Page "Richard Wright (author)" Paragraph 14

Wright moved to Paris in 1946, and became a permanent American expatriate.

In Paris, he became friends with Jean-Paul Sartre and Albert Camus.

His Existentialist phase was depicted in his second novel, The Outsider ( 1953 ), which described an African-American character's involvement with the Communist Party in New York.

He also was friends with fellow expatriate writers Chester Himes and James Baldwin, although the relationship with the latter ended in acrimony after Baldwin published his essay Everybody's Protest Novel ( collected in Notes of a Native Son ), in which he criticized Wright's stereotypical portrayal of Bigger Thomas.

In 1954 he published a minor novel, Savage Holiday.

After becoming a French citizen in 1947, Wright continued to travel through Europe, Asia, and Africa.

These experiences were the basis of numerous nonfiction works.