The Outsider

richard wright

"Wright presents a compelling story of a black man's attempt to escape his past and start anew in Harlem. Cross Damon is a man at odds with society and with himself, a man who hungers for peace but who brings terror and destruction wherever he goes.

As Maryemma Graham writes in her Introduction to this edition, with its restored text established by the Library of America, "The Outsider is Richard Wright's second installment in a story of epic proportions, a complex master narrative designed to show American racism in raw and ugly terms ... The stories of Bigger Thomas ... and Cross Damon bear an uncanny resemblance to many contemporary cases of street crime and violence. There is also a prophetic note in Wright's construction of the criminal mind as intelligent, introspective, and transformative."

In addition to the Introduction by Maryemma Graham, this edition includes a notes section by Arnold Rampersad."

Genres fictionclassicsafrican americanraceliteratureamericanliterary fictionnovelsafrican american literature20th century

629 pages, Paperback

First published January 1,1953

This edition

Format: 629 pages, Paperback
Published: July 29, 2003 by HarpPeren
ISBN: 9780060539252
ASIN: 0060539259
Language: English

Characters More characters

Cross Damon

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Lionel Lane

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About the author

richard wright

Richard Nathaniel Wright was an African-American author of powerful, sometimes controversial novels, short stories and non-fiction. Much of his literature concerned racial themes. His work helped redefine discussions of race relations in America in the mid-20th century.

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.