1946

Wright, Dr. Fredric Wertham, and others found the Lafargue Clinic, a free psychiatric clinic in Harlem. He meets Jean-Paul Sartre in New York. He requests a passport, but meets opposition. Wright goes to Washington for an interview and enlists the aid of Dorothy Norman, Gertrude Stein, and French cultural attache, Claude Levi-Strauss, who sends him an official invitation from the French government. On 1 May, Wright leaves New York for Paris, where Gertrude Stein welcomes him. He helps Leopold Sedar Senghor, Aime Cesaire, and Alioune Diop to found the magazine Presence Africaine. In late December he leaves Paris and travels to London.

1947

In London, Wright meets many prominent writers and thinkers, including a dinner with the Coloured Writers' Association. He returns to New York in January, and in the spring, he welcomes Simone de Beauvoir to the city. A Hollywood producer offers to film Native Son, but wants to change Bigger to a white man; Wright refuses. Wright's works are being translated into several European languages. Wright decides to move the family to Europe permanently. Wright sells the house in June, buys an Oldsmobile to take to Europe, and he, his wife, and daughter arrive in Paris in August. They first live in a friend's apartment on the rue de Lille, then move to 166 Avenue de Neuilly. French translation of Native Son comes out in the fall.

1948

Wright deepens his interest in existentialism, reading Husserl and Heidegger and hanging out with Sartre and de Beauvoir. Camus's The Stranger strongly impresses Wright, and he begins work on an existentialist novel, which becomes The Outsider. He visits Italy to support the Italian translation of Native Son. When asked his reading habits by his Italian translator, Wright lists Metamorphosis, Moby-Dick, Ulysses, and The Sound and the Fury. He travels to London by way of Belgium, where he sees a performance of Native Son and George Padmore gets him interested in colonialism in Africa. In May, the Wrights move to the Latin Quarter, 14 rue Monsieur le Prince. In June, Ellen returns to New York to gather items for their home in France. Wright joins Sartre and Camus in the leadership of the RDR, an organization of intellectuals who criticize both the United States and the USSR. At the RDR's writers' congress, Wright delivers a long speech which de Beauvoir translates. Wright buys Paul Green's share of the movie rights to Native Son for $6000. He hopes to make the film with French director Pierre Chenal.

1949

Wright's second daughter, Rachel, is born 17 January. Wright travels to Italy and Switzerland. Wright leaves the RDR, which soon breaks up, because he feels David Rousset is trying to turn the organization toward a pro-American anti-Soviet stance. Wright travels to London to discuss the inclusion of his essay, "I Tried to Be a Communist" in the collection The God That Failed. With George Plimpton, Wright helps to launch the Paris Review. James Baldwin publishes "Everybody's Protest Novel," critiquing Native Son, which leads to a chill between Wright and Baldwin. Wright finishes the screenplay to Native Son, and he and Chenal revise it, but Canada Lee withdraws from the project. Wright decides to play Bigger. He returns to America, and travels to Chicago where they shoot parts of the film. In September, Wright heads to Argentina, where the film is to be shot. Chenal chose Argentina because he had worked there during WWII and political pressure made the French studios inaccessible. Wright loses 35 pounds to prepare for the role.

1950

Financial difficulties delay the film, and Wright is bothered by life in Peronist Argentina. In June, the filming ends, and Wright leaves Buenes Aires in July, stopping in Brazil, Trinidad, New York, and Haiti before returning to Paris. In France, he works on a screenplay based on Haiti's Toussaint L'Ouverture and assists Aime Cesaire with organizing an exhibition entitled "Revelation of Negro Art." In the fall, he vacations in the Alps, visiting Basel, Zurich, and the Aoste Valley, where he helps judge the San Vicente literary prize. Wright founds and is president of the Franco-American Fellowship, whose intention is to protest official American policies and oppose racist actions by American companies and organizations active in France. Fellowship members, wary of U.S. government surveillance, take precautions when meeting.