Imani Perry Looks at Richard Wright With Fresh Eyes

At the Atlantic, Imani Perry delves into The Man Who Lived Underground, a previously unpublished novel by Richard Wright that sheds a new perspective on his legacy. “Now that I’ve read The Man Who Lived Underground […], I’m even more convinced that Wright deserves to be looked at with fresh eyes. At first, I texted a friend, ‘This novel is clearly a direct model for Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man.’ My friend wrote back, ‘That’s why he told Ellison to stop copying him!'”