Description
Written shortly before and left unfinished at the time of his death and published for the first time, a masterful novel by the author of Native Son explores one man's conflict over his dual roles as a black police officer and father, especially after he begins to suspect that his son is a murderer. Original. 50,000 first printing.
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'An intense, provocative, and vital crime story that excavates paradoxical dimensions of race, class, sexism, family bonds, and social obligation while seeking the deepest meaning of the law." ' BooklistOriginally published posthumously by his daughter and literary executor Julia Wright, A Father's Law is the novel Richard Wright, acclaimed author of Black Boy and Native Son, never completed. Written during a six-week period prior to his death in Paris in 1960, it offers a fascinating glimpse into the writer's process as well as providing an important addition to Wright's body of work.In rough form, Wright expands the style of a crime thriller to grapple with themes of race, class, and generational conflicts as newly appointed police chief Ruddy Turner begins to suspect his own son, Tommy, a student at the University of Chicago, of a series of murders in Brentwood Park. Under pressure to solve the killings and prove himself, Turner spirals into an obsession that forces him to confront his ambivalent relationship with a son he struggles to understand. Prescient, raw, and powerful, A Father's Law is the final gift from a literary giant.'We can be grateful for what [Wright] left behind and for what this book gives us to contemplate.' ' Washington Post Book World
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