On Richard Wright’s A Father’s Law From The Perspective Of New Historicism

Richard Wright (1908-1960) is an influential African-American writer in themid-20th century with several literary awards. Wright has a key influence onAfrican-American literature and he was considered as “The Father of Black AmericanLiterature”. A Father’s Law, finished in1960, is published by Richard Wright’sdaughter in2008. Compared with Wright’s other novels, A Father’s Law receives lessattention. As the last novel in Wright’s life, A Father’s Law expresses a combinedtheme, including the relationship between father and son, the conflict between apoliceman and a criminal and the complex relationship between the black and thewhite. Richard Wright’s personal experiences and his own interest are expressed in AFather’s Law, and Tommy in this novel is described as a typical image of a blackyoung man in the mid-20th century, which represents the history of young men at thattime. Therefore, this thesis attempts to study Richard Wright’s A Father’s Law underthe perspective of New Historicism, especially Louis Adrian Montrose’s historicity oftexts and textuality of history.The relationship between history and literary texts is mutual and influential. Onthe one hand, the thesis discusses the historicity of A Father’s Law which reflects thehistory of Wright’s time. Richard Wright’s life experience of protesting againstwhite-control society, interest in Leopold and Loeb case and depressed childhood ofbeing abandoned by his father influence the creation of this novel deeply. On the otherhand, it mainly studies the textuality of Richard Wright’s time through A Father’s Law,especially the history of black young people with a criminal mind and patricidecomplex in the mid-20th century’s Counter-culture Movement. History is recorded inliterary texts through which people could understand history. Therefore, History is recorded in Wright’s subjective way.A Father’s Law reflects the mutual relationship between texts and history.Richard Wright’s social background and personal experience influence the creation ofA Father’s Law, and the novel also records the history of young people in themid-20th century. The study of A Father’s Law from the perspective of NewHistoricism can best appreciate Wright himself and his works, even the history of themid-20th century.