Haunted by Innocence
The Debate with Dostoevsky in Wright's "Other Novel," The Outsider
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 4546438 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Michael F Lynch, Michael Lynch (0000-0002-8635-6547, corresponding author) |
| Year | 1996 |
| Volume | 30 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 255 |
| Publication date | 1996-01-01 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | African American Review (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1062-4783 • E-ISSN: 1945-6182 |
| Publisher | Penn State Press (Project Muse) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.2307/3042363 |
| OpenAlex | W203868111 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 5 |
ichard Wright's novel Native (1940) is widely recognized as a seminal work and one of the most influential texts in modem African-American literature. Margaret Walker Alexander suggests that Wright's influence on black writers parallels that of Gogol on nineteenth-century Russian writers: Like the Russians, who say they have all come out of Gogol's 'Overcoat,' most of our writers have come out of Wright's cloak (66). Although scholars acknowledge the power and significance of Native Son, most find its structure seriously flawed because, as Morris Dickstein comments, its final third devolves into a curious but inert essay on a novel that has essentially ended (192). Native also betrays Wright's ideological ambivalence between naturalism and existentialism and between collectivism and individual freedom, splits which result not in dynamic, dialectical tension but irresolution and even some contradiction. The conflicts evident in Wright's most famous novel, however, foreshadow their successful resolution in The Outsider (1953), which has been treated unfairly as Native Son's poor cousin. Despite some positive reviews, The Outsider received the first predominantly negative reviews of Wright's career, and critics generally dismiss it as third-rate, half-baked existentialism and much seriously flawed than Native Son. Michel Fabre admits that its ideological importance rivals that of Native Son (Reader xiii), but he finds the story lacking in substance and human atmosphere, for which the hero's ideological dissertations are no substitute (Quest 372). Darwin Turner finds the thought of the novel more persuasive than that of Native but its artistry defective, for the book fails to evoke the emotional intensity of Wright's earlier work and lacks its aura of uniqueness, originali
Art · Art history · Innocence · Literature · Psychoanalysis · Wright · American and British Literature Analysis · American Literature and Culture · History · Philosophy · Poetry Analysis and Criticism · Psychology
| Citations per year | 0.06 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2009 - 2009 (1) |
| Highly cited | No |