Lawd Today

8/13/2019 Lawd Today

1/15

Richard Wright's "Lawd Today!" and the Political Uses of ModernismAuthor(s): Brannon CostelloSource: African American Review, Vol. 37, No. 1 (Spring, 2003), pp. 39-52Published by: St. Louis UniversityStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1512358.

Accessed: 01/11/2013 13:54

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at.http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

.JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of

content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms

of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

.

St. Louis Universityis collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access toAfrican American

Review.

http://www.jstor.org

This content downloaded from 128.214.173.46 on Fri, 1 Nov 2013 13:54:41 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=sluhttp://www.jstor.org/stable/1512358?origin=JSTOR-pdfhttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/stable/1512358?origin=JSTOR-pdfhttp://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=slu


2/15

RichardWright'sLawd Today and the PoliticalUses of Modernism

Brannon Costello is adoctoralcandidateat theUniversity f Tennessee. Hespecializes inAmerican itera-turefrom he late nineteenthcentury o the present,withaparticularnterest nthe inter-sections of race and class intwentieth-centuryouthernliterature.He has publishedessays on such writersasWalkerPercy, EudoraWelty,and HenryJames.

R,eaders ave long consideredLawdToday ,RichardWright'sfirst written and last published novel, an anomaly-whenthey have considered it at all. The novel, which Wrightbeganperhaps as earlyas 1933and which he continued to composeandrevise until 1937,1 imply seems inconsistentwith our image ofwhat a Wrighttext of the 1930s,a decade which saw the publica-tion of Wright'sradicalpoetry and the short-storycollectionUncleTom'sChildren,hould do or be. Setin Chicagoduring theGreatDepression, LawdToday eaturespetit bourgeoispostalworkerJakeJacksonas its protagonist.Jake,a drunken,abusivelout who spends his days lusting after prostitutesand beating hiswife, never achieves anyrealrevolutionaryawakening,andindeed continues to endorse capitalismand the Americansuccessmyth and to condemn "'Commoonists'" despitehis own debt-ridden and fundamentallyunsuccessful life. Whenthe small pub-lishing house Walkerand Company released thenovel posthu-mously in 1963,criticsgreetedit with a mixtureof confusion,qualifiedpraise, and disgust. Indeed,Nick AaronFord,the novel'smost vociferous early critic, ound this "dull, unimaginativenovel" so impossible to reconcilewith his vision of Wrightthat hewrote, "It s difficult to believe that LawdTodaywas written byRichardWright.... It is doubtful that the matureWrighteverwould have agreed to its publication" 368).AlthoughFord mayhave articulated he most extremecritiqueof the novel, he was byno means completely out of step with his fellow reviewers.GranvilleHicks' unenthusiasticcommentthat "it is less powerfulthan either NativeSonor BlackBoy,but it has its own kind of inter-est"(363) typifies the lukewarmresponsethatcontinuesto guidecriticaldiscussion- or the lack thereof- of the novel today,with afew notableexceptions.2YoshinobuHakutani,a more recentWrightcritic,claims that few readerscan "denythat LawdTodaylacksthe tension of NativeSon."Althoughhe admires certainsatiricelements of the novel, he takesit to taskprimarily or itsfailingsas a work of naturalisticprotest fiction, 'a a NativeSon:"On the one hand, [Wright]has accumulateddocumentarydetailcharacteristic f a naturalistic tyle.But his manner s flawedbecause his selected scenes are impartedwith gratuitousmetaphorsand images" (222).Thestylistic"flaw" hatHakutani dentifieshere-the pre-ponderanceof "metaphorsand images" speaks to another diffi-cultycriticshave had in reconcilingLawdToday o the traditionalview of Wright,and indeed of literature n general, n the 1930s.Thenovel seems influencedless by the naturalismor social real-ism that we typicallyassociatewith Wrightand moreby mod-ernist aestheticand thematicconcerns.Wright,however,was anAfrican American Review, Volume 37, Number IC 2003 Brannon Costello39

http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp


3/15

active memberof the CommunistPartythroughoutthe 1930s,3and he servedas head of the Chicagobranchof theliteraryJohnReed Club, publishedpieces in Party-sponsoredand Party-friendly magazineslikeNew Massesand PartisanReview,and rose to promi-nence as a poet, short story writer, lit-erary critic,and journalist.Since offi-cial CommunistParty doctrinetreatedmodernismas irredeemablybourgeoisand counterrevolutionary,oes theconventionalargument, ts stable ofcriticswould doubtlessly have roundlycondemned Wright'snovel. Indeed,GranvilleHicks asserts that the novel"wouldhave been disturbing o mostorthodox Communists n the Thirties"(364),and EdwardMargoliesclaimsthat "evena cursoryglanceat its con-tentswill revealwhat the partywouldhave found objectionable" 91).True,LawdToday has little to do,on the surface,with socialistrealism,the literarymode ostensiblyendorsedby the CommunistParty.MikeGold,one of the Party'smost famous aesthet-ic theorists, obbiedfor a "proletarianliterature that]will reflectthe struggleof the workersin theirfightfortheworld. Itportrays he life of the work-ers ... with a clearrevolutionarypoint" (205-06).Gold drawsa sharpdistinctionbetweenproletarianwritersand the "bourgeoiswriters"who "tellus abouttheirspiritualdrunkardsandsuper-refinedParisianemigres;orabouttheirspiritualmarriagesanddivorces"(206).While modernistartdeals with "precious illy littleago-nies," proletariannovels offera visionof "notpessimism,but revolutionaryelan"(206-07).Gold,certainly,wouldhave dislikedLawdToday 'ssimilaritiesto JamesJoyce'sUlysses:The noveltakes place in the courseof one day,and,as EugeneMillerargues,Jake's"quotidianroutineis parasyntacticallylaminatedover Lincoln'sbirthdayradio speechesand othermediapro-nouncements";his "activities .. arepatentlyand ironicallyrenderedmoremeaninglessby playingthe mythoverthem,"much as LeopoldBloom'slife is

