Part 1, The Seer and the Seen, Section 7 Summary and Analysis

This section begins with a preface that describes the two components of this piece as having been completed in response to a pair of articles (like the two articles in this section, published separately) by the "Northern white liberal" commentator Irving Howe.

"The World and the Jug", part 1 (published 1963). The author begins his essay with a summing up of Howe's first article, a positive commentary on the book Native Son by Richard Wright. Howe, according to the author, sets up Wright and his work as a hero, a true voice of the American Negro, and defines the work of other, younger writers (including the author) as lesser works. Howe, according to the author, is ultimately suggesting that because the author and other Negro writers are attempting to move beyond...