Richard Wright (1908‐1960) is an important figure in twentieth‐century US history. In attacking the taboos and hypocrisy relating to Negro issues and Civil Rights that previous writers had rarely dared to address, he revolutionised American and Afro‐American literature. His bold and authentic images of Black American experiences, based on his own experiences, disturbed and inspired readers. Wright's published work includes seven novels, a collection of essays, two collections of short fiction, an autobiography, a play, Native Son, more than 250 newspaper articles, book reviews and occasional essays, 817 haiku verses, a photo‐documentary, and three travel books. A measure of Wright's influence is the listing here of five bibliographies, 23 books, 24 chapters in other books, 18 collections of essays and 61 articles about him! After a harsh childhood in the Deep South, dominated by the invidious Jim Crow laws, he moved to Memphis where “Borrowing a library card from a white co‐worker […] Wright withdrew from the Memphis Public Library two books which would radically change his life”. He moved on to Chicago where he found part‐time work. Here he joined the American Communist Party and a number of writers' groups, and wrote short stories which were much acclaimed. In 1937 he went to New York where he became the Harlem editor of the Communist newspaper, the Daily Worker. Here he wrote his autobiography, Black Boy, which was a bestseller for three weeks and Book of the Month. In 1940, his novel Native Son was made into a stage version directed by Orson Welles. In 1947, finding his reputation caused trouble in the climate of intolerance which prevailed at the time and his family being harassed (his wife was white), he emigrated to France and settled in Paris – Wright had long been strongly influenced by European existentialism. He died there aged 52.
The Richard Wright Encyclopedia covers both Wright's extraordinary life and works, and also the turbulent times in which he lived. Arranged in alphabetical order, there are 370 entries which include biographical profiles of the significant people who influenced him or who were influenced by him, places where Wright lived or visited, background information which document and analyse the historical and cultural context of Wright's life, and entries about his published and unpublished writings. There is a useful preliminary listing of the entries by 22 subject categories which include Introductions and Forewords, Awards, Conferences, Cultural and Political Events, Movements, Organizations, and Writers. The writers include those who influenced, and were influenced by, Wright, 86 of them, ranging from James Baldwin and Simone de Beauvoir, Dostoevsky and Gorky, Hegel and Heidegger, to Eliot and Joyce, Steinbeck and Sarte, Whitman and Freud. A feature of the encyclopaedia worth mentioning is that it covers not just the life and works of Richard Wright, but provides the background to the times in which he lived, so there are entries on Film Noir, the Federal Writers Project, newspapers and magazines of the time, the Great Depression and the Great Migration: all good grist to students of the inter‐war years in North America and the cultural scene of post‐war France.
Most entries include a selected bibliography, which is augmented by the aforementioned listing of 151 primary and secondary sources. The two named editors are responsible for the bulk of the entries though 18 other contributors also feature. The writing is clear and concise, the encyclopaedia being aimed at students, scholars or general readers alike. It usefully builds on the earlier biographies of Fabre (1973) Rowley (2001) and the bibliographies of Kinnamon (1988, 2006). The book is well‐crafted, easy to use, and “accessible”. One thing I missed, though, was a chronology: it took me a long time to find out Wright's dates for living in New York.
And the two books borrowed from Memphis Public Library which so influenced Wright? H.L. Mencken's Prejudices and A Book of Prefaces. I'm on the trail of these now, and Black Boy, A Native Son, and Wright's other writings. If Richard Wright has lost some of his reputation in recent years, this encyclopaedia should quickly re‐establish it. This book is an important work for students of American studies.