renderedmore meaningless in Ulyssesthrough ironic contrastwith patternsfrom classical mythology (59). CraigWerneralso arguesthat the novel "isaconscious rewritingof Ulysses.Filledwith direct allusionsto Joyceand Eliot,the novel emphasizes a mythic paralleland multiple styles" (190).Moreover,the incorporationof newspaper head-lines, popular songs, and radio broad-casts also recallsJoyce.Gold wouldsurely have turned up his nose at theepigraphfromT.S. Eliot's TheWasteLand hat begins the novel's third sec-tion, "Rats'Alley," and Don Grahamhas gone so far as to argue that Eliot'sarchetypalmodernist poem and LawdToday hare the theme of "spiritualdeath and the possibilityof rebirth"(329),althoughhe finds this themeunrelatedto the novel's socio-politicalconcerns.4 akeand his fellow postalworkers even have a conversationaboutGertrudeStein. As Margoliesobserves, Jakesuffers from"spiritualpoverty" a fundamentallymodernistdilemma-in addition to the usual eco-nomic poverty. Wright's ext, then, haslittle in common with DanielAaron'sdescriptionof the Party deal: "Blackproletarianand white proletarian, womassivefigures... standingarm inarm"(44).The CommunistParty,Margoliesclaims,"wouldhave disap-proved" (93).But would it have?Drawing onrecent leftist revisions of the literaryhistoryof the 1930s,I would like toarguethatstereotypicallymodernistsubjectmatterand aestheticstrategieswere actuallyavailable and indeedvery attractive o Wrightat this time.Further, arfrombeing an apoliticaloranti-leftistanomalyin Wright's1930s'output, LawdToday s actually verymuchin keepingwith Wright'sorigi-nal conceptionof the relationshipbetweenhis art and his politicalideolo-gy. In BlackBoy,Wrightwrites,

The Communists, I felt, had oversim-plified the experience of those whomthey sought to lead. In their efforts torecruit masses, they had missed themeaning of the lives of the masses, hadconceived of people in too abstract a

40 AFRICAN AMERICANREVIEW



4/15

manner. I would make voyages, dis-coveries, explorationswith words andtry to put some of thatmeaningback.Iwould address my words to twogroups:I would tell Communistshowcommon people felt, and I would tellcommon people of the self-sacrificeofCommunists who strove for unityamongthem. (377)

This passage is frequentlycitedin criti-cal surveys of Wright'swork,often as away of introducinghis overtlyCommunist-influenced1930s'writings,especiallythe short-storycollectionUncle Tom'sChildren.Suchstudies tendto focuson how Wrightaddressesthesecond of the two groupsthat he dis-cusses,how he makes Communismapalatableand viable strategy of resis-tance to the "commonpeople."5However, I would arguethat a fullerconsiderationof the firstpartofWright'splan-to "tell Communistshow common people felt" is appro-priate to help us betterunderstandLawd TodayInLawd Today ,Wrightfocuses onthe modernist dilemmasof "fragmen-tation, alienation,sense-making; heshoring up of fragmentsagainstourruins; what to make of a diminishedthing" (Werner11)to describenot justthe social, political,and economic dis-enfranchisementof AfricanAmericansfleeing fromthe Southto Chicagointhe GreatMigration,but also the per-sonal, spiritualdisenfranchisementhatcomes frombeing separated(or,some-times, from separating hemselves)fromthe formsof communityandmeans of connectionwith each other-churchand folklore,forexample-thatsustainedthemin the South.Thoughnot a proletariannovel in MikeGold'sformulation, he novel does serve apolitical purpose:Itshows how thepopular myths of consumerist,capital-ist Americanculture have disruptedthese formsof communityand stressesthe need fornew forms or for therevival of the old. Ultimately, to para-phraseWright,LawdToday tellsCommunistshow commonpeople feelso thatthey mightnot oversimplifytheexperienceof the masses and thatthey

might better know how to appeal tothem.

n recent years, leftist historiansandliterarycriticshave begun to chal-lenge the narrow definition of proletar-ian literatureand the stereotypicalview of the CommunistPartythat Ihave outlined above and that is implic-it in many dismissalsof Lawd Today .BarbaraFoley'sRadicalRepresentations:Politics and Form in U.S. ProletarianFiction, 1929-1941, offers perhapsthemost comprehensivetreatmentof thisissue. Foleycriticizes "the model of aphilistine, coercive,and anti-modernistparty [that]has routinelybeen invokedin treatmentsof the relationshipbetween writersand the organizedleft" (46). This inaccuratemodel, saysFoley, promotesthe view that"throughwriter's foundationsand crit-ical organs where their influencedomi-nated ... the partycritics who werebased in the NewMasses issued direc-tives about mattersrangingfrompoli-tics to subjectmatterto style" (45).

Moreover,"it is charged [that]writerswere cut off fromthe most excitingandproductive developments in contempo-rary iteratureand consignedto a ster-ile, banal, and ironically- conserva-tive realism" 54). Foley,however,arguesfor a radicallydifferent modelof the relationshipbetween theCommunistPartyand leftist literaryproduction.She contendsthat,althoughthe partydid offer directives,and though prominentmembers suchas Mike Gold argued long and loud forthe inherentdecadence of modernism,the notionthatAmerican iteraryprole-tarians"repudiated iterary nnova-tions simply does not standup underthe evidence"(57). Foley argues that,"although he 'commissars'of leftistcriticismhave been criticizedfor dog-matismand arrogance, hey were quitereadyto acknowledgethatnot merelyproletarian iteraturebut AmericanMarxistcriticismwas in its infancy"(51). Indeed,even "theorgansmost

RICHARDWRIGHT'SAWDTODAY NDTHEPOLITICALSESOF MODERNISM 41



5/15

closely identifiedwith the Communistparty the NewMassesand, especially,the Daily Worker-werequitehos-pitable to literary nnovations of vari-ous kinds"(58-59).As she puts it, "Inshort,muchDepression-era iteraryradicalismwas intimately nvolved inthe projectof 'mak[ing] t new' " (62).6Of course,Richard Wright, as aParty writer, bookreviewer, journalist,and head of theChicago John ReedClub (until the clubswere disbanded in1935), would havebeen fully steeped inthis decidedly hetero-geneous attitude toward proletarianfiction. Foley cites the 1935 WritersCongress, which Wright attended, as aparticularly significant moment in theongoing redefinition of proletarian lit-erature, when the primary emphasisfor acceptable proletarian fictionmoved from "authentic" proletarianauthorship to a more general articula-tion of a Marxist perspective (118). Atthis conference, Wright met EdwinSeaver, literary critic for the DailyWorker Fabre 118), and Wright wouldsurely have read Seaver's essay "Whatis a Proletarian Novel?: Notes Towarda Definition," which appeared inPartisan Reviewaround the time of theconference. Here, Seaver argued thatproletarian literature need not be"written by a worker, about workers orfor workers .... it is possible for anauthor of middleclass origin to write anovel about petty-bourgeois characterswhich will appeal primarily to readersof the same class, and yet such a workcan come within the classification,Proletarian novel" (5). He asserted thatthe primary concern for the proletarianwriter was not "the period of history inwhich he sets his story, or the kind ofcharacters he writes about, but his ide-ological approach to his story and char-acters, which approach is entirely con-ditioned by his acceptance of theMarxian interpretation of history" (7).

