日本大学生産工学部研究報告Ｂ Articles 2015 年 ６ 月 第 48 巻 Wright and Hughes: Chicago and Two Major African American Writers Toru KIUCHI＊ and Noboru FUKUSHIMA＊ （Received December 16, 2014） Abstract The Chicago Renaissance has long been considered a less important literary movement for American modernism than the Harlem Renaissance. The differences between the two movements have to do not only with history, but with aesthetics. While the Harlem Renaissance began in the 1920s—flourishing during the decade, but fading during the 30s in the throes of the Depression—the Chicago Renaissance had its origin in the turn of the nineteenth century, from 1890 to 1920, gathering momentum in the 30s, and paving the way for modern and postmodern realism in American literature ever since. Theodore Dreiser was the leader for the first period of the movement, and Richard Wright was the most influential figure for the second period. The first section of this article will examine not only the continuity that existed between the two periods in the writers’ worldviews but also the techniques they shared. To portray Chicago as a modern, spacious, cosmopolitan city, the writers of the Chicago Renaissance sought ways to reject traditional subject matter and form. The new style of writing yielded the development of a distinct cultural aesthetic that reflected ethnically diverse sentiments and aspirations. The panel discussion will focus on the fact that while the Harlem Renaissance was dominated by African American writers, the Chicago Renaissance thrived on the interactions between African and European American writers. Much like modern jazz, writings in the Chicago Renaissance became the hybrid, cross-cultural product of black and white Americans. The article will explore, in particular, the roles that Langston Hughes and Richard Wright played in the development of the movement. Keywords: Richard Wright, Langston Hughes, Chicago, African American Literature the Chief of Police for a rich Chicago area, Brentwood Park, 1. The Case of Richard Wright: The Unfinished after Mo Branden, the current police chief, is murdered. At the Quest of His A Father’s Law same time when Ruddy enters his new office, a woman, Janet Wilder, is found dead in the Brentwood Park woods. This is 1.1 the sixth victim, probably killed by the same murderer as the We borrowed the chapter title from Michel Fabre’s biogra- latest victim of serial killer. In the meantime, Ruddy’s son, phy, The Unfinished Quest of Richard Wright. At the begin- Tommy, a brilliant sociology student at the University of Chi- ning of the unfinished novel, A Father’s Law, Ruddy Turner, a cago, is connected to these murders as a possible suspect in black Chicago police officer, is awakened by a late night call Ruddy’s unconscious mind. One of the reasons why Ruddy is from police headquarters, ordering that he come to see the doubtful of his own son is that Tommy totally changes his at- Commissioner at once. Ruddy leaves home in a great hurry, titude after the sudden cancelation of his marriage with Marie his wife Agnes concerned and his son Tommy typing intently. Wiggins, whom Tommy loves, but refuses to see after he finds In the novel, which Wright worked on a few months before he that the girl has congenital syphilis. This incident is based died in November 1960, Ruddy finds that he is appointed to upon Wright’s actual 1938 experience with Marion Sawyer, a ＊Professor, Department of Liberal Arts and Basic Sciences, College of Industrial Technology, Nihon University ─ 1 ─ girl whom Wright was going to marry but, when she turned and it’s a hard, hard grind…I seem to be turning my life into out to have an advanced case of syphilis like Marie Wiggins, newspaper copy from day to day; and when I look into the fu- Wright canceled the marriage immediately. ture it looks no better” (qtd. Rowley 129). It is hard to say how the book was shaped from Wright’s However, on December 14, 1937, Wright was informed that actual experience. For instance, in a short introduction to the his short story, “Fire and Cloud,” won the first prize and $500 novel, Julia Wright, his daughter, attributes Tommy’s despera- in a contest held by the magazine Story. The short story was tion to the incurable disease of Wright’s mother Ella and the chosen from among six hundred entries by a jury consisting of untimely death of Bessie Smith: Sinclair Lewis and others (Fabre 156), and five hundred dol- lars was a big amount of money in those days. Almost at the Tommy’s sick girlfriend, his repulsion for her congenital same time, in mid-December 1937, after his residency