Synopses & Reviews
Ralph Ellison's 1952 novel Invisible Man is one of the most important controversial novels in the American canon and remains widely read and studied. This Companion provides the most up-to-date introduction to this influential and significant novelist and critic and to his masterpiece. It features newly commissioned essays, a chronology and a guide to further reading. The essays recover the compelling urgency and relevance of Ellison's political and artistic vision. Students and scholars of American and African-American literature will find this work invaluable.
Review
'... all literature and humanities collections should purchase this fascinating volume.' