The Saturday Review of Literature

The Saturday Review of Literature was a periodical whose June 1, 1940 issue carried most of the text of “How ‘Bigger’ Was Born.” Its documented connection to the essay is as a venue for its initial publication and as a source of material later reproduced with permission; the complete text was published separately by Harper & Brothers.

Role in the Essay’s Publication

The essay was first delivered as a lecture at Columbia University on March 12, 1940, then delivered again a few weeks later at the Schomberg Library in Harlem. Most of its text appeared in The Saturday Review of Literature on June 1 of that year. The periodical therefore brought a substantial portion of the essay into print before the first complete printed edition.

Permission and Reproduction

An acknowledgment records that permission was granted to reproduce the parts of “How ‘Bigger’ Was Born” that had appeared in The Saturday Review of Literature. This establishes a specific role in the essay’s later circulation: the periodical’s contribution was reproduced material from its June issue, rather than the complete essay.

Relation to the Complete Edition

Harper & Brothers published the first complete printed text as a 39-page pamphlet in August 1940. The publisher had initially intended to use the essay as an introduction to a special “Author’s Edition” of Native Son, but postponed that edition when sales slowed and issued the essay as a pamphlet instead. The essay was added to later printings of Native Son in early 1942, using the pamphlet’s plates. The Saturday Review of Literature thus represents an earlier stage in the publication history, distinct from the complete pamphlet and subsequent book printings.