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Native Son

Native Son

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Native Son

by Wright, Richard

  • Used
  • Fine
  • Hardcover
  • first
Condition
Fine/fair
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About This Item

New York and London: Harper Brothers, 1940. First edition. Hardcover. Fine/fair. True First Edition (A-P on © page) DJ missing part of spine and generally ragged--may have come from a different copy since book is in great shape, although pages slightly yellowed from age

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
BRYAN BUNCH BOOKS US (US)
Bookseller's Inventory #
91
Title
Native Son
Author
Wright, Richard
Format/Binding
Hardcover
Book Condition
Used - Fine
Jacket Condition
fair
Quantity Available
1
Edition
First edition
Publisher
Harper Brothers
Place of Publication
New York and London
Date Published
1940
Pages
358
Size
5.5 x 8 in.
Weight
0.00 lbs
Keywords
Black literature, Harlem Renaissance
Bookseller catalogs
BRYAN BUNCH BOOKS;

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About the Seller

BRYAN BUNCH BOOKS

Seller rating:
This seller has earned a 5 of 5 Stars rating from Biblio customers.
Biblio member since 2010
Pleasant Valley, New York

About BRYAN BUNCH BOOKS

Collector selling excess copies or books acquired for purpose of selling

Glossary

Some terminology that may be used in this description includes:

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...

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