Introduction & Overview of The Man Who Lived Underground by Richard Wright

The Man Who Lived Underground Introduction

"The Man Who Lived Underground," Richard Wright's story about a man who makes a home in city sewers after he is falsely accused of a murder, was first published in the journal Accent in 1942. It was originally written as a novel, but Wright could find no publisher for it and shortened the story to a length that would be suitable for a magazine. Two years later, the editor Edwin Seaver, a friend and admirer of Wright, included a longer version in an anthology, Cross Section. In 1960 the anthologized version of the story was included in Wright's collection Eight Men. Since that publication, the story has been consistently and widely anthologized and discussed. Wright did not live to see the ultimate success of his story, having died two months before Eight Men appeared.

The story concerns Fred Daniels, an African American falsely accused of killing a white woman....
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