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A1owleagmenlf Over the years, I have benefited from the intelligent, sensitive criticism and encouragement of many people. It is difficult to exaggerate the importance of their contributions to my work, and harder still to express my gratitude to them. Gerald Early read the manuscript and shepherded it and me over shaky ground. Michel Fabre read and advised on the Wright sections of the study. Rick Griffiths, a friend indeed , read, edited, added, posed nagging questions, and offered fresh insights. Michael North's work and criticism forced me to write a more rigorous version ofthe study. Julia Wright commented on and greatly improved the sections on her father's work. Many thanks to Caria Cappetti, Eddy Harris, Josef Jarab, and Eric Sundquist for wise instruction along the way. I have been blessed with family and friends, all compassionate, smart, and very funny people, whose love and care helped me to write this book. A mahalo nui loa to Rutha, Mimi, George, Bonnie, Mark, Michael, Julie, Jenny, Larry, Nicolas, and Alex. I am very grateful to Funso Afolyan; Edna Arbuckle; Stephanie Boms-Weil; Laurie Fleischman; Valerie Géraud; Shafi Goldwasser; Janice Grossman ; Francesca, Gordon, and Carlotta Lepingwell; Erin Mackie; Vicki Missien; Lisa Wenska Phee; Michèle Valencia; and Rafia Zafar. For one year, this work was supported by a postdoctoral fellowship in Paris through the Centre Régional des Œuvres Universitaires et Scolaires. In addition, I would like to thank the librarians at the X Acknowledgment* Yale Collection of American Literature, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Yale University and at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture; special thanks to Madame Mesnard at the Institut Mémoires de l'Édition Contemporaine in Paris. I am especially grateful to Ellen Wright for permission to quote from Richard Wright's unpublished work. Many thanks to Dorothy Negri in the Department of English and especially to Raye Riggins and Adele Tuchler in the Program for African and Afro-American Studies at WashingtonUniversity. This study came to fruition thanks to the wisdom, guidance, and generosity of Werner Sollors, my teacher and myfriend. ...

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