Indeed, the pages of Philip Rahvand William Phillips' prominent leftistmagazine Partisan Reviewwere almostcertainly already familiar and quiteinfluential for the young Wright, sinceit served as a primary organ of theJohn Reed Clubs. Further, Wrightserved as an associate editor forPartisan Review in1936. Though thepost, Michael Fabreclaims, was largelyhonorary, Wrightdoubtlessly followedthe magazine's ideo-logical discussions,and he was at leastengaged enough tocontribute a bookreview (of Arna Bontemps' BlackThunder)and a letter to the editor indefense of an artist who had beenaccused of being too concerned withaesthetics and insufficiently radical.7Wright's involvement with PartisanReview is important to an understand-ing of his use of aesthetic and thematicelements of modernism. As Harvey M.Teres has discussed in his recent studyof PartisanReview's development,RenewvingheLeft:Politics, Imagination,and the New York ntellectuals,WilliamPhillips and Philip Rahv, the maga-zine's two chief editors from 1934 to1936, consciously rejected "narrow-minded sectarian theories and prac-tices" in favor of an "increasingly het-erodox literary and critical project"(40). As early as 1934, Phillips andRahv attacked "critical positions thatdemanded that literature make explicitappeals for socialist revolution, or pre-sent a dialectical-materialist world out-look, or render working-class life in afavorable light" (43); instead, theybelieved that, "through publishing themovement's 'best creative work,' themagazine would be a participant inpolitical struggle" (40). Most signifi-cantly for our discussion of Wright,Phillips and Rahv worked for "theattainment of an unprecedented degreeof autonomy, tolerance, and rigor forliterature and criticism ... within left

Wright draws onmodernist techniquesand themes to painta complex, unflinching,honest, and sometimesbrutalpicture of four"common people."




6/15

discourse;and ... the creationof acompelling,thoughhighly unstableunion between modernismand politi-cal radicalism" 41-42).The editorsfound it ludicrousthat Marxistcriticswould rejectmodernismout of hand as"an aestheticand decadentsourceofcounterrevolutionarydeology"(48)and thereforemakeunavailable oMarxist-orientedwriters a wide rangeof formal innovationsthat thesewriterscould potentiallyincorporatentotheirworkswith powerfulresults.Instead,Phillipsand Rahv tried to "respondproductivelyto 'bourgeois' iterature,especiallyas it impingedon the shap-ing of the new proletarian iterature"(43).Oneof Rahv'searliest pieces in thisvein was his 1934 review of ErnestHemingway's Winner TakeNothing.WrightparticularlyadmiredHemingway (Fabre141,170,176)andwould surelyhave been interested n areview of his work.Rahv arguedagainstcompletelydiscardingHemingway's"clusterof formalcre-ative means"becauseof his bourgeoissubjectmatter.He arguedthat such anapproach"makes he proletarianartistinsensibleto those few-largely exter-nal-features of contemporaryart thatare class determined n such a slenderand remotemanner as to renderthemavailablefor use by the creatorof thenew artwho is seekingan effectiveartisticmethod"(58).Three ssueslater,WilliamPhillipsforcefullyarticu-latedan even more liberalversionofthis theory.In his essay "ThreeGenerations,"he arguedthat currentMarxistwriters were the inheritorsoftwo sets of literaryancestors: he pio-neeringsocialrealistswho wrote in thevein of Dreiser,and the modernistexperimentersof the 1920s.He claimsthat,while many criticswish to ignorethe innovationsof the '20s,"thespiritof the 1920sis partof ourheritage,andmany of the youngerrevolutionarygenerationsareacutelyconsciousofthis.... Thejobof our generation s totie these threads,to use whateverher-itage thereis which gives colorto our

pattern" 52).He criticizesthe tenden-cy to "repudiate he bourgeois her-itage,and fall into primitive,oversim-plifiedand pseudo-popularrewritesofpolitical ideas and events"(53).HarveyTeresarguesthatPhillips and Rahvwere particularlynterested n mod-ernist representationsof "felt experi-ence,"though they believed that"feltexperiencemustcarrymorethanper-sonal significance-it mustbring thereaderface to facewith broadersocialcontradictions"45).In "ThreeGenerations,"Phillips arguedthatT. S.Eliot could providea useful model forsuch an articulationof felt experience:"Inhis poetry,however reactionary tsultimateimplicationsmaybe, Eliot hasperfecteda new idiom and tighterrhythmsforexpressingmanyprevail-ing moods and perceptions" 53).Asthese passages indicate, while somedoctrinaireMarxistcriticsfound mod-ernist formsof representation uch asstream-of-consciousness r a relianceon metaphorand imageryinevitablyand intrinsicallybourgeois,the PartisanReview ditors arguedthat these sameformscould be marshaled n the ser-vice of the left.The modernist formsof expressionchampionedby Rahv and Phillipswould serve Wrightwell in his attemptto tell how a commonpersonlikeJakeJackson eels alienatedin his barrenexistence n the urbanwastelandofChicago.MarkSandershas arguedthat,after the GreatMigration,"AfricanAmerican ndividualand cul-turalidentitywas forcedto adjusttothe new demandsof the city andindustrialization.As a result,AfricanAmericanculture entertainednew con-ceptsof individualityand triedtorationalizenew feelings of alienation"(11).ThoughJakeneverreachesa levelof self-awareness hat would allow himto begin to rationalizehis feelings ofalienation, he text is riddled withdescriptionsof his essentiallyisolatedand empty life. Forexample,Wrightfrequentlydeploys images of sleep anddreamingto underscoreJake'salien-ation.Thoughthe novel opens with

