Richard Wright: The Life and Times - Softcover

"A full-scale biography of the author of Black Boy and Native Son that is "thorough and engrossing from the first page to the last." - Washington Post; "The strength of Richard Wright is painstaking research. Rowley...has a daunting dedication to primary sources and her documentation is meticulous." - New York Times; "A welcome and illuminating work...Rich and revealing." - San Francisco Chronicle

"Writing," Richard Wright once said, "is my way of being a free man." In this engaging biography, Hazel Rowley chronicles Wright's extraordinary journey from a sharecropper's shack in Mississippi to international renown as a writer, fiercely independent thinker, and outspoken critic of racism. Skilfully interweaving quotations from Wright's writings, Rowland portrays a man who transcended the times in which he lived and sought to reconcile opposing cultures in his work. She draws on recently discovered material to shed new light on Wright's relationship with Langston Hughes, Ralph Ellison, and others, and on his self-imposed exile in France (widely blamed for his so-called decline as a writer). In this lively, finely crafted narrative, Wright - passionate, complex, courageous, and flawed, comes vibrantly to life.