Native Son
by Wright, Richard
- Used
- very good
- first
- Condition
- Very Good/Very Good-
- Seller
-
San Jose, California, United States
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
Harper and Brothers, 1940. Very Good/Very Good-. Stated "First Edition" but a BOOK CLUB PRINTING. The volume is lightly bumped on the spine ends, there is some rubbing to thre top edge stain, and the text leves are gently toned. The unpriced dust jacket, protected in a sleeve, is edge worn to include shallow chips, abrasions, wrinkles, and closed tears, and there is a long diagonal crease on the rear panel.
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
- Seller
- Trilby & Co. Books
(US)
- Seller's Inventory #
- 22050403
- Title
- Native Son
- Author
- Wright, Richard
- Book Condition
- Used - Very Good
- Jacket Condition
- Very Good-
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Publisher
- Harper and Brothers
- Date Published
- 1940
Terms of Sale
Trilby & Co. Books
30 day return guarantee, with full refund including original shipping costs for up to 30 days after delivery if an item arrives misdescribed or damaged.
About the Seller
Trilby & Co. Books
Biblio member since 2011
San Jose, California
About Trilby & Co. Books
Trilby & Co. Books is located in Northern California. The company was founded years ago by a Shetland Sheepdog named Trilby. Trilby's message to her family was brief and direct - the sale of books would increase disposable income and improve the quality of provisions in her food dish. My name is McTavish (picture above). I am the current CEO of this company, and I approve of her message. Oh, by the way, my speciality is literature, with an emphasis on first editions and signed books.
Glossary
Some terminology that may be used in this description includes:
- Rubbing
- Abrasion or wear to the surface. Usually used in reference to a book's boards or dust-jacket.
- 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....
- Jacket
- Sometimes used as another term for dust jacket, a protective and often decorative wrapper, usually made of paper which wraps...
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