When "The Man Who Lived Underground" was published in the anthology Cross Section in 1944, there was not yet a large reading public accustomed to reading works by African-American authors. It was assumed that a black Writer could Write only about race, from only one point of view, and for a primarily black audience. In Wright's case, his early reviewers had read Native Son, and most approached "The Man Who Lived Underground" with the assumption that they already knew what it was about. In a 1944 review in the Chicago Sun, Sterling North wrote, "As an enthusiastic Wright fan of several years standing I may perhaps be permitted to point out that Wright is still doing variations on the same theme." Most reviewers read the story as one of a black man suffering under white oppression, and went about supporting that view. A rare exception was Harry Hansen...