The provenance of the carbon copy merits comment. While living in Paris in 1946, Wright presented the carbon to Sylvia Beach as a gift—a gesture of friendship rather than an effort to publish the novel since by then Wright’s narrative had a public life as a short story and Beach was no longer in the business of publishing books (Shakespeare and Company had closed its doors for good four years earlier during the German Occupation). This gift to one of the leading expatriate figures in Paris was also perhaps a self-acknowledgment of the artistic freedom and new life Wright was only beginning to imagine possible for himself in Paris (the Wrights would move to Europe permanently in 1947). Wright signed and dated the typescript on the title page, the first numbered page, and the concluding page: “Richard Wright December 9, 1946 Paris.” A signed photograph of Wright, affixed to an unnumbered blank leaf, precedes the title page. The typescript is bound in leather with brown marbled-paper boards and a gilt-stamped spine that reads “R. Wright. The Man Who Lived Underground.” It is unclear whether Beach or Wright had the typescript so lavishly bound, although Beach, as the former publisher of Ulysses and other important modern works, would have known the city’s fine bookbinders. Either way, the careful preservation of the typescript underscores its significance.

Several references in “Memories of My Grandmother” indicate it was composed in the winter of 1941–42. There are two surviving typescript drafts at the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library. The earlier of these is a long typescript (sixty-nine pages) that contains heavy handwritten emendations by the author. The later, partial typescript, which survives in duplicate copies, ends abruptly approximately halfway through, but incorporates Wright’s emendations and further changes up to that point. The text established by Library of America follows the later typescript to its end on page 26, and thereafter follows the earlier, emended typescript. Typographical and other obvious errors as well as small inconsistences have been corrected; in a few minor instances the text has been edited for clarity. Readers looking for more detailed textual notes are encouraged to visit loa.org/underground.

About the Author

Born in 1908 near Roxie, Mississippi, RICHARD WRIGHT won international renown for his powerful and visceral depictions of the Black experience. He is the author of numerous works of fiction and nonfiction, and stands today as one of the greatest American writers of the twentieth century. Two of his books, his novel Native Son and his autobiography, Black Boy, are required reading in high schools and colleges across the nation. He died in 1960 in Paris, France.

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Copyright

A hardcover edition of this book was published in the United States in 2021 by Library of America. It is here reprinted by arrangement with Library of America.

The Man Who Lived Underground by Richard Wright

Compilation, prefatory note, and note on the texts © 2021 by Literary Classics of the United States, Inc.