RICHARDWRIGHT'SAWDTODAY NDTHEPOLITICALSESOFMODERNISM 43



7/15

Jake's awakening from a dream,Wright often describes Jake as thoughhe were still partially asleep, not fullyaware of or engaged with the worldaround him. When he rises, he is con-fronted by a vision of dissolution: "Hesaw the bed and the dresser and thecarpet and the walls melting and shift-ing and merging into a blur" (6). Whenhe leaves the house, he walks down thestreet with "his mind lost in a warmfog" (37). Repeatedly, Wright charac-terizes Jake as tired or sleepy (36, 66,115, 158, 213, and passim), as longingfor a deathly peaceful oblivion. Indeed,Jake seems constantly on the verge offalling asleep in the midst of whateverhe is doing, whether he is playingbridge, getting a haircut, talking withfriends, or working at the post office.In one case, Jake muses that his "armsand legs felt heavy and slightly numb,as though they were watersoaked. Helicked his lips, mumbling Gawd,but I'msleepy.If he could only sleep right now,if he could only close his eyes and resthis head upon something soft" (68).Later, he and his post office croniestalk about how they like "slipping offinto nothing" (158).Jake never manages to articulatehis feeling of alienation, which he alsofeels both as an unexplainable nervous-ness and as a lack, a hunger. During alull in the opiatic distraction of conver-sation and bridge with his friends, hefeels "empty, missing something," andthinks, "I'mgetting nervousas hell. Andhe knew that as long as he sat this wayhis nervousness would increase....Jake's mind fished about, trying to gethold of an idea to cover his feeling ofuneasy emptiness" (89). Elsewhere,Jake thinks that "he wanted something,and that something hungered in him,deeply" (68), and he feels "a hauntingand hungering sense of incomplete-ness" (51). When he faces his shift atthe post office, he feels "a dumb yearn-ing for something else; somewhere orother was something or other for him"(116). The vagueness of Wright's lan-guage here appropriately reflects thehaziness of Jake's desires. Although,

when a white supervisor criticizes Jakefor improperly sorting several letters,Jake thinks that "Itain't always going tobe this way " he can get no further thanthat rudimentary expression of frustra-tion:His mind went abruptly blank. Hecould not keep on with that thought,because he did not know where thatthought led. He did not know of anyother way things could be, if not thisway. Yet he longed for them not to bethis way. He felt that something vastand implacable was crushing him; andhe felt angry with himself because hehad to stand it. (142-43)This inability to articulate or evenunderstand his feelings, this loss of

meaning, plagues Jake in other waysover the course of his day. In thedream that opens the novel, Jakeendures a Sisyphean torment, runningfrantically up a flight of steps at hisboss's urging but never making anyprogress. Though the dream carries(for us, anyway) an obvious symbolicmeaning relating to Jake's racial andeconomic exploitation, he spends muchof the morning just trying to rememberwhat he dreamed in the first place:"Now what was I dreaming?He tried tothink, but a wide gap yawned in hismind" (6). Worse, when the sight ofsome children playing on a flight ofstairs reminds him, he does not ponderover any possible social significancethe dream might have had, but insteaduses it as a guide for picking numbersfor a "policy" game, an elaborate num-bers racket. Even more problematical-ly, Jake cannot intuit the numbers fromthe dream himself; instead, he must gothrough two intermediaries. He tellsone woman, Mabel, his dream, and shepicks out the important elements; thenshe shouts those elements to a womannamed Martha, who matches them upwith the numbers found in KingSolomon'sWheelof Lifeand Death DreamBook.Jake is not allowed to see thisbook, so he must get the informationthirdhand before he bets his money.Finally, complete recovery of thedream's meaning is not possible evenin the terms of this corrupt system,




8/15

because"a dreamsometimeshad somanypossible interpretations,treferred o so many differentcombina-tions of numbers,thatit was impossi-ble to 'cover'the dream" 45).Jakecanonly accessas manydifferent nterpre-tationsof the dreamas he has moneyto spare.Jake's ellow postal laborersofferlittlemorethan Mabeland Martha nhelpingJakeunderstandthe meaningof theiralienatedand exploitedexis-tence.Jakespends muchof his daywith overweightnationalguardsmanAl, clap-riddenBob,and tubercularSlim.Mostof their conversation,whetherat Bob's house playingbridgeor at the post officesortingletters,revolves aroundsuch topics as thetreacherousnatureof women and theadmirablesuccess of millionaires ikeHenry Fordand JohnD. Rockefeller.But the grindingmonotonyof theirlaborexhauststhem and makesgen-uine communicationall but impossible.Wrightsays that"oftenthey were onthe verge of speaking,but the sheertrivialityof what they wantedto sayweighted theirtongues intosilence"(150),and that"whenthey talkeditwas more like thinkingaloud thanspeakingforpurposesof communica-tion. Clustersof emotion,dim accre-tions of instinctand traditionrosetothe surfaceof their consciousnesslikedead bodies floatingswollen upon anight sea" (158).TheconnotationsofWright's mageryare clear:Jakeandhis friendsspeakin a dead languagedevoid of meaningfulideas.However, in one very specificinstance, anguagedoes offer some-thing morethan a distraction rom thenervous hungerof alienation,and thisinstancehelps us begin to understandWright'sfundamentalargumentaboutAfricanAmerican ife in the urban,Northernwasteland.After a game ofpokerwith his friends,Jakefeels"empty,missing something."Whilecastingaboutfor a way to ease thisfeeling,he noticesAl restingcalmlyonthe couchnearbyand decides thathewants to "makesome of the strengthof

that reposehis own" (89).He choosesto do thisby playing the dozens withhis friend. This is significant,becausein playingthe dozens, an AfricanAmericanfolkloricform,the two menwho comicallyinsulteach other forgeconnections,albeit satiricalones, withtheir culturalheritage in the South andin Africa.For instance,Al tells Jakethat"'when old Colonel James was suckingat my ma's tits I saw your little babybrotheracrossthe streetwatchingwithslobber n his mouth,'" and Jake,a fewexchangeslater,tells Al that, "'whenmy greatgreatgreat randmawassmellingthem pork chops,your poorold greatgreatgreatgreatrandma wasa Zulu queen in Africa.She was settingat the tableand she said to the waiter:"Saywaiter,be sure and fetch me someof them missionary chitterlings . ."' "(91).Though the images invoked arehumorous,they also connectAl andJakewith the heritageof ancestorswhooccupied,in varying degrees, positionsof authority(orat least importance) nrelationto white people in their respec-tive societies.However, once theirgame ends, they returnto business asusual.Thismoment of connectionwithhis culturalheritagebrings Jakeanunusual feelingof joy;it also suggestsWright'soverallproject n LawdToday .Rather hansimply and pessimisticallydramatizing he alienationof his pro-tagonist,as Gold might accusea deca-dentbourgeoiswriterof doing, Wrightoffersspecificculturalreasonsfor thisalienationand suggests possible solu-tions compatiblewith leftistideology.The textstrongly suggests thatWrightlocates the sourceof Jakeand his fel-low Chicago-dwellers'alienationanduneasinessin theirseparation romAfricanAmericanculturaltraditionssuch as folkloreand the blackchurch,traditions hatforged communityandhelped to explainand makebearablethe oppressionthey sufferedin theSouth.These traditionsare,of course,the very ones thatWrightwouldendorsein his "BlueprintorNegroWriting" 1938)as partof a blackcul-




