Richard wright biography powerpoint 2nd

Richard Wright

  • 1. Brett McClure & Ryan Sanders

  • 2. Born in 1908 near Natchez, Mississippi His father left the family when Richard was 5 He was raised by his relatives for the next 10 years He lived in poverty and his education didn’t go beyond junior high Experienced racism growing up, which would become the subject of many of his works

  • 3. He moved to Memphis in 1925, then Chicago in 1927 He joined the WPA Writer’s Project and began to study Marxist theory, writing poetry for literary magazines He joined the Communist party in 1932 In 1935 he worked with a group of African American writers and started to write fiction, influenced by the work of James T. Farrell

  • 4. He moved to New York in 1937 He wrote for the New York Writers Project and as a reporter on the communist Daily Worker Published Uncle Tom’s Children in 1938 Published Native Son in 1940, the first bestseller by an African American author He then started to write autobiographical stories, including Black Boy published in 1945

  • 5. In 1944 he broke away from the Communist party He moved to Paris, France in 1946, producing 2 novels, 3 collections of lectures, travel writings, and sociopolitical commentary In 1957 he contracted amoebic dysentery, which caused his health to deteriorate over the next few years He died in Paris of a heart attack in 1960, at 52 years old

  • 6. Wright wrote many different kinds of literature: Non-Fiction Fiction Essays Poetry Short Stories Long Stories Novels http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aAdM-fueKkY

  • 7. How “Bigger” Was Born; the Story of Native Son in 1940 12 Million Black Voices: A Folk History of the Negro in the United States in 1941 Black Boy: A Record of Childhood and Youth in 1945 Black Power: A Record of Reactions in a Land of Pathos in 1954 The Color Curtain: A Report on the Bandung Conference in 1956 Pagan Spain in 1957 White Man, Listen! in 1957 Letters to Joe C. Brown in 1968 American Hunger (which was a continuation of Black Boy ) in 1977
  • Richard Wright. 1908-1960. Biography.
  • Born Richard Nathaniel Wright September

    • RICHARD WRIGHT 1908-1960. Biography  Life began in poverty  Father abandoned family at five  By 12, Wright’s mother could not support family Raised.

    Presentation on theme: "RICHARD WRIGHT 1908-1960. Biography  Life began in poverty  Father abandoned family at five  By 12, Wright’s mother could not support family Raised."— Presentation transcript:

    1 RICHARD WRIGHT 1908-1960

    2 Biography  Life began in poverty  Father abandoned family at five  By 12, Wright’s mother could not support family Raised by various relations  Learned to survive on bitter ghetto streets  Had to borrow a white man’s library card to read  Fled to South at 20, explored Marxism  Joined Communist party for 12 years  Exiled himself to Paris for last 14 years of his life

    3 Writing  exposed American racism to a large white audience  Achieved first real recognition from Native Son  Victimized black man accidentally kills a white woman, then murders again to avoid betrayal Never wrote another novel that equaled its success  Struggled to understand the historical and cultural place of African Americans in modern life  Travelled to Africa, recorded observations in Black Power and White Man, Listen!

  • The document provides biographical information about

    • Richard Wright

  • Richard Wright 1908-1960

  • Biography • Born on a plantation near Natchez, Mississippi, on September 4, 1908. • Son of a sharecropper who deserted his family when Wright was 5. • His mother became ill, and the family moved to Jackson, Mississippi with his grandmother. • Grandmother tried to stop Wright from writing. • His grandmother attempted to crush his imagination.

  • Biography • Wright and his brother lived in an orphanage for a short time because of family problems. • He would recall his childhood as a “time of hunger.” • For food, but also for affection, understanding, and education. • Although a very good student, Wright never graduated from high school.

  • Biography • Wright’s jobs in the South were marked by harassment by whites and by his own disdain for what segregation and racism had done to distort the humanity of his fellow blacks, as he saw it. • The harsh conditions of the South pushed Wright to his first exposure with Urban Naturalism. • Wright said he “could not read enough of them.”

  • Urban Naturalism • The term naturalism describes a type of literature that attempts to apply scientific principles of objectivity and detachment to its study of human beings. • Unlike realism, which focuses on literary technique, naturalism implies a philosophical position: • For naturalistic writers, since human beings are, in Emile Zola's phrase, "human beasts," characters can be studied through their relationships to their surroundings.

  • Urban Naturalism • Key themes of Urban Naturalism: • Survival, determinism, violence, and taboo. • The "brute within" each individual, • composed of strong and often warring emotions: • passions, such as lust, greed, or the desire for dominance or pleasure; • and the fight for survival in an amoral, indifferent universe. • The conflict in naturalistic novels is often "man against nature" or "man against himself" • Characters struggle to retain a "ve

    • Richard wright presentation

  • 1. Richard Wright By Jose Lopez

  • 2. • Born: September 4, 1908- November 28, 1960 • Plantation, Roxie, Mississippi • Occupation: Novelist, poet, essayist, short story writer • Notable Works: “Uncle Tom’s Children”, “Native Son”, “Black Boy”, “ The Outsider”

  • 3. Early Life • Grandson of slaves and the son of a sharecropper • Lived in an orphanage; lived with Grandmother and Aunt • Managed to get to the ninth grade • Presented a gift with words and was a voracious reader • Published his first story in a southern African American newspaper at the age of 16, “The Voodoo of Hell’s Half-Acre”

  • 4. Life in the North • 1927 Wright left the South and moved to Chicago • Joined the John Reed Club set by Communist Party • Fell into Communism in 1932 • 1936 served as literary advisor and press agent for the Negro Federal Theatre

  • 5. Communism Breaks • 1942 Wright broke Communism • Began to embrace the idea of Marxism • Outlined the literary theory for black American writers, “Blueprint for Negro Writing”

  • 6. Career • 1938 Published “Uncle Tom’s Children” • 1940 Published “Native Son” • 1945 Published “Black Boy”

  • 7. End of An Inspiration • Died of a heart attack on November 28, 1960 in Paris, France

  • 8. Work Cited • "Richard Nathaniel Wright." 2014. The Biography.com website. Apr 13 2014

      • Richard wright biography powerpoint 2nd
  • Biography. Born on a plantation near