{"product_id":"bigger-a-literary-life-9780300269321","title":"Bigger: A Literary Life","description":"\u003cb\u003eA biography of \u003ci\u003eNative Son\u003c\/i\u003e's Bigger Thomas that examines his continued relevance in debates over Black men and the violence of racism\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Bigger Thomas, the central figure in Richard Wright's novel \u003ci\u003eNative Son\u003c\/i\u003e (1940), eludes easy categorization. A violent and troubled character who rejects the rules of society, Bigger is both victim and perpetrator, damaged by racism and segregation on the South Side of Chicago, seemingly raping and killing without regrets. His story has electrified readers for more than eight decades, and it continues to galvanize debates around representation, respectability, social justice, and racism in American life. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e In this book, distinguished scholar Trudier Harris examines the literary life of Bigger Thomas from his birth to the current day. Harris explores the debates between Black critics and Communist artists in the 1930s and 1940s over the \"political novel,\" the censorship of \u003ci\u003eNative Son\u003c\/i\u003e by white publishers, and the work's initial reception--as well as interpretations from Black feminists and Black Power activists in the decades that followed, up to the novel's resonance with the Black Lives Matter movement today. Bigger, Harris argues, represents the knotted heart of American racism, damning and unsettling, and still very much with us.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Yale University Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 06\/18\/2024\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780300269321\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 200","brand":"Trudier Harris","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44033792245941,"sku":"9780300269321","price":22.1,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0473\/0804\/6492\/files\/img_722878a0-a878-4f71-9681-49314ead2dfd.jpg?v=1713886088","url":"https:\/\/pastforward.org\/products\/bigger-a-literary-life-9780300269321","provider":"Past Forward","version":"1.0","type":"link"}