9/15

ture that "has,for good or ill, helped toclarify[theblackindividual's]con-sciousness and create emotionalatti-tudes which are conducive to action"(39). Though Jakehas renouncedthesetraditionsand indeed anythingthatrecallsblack life in the South, he hasnot yet found any other means ofmeaningfullyrelating to the world andhas instead adopted the exploitativemyths of Americanpopular culture,with disastrousresults.Throughout he novel, Jakereiter-ates this disavowalof the Southandany aspect of AfricanAmericanculturethat he associateswith it. WhenJakeassertsthe superiorityof Americaover"Commoonist"Russia,Lilremindshim that"'they burneda coloredmanalive the other day,'"but Jakedismiss-es herstory by saying "'Aw, thatwasdown South, anyhow."' WhenLilgoesso far as to remindhim that"'theSouth's a partof this country,'"Jakeaccuses her of beinga Red(33).Later,Jakesays that"'they ought to lynch'em if they ain'tgot no bettersensethan to stay down there'" (193).Similarly,when Duke,the novel's onlyCommunistorganizer(andnot a verysuccessfulone) tries to encourageagroupof blackmen to see the ills ofcapitalismby pointingto "'all themsharecroppers,' Jake, n characteristi-cally individualistfashion,tellshim to"'let'em look out after themselves'"(60).Thisrejectionof the SouthevenaffectsJake'swork habits:When hetransports etters,he prefersto "carryaNorthernstaterather hana Southernone. He never wanted to carryMississippi,his home state.That's nestateI'mdamngladto befrom."Wrightexplains Jake's eelingswhen hedescribeshis tastesin currentcinema:"Whenhe went to the movies healways wanted to see Negroes,if therewere any in the play, shown againstthe backgroundof urbanconditions,not ruralones.Anythingwhichsmackedof farms,chaingangs, ynch-ings, hunger,or the Southin generalwas repugnantto him.Thesethings

had so hurt him once that he wanted toforget them forever" 138).Only once does Jakeseem on theverge of reclaiminghis Southerncul-tural heritage.Whenhe and his cohortsstop to watcha paradesponsored by ablack nationalistgroup, they findthemselves profoundlyaffected by themusic:"Theywere feeling the surgesofmemory the music had roused in theirminds. They did not agree with theparade,but they did agree with themusic.There cameupon them thememoriesof thoseSunday morningsinthe Southwhen they had attendedchurch."Wrightstresseshere thepotential that this culturaltraditioncanhave as a way of appealing to AfricanAmericans, or Jakesays, ""'Maybethemfolksis right,who knows?'" Hedoes, however, say this "outof thedepthsof a confusedmood"(110);per-haps his confusionstems from hismomentaryattraction o something hehas so thoroughly repudiated. ThoughJakeand his friendsat one pointambivalentlydescribethe Southas"Heavenand Hell all rolled into one"(180),Jakeattemptsto renouncetheSouthaltogether,and thoughhe hasescapedtheHell that causedhim suchpain,he also denies the redemptivepotentialof Heaven.Indeed, althoughJakeoften payslip serviceto the necessityof faith,heapparentlyrejects he possibilitythatreligioncanhave any meaningfuleffecton people's lives. His wife Lil,whomJakeonce tricked ntohaving an abor-tion and who now suffers fromatumorbecauseof it, draws some of thestrengththat allows her to survivefroma magazinecalled Unity,"DEVOTED O CHRISTIANHEAL-ING"(7). ThoughUnity,with its pic-ture of a "haloed,beardedman drapedin white folds,"with his hand "restingupon theblond curls of a blue-eyedgirl,"certainlyseems a farcryfromthetraditionsof the AfricanAmericanchurch, orLil,whose husband dislikesher talkingeven to her neighborsor themilkman, t is perhapsthe only accessto religionor to any sort of broader




10/15

community.Jakenearly flies intoarageevery time he sees this magazine,callingit "trash"and ripping it fromher hands. WhenLil askshim formoney to have an operationfor hertumor,he thinks,cruelly, "Yeah,heought o askGawd o getrid of thattumorforher.... Theverynexttime hetellsmeabout hatdamnedumor 'll tellherto letUnity take areofit. Letthembastardssendupa silentprayer "20). He criti-cizes Lilfor not being as up-to-datewith currentevents as he is, and hetells herthat"'you could learnsome-thing if you didn'tkeep thatemptyhead of yours stuck intotheGawddamn Unitybooksall the time."'WhenLilprotests,tellinghim that"'this is Gawd'sword.... Don't youknow Gawd canslap you dead rightwhereyou is?'"Jakeresponds,"'It'sagyp game, that's all ... don't bedumb '" (31).However adamantand completehis renunciationof Christianity eems,Jakehas difficultystickingto it.Becauseof his conditionof oppressionand alienation,he deeply needs tobelieve in somethingthat can interpretthe world forhim and explainwhythings are the way they are.He some-times lapses intoan almost roterepeti-tion of Christian deals; indeed, only afew pages after he condemnsreligionas a "gyp game,"he tells Lilthat" 'thegood Lawd'sdone got it all figgeredout in his own good fashion. It'sgot tobe thatway so there can be somejus-tice in this world, I reckon ...' Hisvoice trailedoff uncertainly'(34).Perhapshis uncertaintystems from theobviously (even toJake)contradictorynatureof his statement.At other timesit seems as thoughChristianitys theonly thing Jakedoes not believe in.When he goes to his post officebox,hefinds it crammedfull of advertisementshawkingeverythingfromsupernaturalnumbers-picking chemesto proto-Viagravitalitytonics.Oddly, given hisapparentdisdainforbelief in thingsdivine, Jakeseems to have some faithin the supernaturalpowers of the prod-ucts advertisedhere. He says that

