Scan barcode
A review by reidob
The Man Who Lived Underground by Richard Wright
4.0
A remarkable work from Richard Wright, The Man Who Lived Underground was published as a short story, but until now not in its full form as the novella reviewed here. The parallels between Native Son and this work are striking, in particular the pursuit of a Black man accused of a crime who is forced to feverishly escape his would-be captors. One major difference in this case is that our protagonist is innocent of the crime and is corralled by police on the pretext of needing someone to accuse of murder; pretty much any Black man will do.
At the same time, at least from the perspective of this white man, it is also important not to overemphasize the aspects of racial oppression in Wright's work to the detriment of appreciating his skillful prose and the allegorical nature of both works. Stated another way: Wright takes violence toward Black people in the United States as a given and builds upon that foundation to create stories more vast and meaningful than emphasis on that violence alone would have made possible.
In this volume, Wright (or, rather, his family, posthumously) publishes an essay elucidating his reasons for writing this novella. This is an astonishing piece and, though I can't claim to have understood while reading the novella what he was getting at, the essay makes clear what the roots of his interest in a man so thoroughly disconnected from everyday life, a disconnection that leads to a spiritual awakening.
The basic plot here is simple: a Black man is accused of a murder he did not commit and is tortured by police into signing a false confession. He is thought to be so cowed by his treatment at the hands of the police that he has no will to escape, but escape he does, and takes residence in the sewers beneath the city. In a more mundane story, he would then set about finding ways to survive down there while continuing to elude capture, but that is not what this tale is about. Rather, he digs into the lives of those who live above ground and sees with great clarity that how they live lacks all meaning. The resulting epiphany is more spiritual than religious but, as with all those who bring new realizations to the world, things do not go well for our prophet.
The Man Who Lived Underground is a volume that has too long been absent from our libraries, and a welcome addition to Wright's oeuvre.
At the same time, at least from the perspective of this white man, it is also important not to overemphasize the aspects of racial oppression in Wright's work to the detriment of appreciating his skillful prose and the allegorical nature of both works. Stated another way: Wright takes violence toward Black people in the United States as a given and builds upon that foundation to create stories more vast and meaningful than emphasis on that violence alone would have made possible.
In this volume, Wright (or, rather, his family, posthumously) publishes an essay elucidating his reasons for writing this novella. This is an astonishing piece and, though I can't claim to have understood while reading the novella what he was getting at, the essay makes clear what the roots of his interest in a man so thoroughly disconnected from everyday life, a disconnection that leads to a spiritual awakening.
The basic plot here is simple: a Black man is accused of a murder he did not commit and is tortured by police into signing a false confession. He is thought to be so cowed by his treatment at the hands of the police that he has no will to escape, but escape he does, and takes residence in the sewers beneath the city. In a more mundane story, he would then set about finding ways to survive down there while continuing to elude capture, but that is not what this tale is about. Rather, he digs into the lives of those who live above ground and sees with great clarity that how they live lacks all meaning. The resulting epiphany is more spiritual than religious but, as with all those who bring new realizations to the world, things do not go well for our prophet.
The Man Who Lived Underground is a volume that has too long been absent from our libraries, and a welcome addition to Wright's oeuvre.