Description

We recently purchased a large collection of Easton Press books to be listed in the coming weeks. Stay tuned for the chance to pick up some collectible titles. This text was featured in the Easton Press series Great Books of the 20th Century . Published in 1998, bound in handsome Tan leather, and strikingly illustrated by Alan Reingold, this edition would be a worthy addendum to your collectible books library. Specifics of this series from the Easton Press website: Fully and tightly bound in genuine leather 22kt gold accents deeply inlaid on the "hubbed" spine.* Heavy duty binding boards... . Superbly printed on acid-neutral paper... . Sewn pages – not just glued like ordinary books. ...moiré endpages and a satin-ribbon page marker. Gilded page ends. ******************************************************************************************************************* " 'If one had to identify the single most influential shaping force in modern Black literary history, one would probably have to point to Wright and the publication of Native Son.' – Henry Louis Gates Jr. 'The most powerful American novel to appear since The Grapes of Wrath.' —The New Yorker When it was first published in 1940, Native Son established Richard Wright as a literary star. In the decades since, Wright's masterpiece—hailed by Newsweek as "a novel of tremendous power and beauty"—has become a revered classic that remains as timely and relevant today as when it first appeared. Set in Chicago in the 1930s, Native Son is the story of Bigger Thomas, a young Black man caught in a downward spiral after killing a young white woman in a brief moment of panic. Written with the distinctive rhythm of a modern crime story, this formidable work is both a condemnation of social injustice and an unsparing portrait of the Black experience in America, revealing the tragic effect of poverty, racism, and hopelessness on the human spirit. . . . ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// Richard Nathaniel Wright (September 4, 1908 – November 28, 1960) was an American author of novels, short stories, poems, and non-fiction. Much of his literature concerns racial themes, especially related to the plight of African Americans during the late 19th to mid 20th centuries suffering discrimination and violence. His best known works include the novella collection Uncle Tom's Children (1938), the novel Native Son (1940), and the memoir Black Boy (1945). Literary critics believe his work helped change race relations in the United States in the mid-20th century. . . . Based on his collected short stories, Wright applied for and was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship, which gave him a stipend allowing him to complete Native Son. During this period, he rented a room in the home of friends Herbert and Jane Newton, an interracial couple and prominent Communists whom Wright had known in Chicago. . . . After publication, Native Son was selected by the Book of the Month Club as its first book by an African-American author. It was a daring choice. The lead character, Bigger Thomas, is bound by the limitations that society places on African Americans. Unlike most in this situation, he gains his own agency and self-knowledge only by committing heinous acts. Wright's characterization of Bigger led to him being criticized for his concentration on violence in his works. . . . The above text was taken from, respectively, HarperCollins publishing (via Google Books) and Wikipedia. [Wright, Richard. Native Son. United States: HarperCollins, 2023]