Native Son, by Richard Wright (First Edition)

THE MIDWEST. 
Classic Fiction [First Edition]. 

We admit to frustration in scouring for the Regionals’ inventory when it comes to black and minority representation across the early-mid 20th century, travel guides so often filled with inferred, if not explicit, segregationist tones, so many items cringeworthy for their racialized stereotypes, etc. But the one area where we can focus is the arts, the creative fields more accepting of the whirl of non-white talent prior to the Civil Rights movement. And so, we were excited to find a first edition of a classic in fantastic shape. Richard Wright was already a known figure by way of the lauded Harlem Renaissance, a creative explosion across the early 20th century that collectively raised the voices of black artists into the national canon, minus white patronage. Along with the poet Langston Hughes, jazz showman Louis Armstrong, and the incomparable Ma Rainey, Wright stood atop the “American Negro” pyramid of popular art across the 1930s-40s. But Native Son is no feel-good pageturner. It is a pageturner, but of a blunt and brutal tale. Not only is the lead character a black man from the Chicago tenements, but he is a not so great man whose poor temperament and poor judgment lead him into a shocking twist involving the young white daughter of a noted wealthy philanthropist for whom “Bigger” chauffeurs. This is a courageous creative statement for its time, the extensive inside dustjacket explanation, which accompanied the book’s inclusion in that year’s book-of-the-month list (the book-of-the-month pamphlet included), setting the table: “Bigger is … mean, he is a coward: he is on occasion liar, thief, and bully. There is no sentimentalism in the writer who created Bigger …” The explanation goes on to describe Wright’s “building his book on the inevitable and terrifying results of an unpremeditated murder,” as well as the deft handling of the “obscure inarticulate causes which made (Bigger) hate, and made him try to make up for his sense of inferiority by aggressive acts against the society in which he lived.” In the end, Native Son stands as a remarkable achievement for its moment, a work that blew the doors off the narrow perceived psychological inner-workings blacks, and whites, but also the shallow and unsustainable interactions that led Wright’s characters to misunderstand those within their orbit. [Condition: Used Very Good. @ 80+ years old this volume was treated very well. The dustjacket (protected by a Mylar cover) shows slight chipping and wear, with what seems some slight sun exposure. Exterior page edges exhibit minor foxing and age discoloration. The spine is fully intact, the hardcover itself and interior pages pristine.] 

Condition: Used Very Good.
Fiction. 
Richard Wright. 
Harper & Brothers Publishers, 1940. 
Hardcover (First Edition), 359 pgs, 6 x 8.25” / 1.7 lb