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Native Son
by Wright, Richard; Introduction By Dorothy Canfield Fisher
- Used
- good
- Hardcover
- first
- Condition
- Good/No Jacket
- Seller
-
Pasadena, California, United States
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
New York City, Ny: Harper & Brothers, 1940. 1st Edition . Hardcover. Good/No Jacket. Xi, 359 Pp. Blue Grey Cloth, Spine Lettered In Gilt On Black, Blue Topstain, Title Page Printed In Black And Red, Copyright Page With First Edition Stated And Code "A-P". Some Wear, Pinpoint Fray At Lower Front Tip. Thin Line Of Dampstaining To Lower Foredge Of First 50 Pages.
Synopsis
Richard Wright’s Native Son tells the story of 20-year-old Bigger Thomas, a black American youth living in utter poverty in Chicago's South Side during the 1930s. When Bigger unintentionally murders a white woman, he is put on trial and eventually convicted, and sentenced to the electric chair. Often recognized as a protest novel, Native Son stresses systemic racial issues, prompting the reader to feel both sympathy and empathy for Bigger. In this, the novel is one of the earliest successful attempts to explain the racial divide in America in terms of the conditions imposed on African-Americans by the dominant white society. Soon after publication, Native Son was selected by the Book of the Month Club as its first book by an African-American author. Indeed, the novel was an immediate best seller, selling 250,000 hardcover copies within three weeks of its publication. As a result of the novel’s success, Wright became the first bestselling and the wealthiest black writer of his time, establishing him as a spokesperson for African-American issues and, to many, the “father of Black American literature.” In 1941, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People awarded Wright awarded the prestigious Spingarn Medal. Unsurprisingly, Native Son was challenged in many public schools and libraries and is listed in the American Library Association's list of the “Most Frequently Challenged Books of 1990–1999.” Yet most institutions in which the novel was challenged successfully fought to keep Wright's work accessible, particularly in the classroom, defending it as a guide into the reality of the complex adult and social world. Native son is listed as 20th on the Modern Library’s list of the “100 Best” English-language novels of the 20th century. It is also included in TIME’s “100 Best Novels” (since 1923).
Read More: Identifying first editions of Native Son
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Details
- Bookseller
- Arroyo Seco Books
(US)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- 048123
- Title
- Native Son
- Author
- Wright, Richard; Introduction By Dorothy Canfield Fisher
- Format/Binding
- Hardcover
- Book Condition
- Used - Good
- Jacket Condition
- No Jacket
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Edition
- 1st Edition
- Publisher
- Harper & Brothers
- Place of Publication
- New York City, Ny
- Date Published
- 1940
- Weight
- 0.00 lbs
- Bookseller catalogs
- Literature: Twentieth and Twenty-First Century;
Terms of Sale
Arroyo Seco Books
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About the Seller
Arroyo Seco Books
Biblio member since 2013
Pasadena, California
About Arroyo Seco Books
Arroyo Seco Books lists about 26,000 used books in all fields, including physics, art, philosophy, social science, literature, science fiction, etc. We also stock modern and antiquarian prints and other art. Most items are listed in 100 catalogs titled by subject matter, and available on this site. We purchase interesting private libraries. Member of IOBA. Contact: Stephen Clauser, 626-372-3863.
Glossary
Some terminology that may be used in this description includes:
- Title Page
- A page at the front of a book which may contain the title of the book, any subtitles, the authors, contributors, editors, the...
- Copyright page
- The page in a book that describes the lineage of that book, typically including the book's author, publisher, date of...
- Jacket
- Sometimes used as another term for dust jacket, a protective and often decorative wrapper, usually made of paper which wraps...
- Spine
- The outer portion of a book which covers the actual binding. The spine usually faces outward when a book is placed on a shelf....
- First Edition
- In book collecting, the first edition is the earliest published form of a book. A book may have more than one first edition in...
- Cloth
- "Cloth-bound" generally refers to a hardcover book with cloth covering the outside of the book covers. The cloth is stretched...
- Gilt
- The decorative application of gold or gold coloring to a portion of a book on the spine, edges of the text block, or an inlay in...
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