"theremight be something to this" adfor "THEMYSTERIOUS HREESTARMEDIUM" 38). Of another thatpromises to "MAKETHEUNSEENWORLDVISIBLE" ith "SecondComing Incense,"he ruminatesthat"maybethere's something in it if itcomesstraightfrom the spirit world"(39). He thinks thata good dose of"VIRGINMARY'SNEVERFAILHERBAND ROOTTONICFORNERVOUSAND RUNDOWNWOMEN" or Lilmight save him the cost of her opera-tion (40-41).Moreover,when it comesto pickinghis numbers for the policygame, he relies on dream interpretationbecause "he was much too shrewd totrust such a small thing as numbers tofortune tellers, spiritualists,and thelike; these people were consulted onlyin case of a deep, life-and-deathcrisis"(45).Jake's nconsistencyhere-attempting (with limited success)torejectChristianitybut replacing reli-gious faith with a faith in charlatansand scam artists-further emphasizeshis alienationand his need to believe insomethingthatgives his life meaning.However, ifJakedoes have a pri-mary alternativebelief system, anothermaster narrative hat explains theworld to him, he finds it in theAmericansuccess myth pervasive inthe popular culture-newspaper,radio,films-that he consumes.Wrightsubtlydrives this pointhome from thenovel's opening sequence.As Jakeclimbsfutilely up the neverendingstaircase,compelledever upward by abooming voice, he thinks,"thatoldsonofabitchpthere ounds ust likemyboss, oo " 5).Of course,when Jakeawakens,he realizes that the voice inhis dreamactually belongs to Lil'sradio, broadcasting he life-storyofAbrahamLincoln, con of bootstrapsideology. Wrightsuggests, then, thatpopular culture, or,morespecifically,the success myth of limitlessopportu-nity that it endorses,is Jake's"boss,"the forcethatkeeps him in this squir-rel's cage. Jakeconstantlyarticulateshis affirmationof this belief system. Hetells Lilthat"'nobody but lazy folks




11/15

can starve in this country' " (33). Herejects Franklin Roosevelt's attempts ateconomic reform because " 'oldHoover was doing all right, onlynobody couldn't see it, that's all.'"Moreover, he thinks that the New Dealis doomed to fail because nobody cantell his heroes "'old man Morgan andold Man Rockefeller and old man Fordwhat to do.... Why them men ownsand runs the country ' " (29). Jake isfascinated with and envious of thesemen, and so his assertion that " 'cold,hard cash runs this country, always didand always will' " is not intended as asocial critique; instead, he simplywants to get enough money so that hecan emulate these giants of capitalismthat he so admires.Jake's chief local example of theembodiment of bootstraps success isDoc, his local barber. When Doc railsagainst Communist organizer Duke,Jake "follow[s] the movement of Doc'slips with his own and nod[s] approval"(58). Doc, who owns his own store andhas a modicum of political influence,refuses to accept that anyone might beout of work for any reason but laziness.In order to explain his success, Doclikens himself to a frog, trapped in achurn of milk, who kicked until heturned the milk to butter, then"jumped on top of that ball of butterand hopped right out of the churn"(60). Further, he tells Jake that, ifCommunists "'kept their damnmouths shut and tried to get hold ofsomething, some money, or property,then they'd get somewhere'" (63).

Interestingly, religion does play apart in this success myth, but not thecommunity-forming, potentially radi-cal and oppositional Christianity thatwe see in "Fire and Cloud" and "Brightand Morning Star,"or even the simplysustaining Christianity of Lil's Unitymagazines. Instead, this religion, a fair-ly inactive and excessively generalfaith in the goodness of God's long-term plan, simply serves to endorseand authorize the status quo; itbecomes an explanation for how the

rich get rich and a justification forkeeping them that way. For instance,when Jake and his friends discussThomas Edison, Benjamin Franklin,Abraham Lincoln, and John D.Rockefeller, they claim that these men"'got to be successful by following theGolden Rule.... they did to other menwhat they wanted them men to do tothem ... and Gawd rewarded 'em....You'll get your reward if you doright'" (166-67). Moreover, the menparticularly admire a circular thatdepicts two trains, one headed for Helland the other for Heaven. The first,"THEEVERLASTINGDAMNATIONRAILWAYCORPORATION," adver-tised as "the Quickest and ShortestRoute to the Hottest Depths of H E LL,"makes stops not just at the pre-dictable "Murderer's Gap" and"Atheistville," but also at "RadicalHill," "Thomas Paine Avenue," and"Communist Junction" (162), thusclearly aligning any attempt at radicalchange to the status quo with soul-imperiling evil. The second, "THESALVATION AND REDEMPTIONRAILWAYCOMPANY," as one wouldexpect, stops at "Sacrifice Harbor,""Temperanceville," and "HonestyLine," thus diametrically opposingthese positive values to the negativevalues of Communist radicalism. Jakeand his friends think that the creator ofthis circular has " 'done figgered outevery single thing' " and that " 'Gawdsure must've been with the guy tomake 'im write a thing like that'"(165), statements that clearly indicatetheir acceptance of these values(although one suspects that they haveonly adopted the political and econom-ic values, since, despite the fact that thehell-bound train stops at "ProstitutionBoulevard," their after-hours destina-tion is a cathouse).Jake never manages to see theproblems inherent in his uncriticalbelief in capitalist bootstraps ideologyor to form any kind of meaningfulcommunity or interpersonal relation-ship that would help him to overcome




12/15

his overwhelmingsense of alienation.Indeed,the novel's last section,"Rats'Alley,"beginswith an epigraphfromEliot's TheWasteLand,and it describesa scene as bleak and empty as any inthathigh-modernistpoem. Despitehisalreadylargedebts,Jakegoes anotherhundreddollarsin the hole so thathecan finance a night out with his cohortsand play the big-spendinghigh-rollerhe so idealizes.Jakeand his friendscavortand dancewith a groupof pros-titutes"withan obvious exaggerationof motion" (195)in an attemptto dis-tractthemselvesfrom theiralienationand their emptiness.Wrightfurtherunderscoresthe false promisesof pop-ular culture:"Themusiccaroleditspromiseof an unattainable atisfactionand luredhim to a landwherebound-ariesrecededwith eachstep he took"(203).Wright'sdescriptionhereclearlyrecallsthe Sisypheanstaircase hatopens the novel and pointsout theimpossibilityof Jake'sever achievingthe kind of successhe desires.Even thefleshlypleasuresthatthe house shouldoffer often seem insteadlikepain.AsBlanche,a prostitutethatJakepicksup,dancesin "orgiasticagony,""a thinblackwoman grabbedher boy friendand bithis eartill blood came"(205).When,in mid-dance,Blanche ellsJake,"'That's murder,Papa,'"he replies,"'I want to be electrocuted'"(203).Moreover,even this ambiguoussensa-tion turns out to be inauthentic,anemptyruse;Blancheonly danceswithhim so thather partnercanpickhispocket.When Jakestumblesdrunkenlyhome and findsthatLil has fallenasleepkneelingin prayer,he assaultsher; Lilmust stab him in the head witha piece of glass in order to stop hisattack.Wright eavesJakesinkingintounconsciousness,circledwith "fumesof darkness," eelinglike "ablackwhirlpoolwas suckinghim under,"as"outsidean icy wind swept around thecornerof the building,whining andmoaninglike an idiot in a deep blackpit"(219).

