Richard Wright Theorizes Surrealism

Abstract The posthumous 2021 publication of the full unexpurgated version of Richard Wright's The Man Who Lived Underground, paired with his essay “Memories of My Grandmother,” also published for the first time, opens a new phase of inquiry into his work. The essay, in particular, reveals how immersed Wright became in discussions of surrealism and how he worked to give it specific inflections as he moved toward new projects in the early to mid-1940s. Developing his own terms, among them “enforced severance,” Wright brings them into the realm of surrealist aesthetic theorization. The essay demonstrates the highly antinomian and intellectually hybrid quality of Wright's thought as he moved away from the political and theoretical grounding that had been supplied by his CPUSA years. Returning to this moment of Wright's trajectory with an emphasis on the essay, this consideration offers an alternative picture of the canonical author and suggests pathways into his work made available by the newly available writings.