Coinciding with the preparations for the celebration in 2008 of Richard Wrightâs 100th birthday, this new collection of critical essays on Native Son attests to the importance and endurance of Wrightâs controversial work. The eleven essays collected in this volume engage the objective of Rodopiâs Dialogue Series by creating multidirectional conversations in which senior and younger scholars interact with each other and with previous scholars who have weighed in on the novelâs import. Speaking from distant corners of the world, the contributors to this book reflect an international interest in Wrightâs unique combination of literary strategies and social aims. The wide range of approaches to Native Son is presented in five thematic sections. The first three sections cover aspects such as the historical reception of Wrightâs novel, the inscription of sex and gender both in Native Son and in other African American texts, and the influence of Africa and of vortical symbolism on Wrightâs aesthetics; following is the study of the novel from the point of view of its adoption and transformation of various literary genresâthe African American jeremiad, the protest novel, the crime novel and courtroom drama, the Bildungsroman, and the Biblical modes of narration. The closing section analyzes the novelâs lasting influence through its adaptation to other artistic fields, such as the cinema and song in the form of hip-hop. The present volume may, therefore, be of interest for students who are not very familiar with Wrightâs classic text as well as for scholars and Richard Wright specialists.
â[â¦] the strength of this collection lies in the wider scope of the dialogic vision it establishes.â in: African American Review, Vol. 43.2-3
General Editorâs Preface
Introduction
Richard Wright and the Reception of His Work
Caleb CORKERY: Richard Wright and His White Audience: How the Authorâs Persona Gave Native Son Historical Significance
Philip GOLDSTEIN: From Communism to Black Studies and Beyond: The Reception of Richard Wright's Native Son Gendered Textualities
Yvonne ROBINSON JONES: Sexual Diversity in Richard Wrightâs Characterization of Bigger Thomas: Homo-socialism, Homo-eroticism, and the Feminine
Carol E. HENDERSON: Notes from a Native Daughter: The Nature of Black Womanhood in Native Son Spatial Dynamics
Babacar M'BAYE: Slavery and Africa in Native Son and Black Power: A Transnationalist Interpretation
Herman BEAVERS: Vortical Blues: Turbulence, Disorder, and the Emplotment of Surplus Meaning in Native Son A Polyphony of Genres
Ana MarÃa FRAILE-MARCOS: Native Sonâs âideology of formâ: The (African) American Jeremiad and American Exceptionalism
Heather Duerre HUMANN: Genre in/and Wrightâs Native Son
Carme MANUEL: Biggerâs âRebellious Complaintâ: Biblical Imagery in Native Son
Native Son Beyond the Page
Raphaël LAMBERT: From Page to Screen: A Comparative Study of Richard Wrightâs Native Son and Its Two Film Adaptations
James Braxton PETERSON: The Hate U Gave (T.H.U.G.): Reflections on the Bigger Figures in Present Day Hip Hop Culture
Notes on Contributors
Index