![What Richard Wright Knew](https://magarticles.magzter.com/articles/4302/658433/60a3c08455a3c/What-Richard-Wright-Knew.jpg)
Richard Wright, the father figure of African American literature, both nurtured and was rejected by his two most conspicuous heirs, Ralph Ellison and James Baldwin. Wright, who took Ellison under his wing in New York in the late 1930s, told his acolyte to stop copying him, that he was mimicking, not cultivating his own style. Ellison responded that he was trying to learn to write well by imitating his mentor. That was when they were close. Baldwin, too, started out as a pupil and an admirer who saw Wright poised to be the greatest Black writer in the United States.
Though it happened slowly, by 1941, Ellison betrayed signs of feeling that Wright, affiliated off and on with the Communist Party, wrote fiction that was too ideological and not sensitive enough to nuance: Wright wanted to testify to the monstrosities of white supremacy, rather than the power of Black resilience. Ellison grew committed to the poetry of American democracy, despite how badly it was sullied; he swore by the virtues of individualism. Calling Wright “Poor Richard,” Baldwin joined Ellison in lamenting their mentor’s failure to see the beauty of Black people. The two of them never ceased to love Wright’s prose, but they came to reject his perspective.
I admit I’ve been inclined to share their verdict, based on Wright’s first novel, Native Son, published in 1940, which I read again and again in classes before and during college. I’ve parroted the notes I took in lectures, and I’ve taught a version of those lectures myself: Bigger Thomas was a protagonist stripped of any redeeming qualities, so distorted by the conditions of racism that he became an avatar more than a character, and an unsettling representation of Blackness.
Diese Geschichte stammt aus der June 2021-Ausgabe von The Atlantic.
Starten Sie Ihre 7-tägige kostenlose Testversion von Magzter GOLD, um auf Tausende kuratierte Premium-Storys sowie über 8.000 Zeitschriften und Zeitungen zuzugreifen.
Bereits Abonnent ? Anmelden
Diese Geschichte stammt aus der June 2021-Ausgabe von The Atlantic.
Starten Sie Ihre 7-tägige kostenlose Testversion von Magzter GOLD, um auf Tausende kuratierte Premium-Storys sowie über 8.000 Zeitschriften und Zeitungen zuzugreifen.
Bereits Abonnent? Anmelden
![THE GLACIER RESCUE PROJECT](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/4302/1733047/8tMX-T8vo1718714248505/THE-GLACIER-RESCUE-PROJECT.jpg)
THE GLACIER RESCUE PROJECT
Can the mighty Thwaites be stopped from tumbling into the sea?
![A Novel Without Characters](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/4302/1733047/4yPEWYBVB1718716977007/A-NOVEL-WITHOUT-CHARACTERS.jpg)
A Novel Without Characters
Rachel Cusks lonely experiment
![The Industry That Ate America](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/4302/1733047/2XLU552I51718716749037/THE-INDUSTRY-THAT-ATE-AMERICA.jpg)
The Industry That Ate America
The long and lurid history of lobbying
![Kafka's Not Supposed to Make Sense](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/4302/1733047/5pD5nGdOu1718716456861/KAFKAS-NOT-SUPPOSED-TO-MAKE-SENSE.jpg)
Kafka's Not Supposed to Make Sense
“The incomprehensible,” he explained, “is incomprehensible.”
![Tornado Watch](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/4302/1733047/O-l5i_K_J1718716111951/TORNADO-WATCH.jpg)
Tornado Watch
How Lee Isaac Chung reimagined Twister, one of the biggest climate-disaster thrillers of all time
![Too Cute to Fail](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/4302/1733047/jXiIWXkLE1718715373348/TOO-CUTE-TO-FAIL.jpg)
Too Cute to Fail
Koalas are threatened by climate change, cars, and chlamydia. Can Australia find a way to protect its most beloved animal?
![THE FIRST THREE MONTHS](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/4302/1733047/_wh3lp8HM1718713159859/THE-FIRST-THREE-MONTHS.jpg)
THE FIRST THREE MONTHS
What I saw inside the government’s response to COVID-19
![THE VALLEY](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/4302/1733047/BSZgiac3f1718712455227/THE-VALLEY.jpg)
THE VALLEY
Searching for the future in the most American city
![THE AIRPORT-LOUNGE ARMS RACE](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/4302/1705472/4GLuV90RJ1716814207720/THE-AIRPORTLOUNGE-ARMS-RACE.jpg)
THE AIRPORT-LOUNGE ARMS RACE
Inside the ever more extravagant competition to lure affluent travelers
![Hypochondria Never Dies](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/4302/1705472/18KmE7vNN1716814038369/HYPOCHONDRIA-NEVER-DIES.jpg)
Hypochondria Never Dies
The diagnosis is officially gone, but health anxiety is everywhere.