Charles Stevenson Wright (June 22, 1932 – October 1, 2008) was an American novelist. He wrote the novels ''The Messenger'' (1963), ''The Wig'' (1966) and ''Absolutely Nothing to Get Alarmed About'' (1973).

Early life

Wright was born in

New Franklin, Missouri New Franklin is a city in Howard County, Missouri, United States. The population was 1,027 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Columbia, Missouri Metropolitan Statistical Area. The community is northeast of and uphill from Franklin, a fl ...

, on June 4, 1932. After the death of his mother, he was sent at the age of four to live with his maternal grandmother, who encouraged a love of reading in him. He dropped out of high school, and his only further education was a brief stint at the

Handy Writers' Colony The Handy Writers' Colony, often called simply the Handy Colony or The Colony, was a writers' colony located in Marshall, Illinois, which operated from 1950–1964. The Handy Colony was founded in 1950 by Lowney Turner Handy and her husband, Harry ...

Marshall, Illinois Marshall is a city in and the county seat of Clark County, Illinois, United States, located approximately west of Terre Haute, Indiana. The population was 3,947 at the 2020 census. History Marshall was officially organized by William B. Arc ...

, taught by James Jones. Afterward he was enlisted in the Army.

Writing career

In 1955, Wright moved to

Manhattan, New York Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

, and worked a number of low-paid jobs while writing his first novel, ''The Messenger'', which was published by

Farrar, Straus and Giroux Farrar, Straus and Giroux (FSG) is an American book publishing company, founded in 1946 by Roger Williams Straus Jr. and John C. Farrar. FSG is known for publishing literary books, and its authors have won numerous awards, including Pulitzer P ...

in 1963. His second novel, ''The Wig'', received positive reviews, with Conrad Knickerbocker calling it "brutal, exciting and necessary" in ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

''. His third and last novel, ''Absolutely Nothing to Get Alarmed About'', sections of which were previously published as essays in ''

The Village Voice ''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture publication based in Greenwich Village, New York City, known for being the country's first Alternative newspaper, alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf (publisher), Dan Wolf, ...

'', came out in 1973. In his ''New York Times'' column "American Beauties", devoted to undersung American books,

Dwight Garner Dwight Garner (born January 8, 1965) is an American journalist and longtime writer and editor for ''The New York Times''. In 2008, he was named a book critic for the newspaper. He is the author of ''Garner's Quotations: A Modern Miscellany'' and ...

compared reading Wright to "a steep, stinging pleasure", while

Ishmael Reed Ishmael Scott Reed (born February 22, 1938) is an American poet, novelist, essayist, songwriter, composer, playwright, editor and publisher known for his Satire, satirical works challenging American political culture. Perhaps his best-known wor ...

has described Wright as "

Richard Pryor Richard Franklin Lennox Thomas Pryor Sr. (December 1, 1940 – December 10, 2005) was an American stand-up comedian and actor. Known for reaching a broad audience with his trenchant observations and storytelling style, he is widely regarded ...

before there was a Richard Pryor. Richard Pryor on paper." Reed contributed an introduction to ''The Collected Novels of Charles Wright'' (

Harper Perennial Harper Perennial is a paperback imprint of the publishing house HarperCollins Publishers. Overview Harper Perennial has divisions located in New York, London, Toronto, and Sydney. The imprint is descended from the Perennial Library imprint foun ...

, 2019).

Bibliography

*''The Messenger'' (1963) *''The Wig'' (1966) *''Absolutely Nothing to Get Alarmed About'' (1973) *''Absolutely Nothing to Get Alarmed About: The Complete Novels of Charles Wright'' (1993)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wright, Charles 1932 births 2008 deaths 20th-century African-American writers 20th-century American male writers 20th-century American novelists 21st-century African-American writers African-American male writers African-American novelists American male novelists Novelists from Missouri People from Howard County, Missouri United States Army soldiers