:learly, LawdToday oes not endwith the revolutionaryelan thatMike Gold advocatedforthe proletari-an novel. However,Wrightdoes notleave the doorof radicalenlightenmentcompletelyshut forthe characters nthisnovel. Instead,he holds out hope,howeverslight, forthe possibilityofthe developmentof a revolutionaryorproletarianor at the very least commu-nity-orientedsensibilityin Jakeand hiscronies.Inone passage in which allfourmen speakwithout dialogue tagsto identifythe speaker,they achieveararemomentof potentiallymeaningfulconversation.They remark,"'Ain't itfunny how some few folks is richandjustmillions is poor?... And them fewrichfolksowns the whole world . . .and runs it like they please ... and therestain'tgot nothing?'" (173).At first,it seems that the men will dismiss thisglaringinjusticewith the typicalquasi-religiousbootstrapsfatalismthatmakessocialchangeseem so unten-able;they remark hat" 'Gawd said thepoor'llbe with you always ... and hewas right,too,'" and that" 'some folksjustain'tgot not brains,that'sall. Ifyou divided up all the money in theworld rightnow we'd be justwhereweis tomorrow'"(174).However, themen soon returnto the topic of eco-nomicand racialoppression,and theyeven see the CommunistPartyin apositive lightwhen they rememberthat "'the Redssure scaredthemwhitefolksdown Southwhen they put upthatfight forthe Scottsboroboys' "(176).Even morestrikingly,the menbeginto exhibitan inklingof commu-nity-mindedconsciousnessand adesire,however haltingly expressed,tochangethe currentsystem.One saysthat "'a lot of times I been wanting todo thingsI justwouldn't do.... And Ibet a lot of otherfolks feel the sameway.' "Anotherrespondswith "'Now... Wait a minute.... Now, you see, ifall the folks felt like that,why in helldon't they dosomething?'" "'Ah,hell,' " says another,"'some guy's gotsomethingyouwant, and you gotsomethinghewants, and when you do




13/15

something you bump into eachother... like you see trains crashing up inthe movies.'" However, anotherof theworkerswonders,"'Butshucks,if weall was in the same traingoing in thesame direction....' "This line ofthought, unfortunately,does not devel-op far beyond this point; one of themen finally says, "'Aw, man, ain'tno sense in talking about things likethis,' " and theconversationmoves onto other topics (183).In this brief butsignificantconver-sation,Jake,Slim, Al, and Bob demon-stratethat theirindoctrinationnto thehegemonicvalues of acquisitive, ndi-vidualistic capitalistculture s less thancomplete,however slightly so. Here,Wrightargues that, even in the mostapparently rredeemablybourgeoischaracters,here exists the possibilityfor an awakeningof revolutionary en-sibility.InLawdToday , ather hanofferingan oversimplifiedvision of aromanticizedproletariatworker, class-consciousand heroic, strugglingagainst his capitalistoppressors,Wright drawson modernisttechniquesand themes to painta complex,

unflinching,honest,and sometimesbrutalpicture of four"commonpeo-ple." Thesemen who feel alienatedandhollow after their move to the urbanwasteland of Chicagodesperatelydesiresomethingthatwill lessen theiralienation, hat will offer some reason-ableexplanation or theiroppressedcondition.By showing the pitfalls thatJakeencounterswhen he loses the cul-tural traditions hathelped to sustainhim in the South-such as an equallywholeheartedbelief in the "spiritrealm," n the evilness of radicalism,and in the Americansuccess myth-Wrightbothoffersus and, perhapsmore importantly, ought to offer his1930s'comrades,a better,morecompli-catedand completevision of how actu-al commonpeople might feel aboutsocietyand theirposition in it, a visionthatCommunistorganizerscould useto determinehow best to nurture thatseed of proletarianconsciousnessperhaps,as he would latersuggest, byattemptingto re-establish ome ofthose formsof communitydisruptedby urbanDepressionlife.

Notes 1. Iam citing the version of Lawd Today collected in Arnold Rampersad's Richard Wright:EarlyWorks (1991). Rampersad's edition is based on a completed typescript dating from 1937-1938, thelatest version of the work that we know of, and the one that apparently incorporates Wright's hand-written revisions on earlier drafts. The original edition of the book was emended by its editors atWalker and Company, who made substantial changes to Wright's "experimental punctuation, capital-izabon, and usage, and .. . also introduced a number of verbal changes, particularly o eliminatewords considered obscene and to regularize colloquialisms" (909). Rampersad also restored theexclamation point to the title.2. A few very early critics championed Lawd Today . William Burrison, in "AnotherLook at LawdToday: Richard Wright's TrickyApprenticeship," argues that Wright achieves a formal unity in thenovel through his use of the "trickstermotif' and the repeated use of the number three. In"LawdToday: Richard Wright's First/Last Novel," Lewis Leary argues that Lawd Today stands "securely onits own merits" as a portrayalof "the essential bleakness of black life"(412).

3. Wright became a member of the John Reed Club in 1933, although he did not actually join theCommunist Party until 1934.4. Like Don Graham, Linda Hamalian has also noted the modernist-specifically Eliotic-influenceon Lawd Today . In"OtherWriters, Other Looms: Richard Wright's Use of Epigraphs in Two Novels,"she focuses on how the modernist epigraphs that Wrightuses to introduce his chapters help illumi-nate themes; however, she argues that, while "the texture of a rather thin novel is enriched by itsaccompanying thematic allusion .. . the reader may feel that Wrightallowed himself to be over-whelmed by the pessimism of his sources. He was either ignorant of or indifferent to the other side ofBlack life that Langston Hughes often celebrates in his poetry" (78).

5. Timothy P. Caron's essay" 'The Reds are in the Bible Room': Political Activism and the Bible inRichard Wright's Uncle Tom's Children," n which Caron examines how Wrightlinks Christian andCommunist ideals, is an interesting and insighfful recent example of this approach.

50 AFRICAN MERICANEVIEW



14/15

6. A number of other recent critics have followed Foley's lead. C. BarryChabot argues that, while"the proletarian writers of the thirties are typically thought to be an interruptionof literarymodernismin the United States," in fact "self-consciously proletarian writers produced a variant within Americanliterary modernism, not an alternative to it" 215). Valentine Cunningham similarly asserts that "nohard and fast divide existed in the thirties along the lines conventional literary-historical storytelling isprone to suggest"; there is no "clear-cut oppositon between realism and modernism, socialists andmodernists, social realism and Joyceanism" (14). Alan Filreis's Modemism from Right to Left studiesthe relabonship between Wallace Stevens and various radical poets, and Betsy Erkkila's"ElizabethBishop, Modernism, and the Left"examines Bishop's work in a political context in order to "challengetraditional-and gendered-readings not only of Bishop but of literary modernism itself' (284).

