In this minutely detailed, comprehensive chronology, Toru Kiuchi and Yoshinobu Hakutani document the life in letters of the greatest African American writer of the twentieth century. The author of Black Boy and Native Son, among other works, Wright wrote unflinchingly about the black experience in the United States, where his books still influence discussions of race and social justice. Entries are documented by Wright’s journals, articles, and other works published and unpublished, as well as his letters to and from friends, associates, writers and public figures. Part One covers Wright’s life through the year 1946, the period in which he published his best-known work. Part Two covers the final fifteen years of his life in exile, a prolific period in which he wrote two novels, four works of nonfiction, and four thousand haiku. Each part begins with a historical and critical introduction.

Toru Kiuchi is a professor of English at Nihon University, Tokyo, Japan.
Yoshinobu Hakutani is a professor of English and University Distinguished Scholar at Kent State University in Ohio.

Toru Kiuchi and Yoshinobu Hakutani
Format: softcover (7 x 10)
Pages: 456
Bibliographic Info: 45 photos, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2014
pISBN: 978-0-7864-6567-5
eISBN: 978-1-4766-0244-8
Imprint: McFarland

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments vi
Editorial Note 1
Part One: An American Life, 1908–1946
Introduction to Part One 3
1: The South: Natchez, Mississippi, and Memphis, Tennessee, 1908–1927 13
2: Chicago, November 1927–May 1937 32
3: Harlem and Brooklyn, New York City, May 1937–September 1939 58
4: Crompond, New York, and Mexico, September 1939–June 1940 88
5: The South, Harlem, and Brooklyn, June 1940–July 1942 102
6: Seven Middagh, Brooklyn, and Canada, July 1942–September 1944 136
7: Brooklyn, Canada, and the Midwest, September 1944–April 1946 155
Part Two: A Life in Exile, 1946–1960
Introduction to Part Two 195
8: Paris and Greenwich Village, New York City, May 1946–July 1947 208
9: Paris, July 1947–August 1949 230
10: The United States and Argentina, August 1949–August 1950 254
11: Paris, August 1950–February 1952 261
12: London and Paris, February 1952–June 1953 275
13: Gold Coast and Paris, June 1953–August 1954 289
14: Spain and Paris, August 1954–April 1955 310
15: Indonesia, Paris, and Ailly, April 1955–September 1956 324
16: Germany, Scandinavia, and Ailly, September 1956–October 1957 341
17: Ailly, Zürich, and Moulin d’Andé, October 1957–October 1959 355
18: Rue Régis, Paris, November 1959–November 1960 375
Sources and Abbreviations 395
Biographical Notes on Persons Mentioned 401
Index 423

“This is a work of rare and commendable scholarship…it will have great value in collections specializing in American literature and/or black studies”—ARBA.