Jan 3, 2010

The Man Who Lived Underground | Critical Overview

When "The Man Who Lived Underground" was published in the anthology Cross Section in 1944, there was not yet a large reading public accustomed to reading works by African-American authors. It was assumed that a black writer could write only about race, from only one point of view, and for a primarily black audience. In Wright's case, his early reviewers had read Native Son, and most approached "The Man Who Lived Underground" with the assumption that they already knew what it was about. In a 1944 review in the Chicago Sun, Sterling North wrote, "As an enthusiastic...