Before I begin my review of The Man Who Lived Underground, I’ve got something exciting to share with everyone. My newest novel, One Kind of Hero, is now available. My website has a page where you can read more about my latest story, but I think it’s the best I’ve done so far.
The Man Who Lived Underground is a previously unpublished book by the famed African American writer Richard Wright. Active during the 1940s, Wright is know for books such as Native Son and Black Boy. As one might expect from a person writing at that time, racism and discrimination were prominent themes in Wright’s work.
The Man Who Lived Underground is in this same vein. Wright’s estate agreed to the publication of the book in 2021. (Wright died in 1960. He wrote the story by 1942.) Is this story worth the wait?
The Man Who Lived Underground Summary
The opening of the novel is brutal. Fred Daniels has been doing work around the house of a woman who has hired him. He heads home to join his wife, who is pregnant. While he was working, however, a double murder took place on the adjacent property. Lacking leads, the police nab him off the street and take him in.
Rather than investigate, however, they simply beat Daniels to a pulp to extract a confession. After hours of torture, they get one. However, during a trip to the hospital to see his pregnant wife, Daniels escapes. With recapture imminent, he takes refuge in the sewers.
Once underground, Daniels, who’d committed no crime, embarks on a career of actual crime. Tunneling into basements from the sewer system, he steals various items, some high in value, for the underground room that becomes his new home.
Click Here to Follow Rob’s Blog!
The Man Who Lived Underground Themes
The most obvious, certainly, is the theme of the innocent Black man accused of a crime without evidence. It’s a theme of numerous fiction books, including two of mine—The Buffalo Soldier and Darkness in Dixie. (Use the menu above to find out more.) Colson Whitehead used it in his recent novel The Nickel Boys. (Check my review here.)
Now, to some, this might seem like overdoing a familiar theme. Well, for one thing, Wright wrote this book in the 1940s. For another, there’s a reason that lots of African American fiction has this theme—it happened to real people all too often.
I found it interesting that the first thing Daniels hears from his new underground home is a church choir. Surely, this has some significance. Churches preach salvation in the life to come. Juxtapose that against people like Daniels who’ve been marked for death in this life. It’s easy to see why this infuriates some people. Preaching that enduring suffering in this life will be rewarded in the next sounds an awful lot like an excuse for turning away from fighting injustice. This was true in the 1940s just as it remains true today—it’s a valid debate what the role of religion should be in combating the injustices of the world.
I won’t say too much more about the themes because it’s hard to do that without spoiling the plot too badly. But the items that Daniels steals, I noticed, tended to be status items of 1940s America—cash, jewelry, a radio, and so on. Yet, in the sewer, none of them were worth anything. A person can’t eat those things. Perhaps a commentary on the meaning culture gives to items as opposed to their utility? Or, perhaps, a commentary that a society that can produce such items but lacks justice for all its people, placing materialism over virtue, is a sick one?
Click Here to Get Your Free Ebook from Rob!
Who Might Like the Book
The story was short. You can probably finish in three hours. It was very interesting in many ways for a book written 80+ years ago. The opening is brutal, painful, and without much subtlety. Yet, after Daniels reaches the sewers, The Man Who Lived Underground becomes much more symbolic and it takes much more effort to really sift through what Wright is trying to tell us. A book that can do both these things at once has something going for it.
If you’re curious about how urban African Americans looked at life in the 1940s, this book has something to offer. The writing isn’t hard to follow in a literal sense. If you simply read the book literally, you have a fast-moving story of injustice followed by a man going crazy living in a sewer. The challenge lies in interpreting the work in a symbolic sense. So, if you like such challenges, dig in and give the book a look. The same holds true if you like comparing the themes of 1940s literature with those today, or comparing racial injustice from the 1940s with what you see around you today.
This is what will likely make or break your enjoyment of The Man Who Lived Underground. But if in doubt, I’d give it a read. It never hurts to read something by a classic author and challenge yourself at the same time.
Thanks for reading, and don’t forget to scroll down and subscribe to my blog before you go.
Please Subscribe!
If you enjoyed this blog, please sign up to follow it by scrolling down or clicking here, and recommending it to your friends. I’d love to have you aboard! You can also join the more than 1,000 members of my Readers Club for Rob Bauer Books by clicking here or like me on Facebook and Instagram. Please check out my historical fiction novels, too. If you find this information valuable, supporting me helps keep this blog going.
As always, I welcome constructive and polite discussion in the comments section, especially if you’ve read the book and want to share your impression of it. Thank you!