Richard Wright, Black Boy

Patrick Chura (University of Akron)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 3.2.5: African American Writing and Culture of the United States.
Vol. editors: Philathia Bolton (University of Akron), Patrick Chura (University of Akron), Emory Elliott (University of California, Riverside), A Yemisi Jimoh (University of Massachusetts Amherst), Stephen E. Meats (Pittsburg State University)

Domains

Race

Dates

First circulation or publication 1945

Places

United States (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Non-Fiction
- Autobiography (literary)
Historical representation

Resources

Richard Wright’s Black Boy, published by Harper & Brothers in 1945 to critical acclaim and controversy, held top spot on the national bestseller list for six weeks and eventually went through over half a million copies in its first year. Famously denounced by Mississippi senator and white supremacist Theodore Bilbo as a “dirty… filthy… obscene piece of writing” (qtd.in Rowley 319), the book has since taken its rightful place as a classic of American nonfiction, a work of mythic power and deep insight that speaks to “the hunger for life that gnaws in us all, to keep alive in our hearts a sense of the inexpressibly human” (Black Boy 384).

Wright’s autobiography, originally titled American Hunger,…

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3022 words

Citation: Chura, Patrick. "Black Boy". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 26 May 2015 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=6332, accessed 23 November 2024.]

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