7. Inthe May 1936 issue of Partisan Review, Sydney Justin Harris published an article entitled"Letter rom Chicago," in which he lamented that, "out of this city which promised to become the intel-lectual hub of the Middle West, the past many years have produced nothing but sterility and superfi-cial sophistication" (23). Harris cites the lack of significant literary output (he takes particularandunderstandable glee in mocking a cookbook composed of recipes submitted by the local literati)aswell as city policies that ban New Masses and controversial plays such as Tobacco Road and TheChildren's Crusade. Harris asserts that Chicago has only one literary clique, a "corset of culture,""sealed and cemented" by their reactionary ideals; Esquire, in particular, "ignor[es] the wealth of rev-olutionary literature in America today" (23). He criticizes one prominent editor who dismisses a leftistcritique of Ezra Pound as a "merely economic issue," an acton that he believes characterizes theChicago literaryscene's attitude toward class struggle. He regrets that these editors, poets, and crit-ics "influence the literarytastes and opinions of millions of readers in Chicago, the Middle West, and,as in Esquire and Poetry, the entire country. Itis they who obfuscate the real issues of the day withtheir chatter of 'immortality'and 'intelligent patriotism'and 'beauty' and 'latter-day sophistication'"(24).

Harris's article prompted Richard Wrightto respond in a letter to the editor. Wright claims that insome ways the situation in Chicago is even worse than Harrisdescribes it: "The truth of the matter is,some of the things are much blacker than Harrispaints. Most of the young writers and artists with atinge of talent flee this city as if it were on fire."However, he does argue that Harris neglects a few"young writers and artists who stand clear of the mire he paints." Moreover, he takes exception to theinclusion of one artist in particular, playwrightand sometime Esquire reviewer Meyer Levin, inHarris's "dismalgallery." Though Levin does not receive extensive critique from Harris, Harris doesnumber him among those who are insufficiently concerned with proletarian struggle and too con-cerned with decadent aesthetics. Wright challenges Harrisby asserting Levin's Communist creden-tials: He notes that Levin "is a member of the League of American writers, an organization whichcommits its members to a struggle through their craft against war, against Fascism, for the protectionof national minority groups and for the preservation of culture."Moreover, he points out that Levin"has been active in the left-wing theatre movement in Chicago," and that his play Model Tenant,about a rent strike, was prohibitedfrom being performed because itwas too "Red."Wright's defenseof Levin here seems to indicate that he felt that radical political beliefs and more aesthetic concernscould coexist quite peacefully.

WorksCitedAaron, Daniel. "RichardWright and the Communist Party." Richard Wright: mpressions andPerspectives. Ed. David Ray and Robert M. Farnsworth. Ann Arbor: U of Michigan P, 1973. 35-46.Blair, Sara. "Modernismand the Politics of Culture." The Cambridge Companion to Modemism. Ed.Michael Levenson. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1999. 157-73.

Burrison, William. "Another Look at Lawd Today: Richard Wright's TrickyApprenticeship." CLAJoumal 29 (1986): 424-41.

Chabot, C. Barry. Writersfor the Nation: American LiteraryModemism. Tuscaloosa: U of Alabama P,1997.

Cunningham, Valentine. "TheAge of Anxiety and Influence; or, Tradition and the Thirties Talents."Rewriting the Thirties: Modemism and After. Ed. Keith Williams and Steve Matthews. London:Longman, 1997. 5-22.

Erkkila, Betsy. "Elizabeth Bishop, Modemism, and the Left."American Literary History 8 (1996): 284-310.

Fabre, Michael. The Unfinished Quest of Richard Wright.Trans. Isabel Barzun. 2d ed. Urbana: U ofIllinois P, 1993.

RICHARDWRIGHT'SAWDTODAY NDTHEPOLITICALSES OF MODERNISM 51



15/15

Filreis, Alan. Modemism from Right to Left: Wallace Stevens, the Thirties, and LiteraryRadicalism.Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1994.

Foley, Barbara. Radical Representations: Politics and Form in U.S. Proletarian Fiction, 1929-1941.Durham: Duke UP, 1993.

Ford, Nick Aaron. 'The Fire Next Time?: A Critical Survey of Belles Lettres by and About NegroesPublished in 1963." Reilly 367-68.

Graham, Don B. "Lawd Today and the Example of The Waste Land." CLAJoumal 17 (1974): 327-32.Gold, Mike. "ProletarianFiction."Mike Gold: A LiteraryAnthology. Ed. Michael Folsom. New York:

International, 1972. 205-09.Hakutani, Yoshinobu. "RichardWrightand American LiteraryNaturalism." Zeitschrift 36.3 (1988):

217-26.Hamalian, Linda. "OtherVoices, Other Looms: Richard Wright'sUse of Epigraphs in Two Novels."

Obsidian II3.3 (1988): 72-88.Hicks, Granville. "Dreiser to Farrell to Wright."Reilly 363-65.Leary, Lewis. "Lawd Today Richard Wright's First/Last Novel." CLAJoumal 15 (1971): 411-19.Margolies, Edward. The Art of Richard Wright.Carbondale: Southern Illinois UP, 1969.Miller, Eugene A. Voice of a Native Son: The Poetics of Richard Wright.Jackson: UP of Mississippi,

1990.Phillips, William (Wallace Phelps). 'Three Generations." Partisan Review 1.4 (1934): 52-53.Rahv, Phillip. Rev. of Winner Take Nothing, by Ernest Hemingway. Partisan Review 1.1 (1934): 58.Reilly, John M., ed. Richard Wright:The CriticalReception. New York: Burt Franklin,1978.Sanders, MarkA. Afro-Modemist Aesthetics and the Poetry of Sterling A. Brown. Athens: U of

Georgia P, 1999.Seaver, Edwin. "What s a Proletarian Novel?: Notes Toward a Definition."Partisan Review 2.2

(1935): 5-7.Teres, Harvey M. Renewing the Left:Politics, Imagination, and the New York Intellectuals. New York:Oxford UP, 1996.

Werner, Craig. Playing the Changes: From Afro-Modemism to the Jazz Impulse. Urbana: U of IllinoisP, 1994.

Wright, Richard. Black Boy (American Hunger). 1945. New York: New American Library,1993.-. "Blueprint or Negro Writing."1938. Richard WrightReader. Ed. Ellen Wrightand Michael Fabre.

New York:Harper, 1978. 36-50.-. Early Works:Lawd Today , Uncle Tom's Children, Native Son. Ed. Arnold Rampersad. New York:Libraryof America, 1991.

. "Letter o the Editor."Partisan Review and Anvil 3 (June 1936): 30.


Documents

Lawd Today