In an era when fiction with political intent was widely condemned, Wright’s haunting novel, with its clear political message, made me unafraid to wri… - Richard Wright

He was much more stern and realistic than I tend to be. I'm not unrealistic, except in the sense that some things are so unpleasant I need to alter them a bit.

He took me to an office and introduced me to a Jewish boy who was to become one of the nation’s leading painters, to a chap who was to become one of the eminent composers of his day, to a writer who was to create some of the best novels of his generation, to a young Jewish boy who was destined to film the Nazi invasion of Czechoslovakia. I was meeting men and women whom I would know for decades to come, who were to form the first sustained relationships in my life.

I paced the floor, knowing that all I possessed were words and dim knowledge that my country had shown me no examples of how to live a human life.