re- syphilis, makes moving reading because Richard had not quirement was fulfilled, Wright was finally accepted on to the been able to cure Ella of her life history of seizures….My New York Federal Writers Project (Rowley 138). Furthermore, father’s preoccupation with another story—which suggests Harper and Brothers decided to publish Wright’s collection of that Bessie Smith may have bled to death because the white short stories as Uncle Tom’s Children within the next two or hospital near the scene of her accident would not admit three months (Wright to Lincoln of Norton, 17 December, Co- her—is a reflection of this trauma in his ability to love but lumbia U). As a result, on December 28, 1937, Wright wrote not to save. (Julia Wright, “Introduction”) his last article for the Daily Worker and immediately quit his job as a reporter for the newspaper (Fabre 162). And yet the unfinished quest of the novel will gradually be The year 1937 was a bitter one for Wright but the beginning made clear in due consideration of his biographical facts of of 1938 was the high tide of fortune for him. The moment he which the author made full use in retrospect of the indefinitely was at the climax of his fame, Wright met Marion Sawyer. postponed April 1938 wedding with Marion Sawyer. The idea Probably around January 17, 1938, Wright moved from his of A Father’s Law was probably already in Wright’s mind by friend Abraham Chapman’s apartment to 230 West 136th May 1948—ten years after the breakup with Sawyer—be- Street (Aswell to Wright, 7 March, Yale U), which was the ad- cause he mentioned in an interview “the story of a man who dress of Marion Sawyer and her obliging mother, who let him kills because he has not been convicted for an earlier crime use her kitchen as well, to save him money on meals (Fabre and wants to be punished” (“A Parigi con Wright” in Turin 169). After he met her, Avanti [May 19, 1948], qtd. Fabre 598n37), even though he only actually started to write the novel twelve years later in The young woman, Marion Sawyer, had told him about August 1960. He finished about two thirds in the first rough some “unhappy sexual experience” she had had in the past. draft in August 1960 and even started to negotiate contracts on Now one of the men in the rooming house was pestering it with a publisher in France in late October with the intention her. When Marion was cooking, Wright could chivalrously of finishing the last third. However, the quest in the novel was go to the kitchen to ward him off. (Rowley 147) stopped and left unfinished by his untimely death about one month later in late November 1960. Much later in 2008, the Soon after he moved into Sawyer’s house, Wright almost half-finished novel, edited by Wright’s daughter Julia Wright, got married to a girl from an African American bourgeois was published by Harper Perennial. Even though Wright’s family in Brooklyn around March 1938, but her father did not quest in the last third is unknown to anybody, this chapter fo- consider a “penniless writer” for an appropriate son-in-law cuses on the clarification of Wright’s half-finished quest in the (Fabre 195-96). Wright was then romantically involved with examination of his incorporated biographical facts. Marion Sawyer. In April 1938, Wright introduced Marion to his friend Jane Newton as “a girlfriend,” but soon afterward, 1.2 to Jane’s complete astonishment, he told her that they decided Wright left Chicago and arrived in New York on May 29, to get married. According to Michel Fabre, “It was possibly 1937 to live in the city and work as a reporter for the Daily his resentment at having been rejected by a middle-class fami- Worker. On November 2, 1937, one month before he met ly that caused him to look for a wife among the people.” Ac- Marion Sawyer, Wright wrote his friend Ralph Ellison that he cordingly, Mrs. Sawyer, Marion’s mother, sent out cards to did not like the job complaining that “It was not for this that I their friends announcing the wedding for Sunday, May 22, came to NYC...I’m working from 9 a. m. to 9 and 10 p. m. 1938 (Fabre 196). ─ 2 ─ In the course of the marriage arrangement, Wright was hon- Sawyer” (Rowley 148). As a result, as many as twenty-two ored to know that Eleanor Roosevelt, the First Lady, com- years later, Wright wrote the 190 pages long rough draft of a mented on Uncle Tom’s Children in her column, “My Day,” in new idea, “A Father’s Law” (Fabre 512, 622n32) at the Mou- the April 1, 1938 issue of New York World-Telegram: lin d’Andé, an estate about 75 miles northwest of Paris, just opened up to artists and intellectuals in 1957.