writers page

Richard Wright's 169 page FBI file, provided under the Freedom of Information Act. Wright was investigated by the FBI for being a member of the communist party between 1932-1942. He left the party in 1942 because of ideological disputes. (removed, formerly http://foia.fbi.gov/rnwright.htm)

The internet movie database page for the 1950 film version of Native Son

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