Richard Bruce Wright is mainly noteworthy for his fictional rendering of modern urban Canada. Wright has particularly emphasized the processes of homogenization and obliteration of personal identity which seem to characterize life in all modern cities, and he has frequently related these processes to the Canadian problem of cultural and economic domination by the United States. This is not to say that he is anti-American; indeed, he has recognized that some of the most significant criticisms of modern life have emanated from the United States and has based much of his own writing on models provided by certain United States authors.

Born to Laverne and Laura Willette Thomas Wright in the resort town of Midland, Ontario, Wright moved to Toronto to pursue his postsecondary education and a career in business. Graduating with a specialty in communications from Ryerson Polytechnical Institute in 1959, he worked for eight years as editor...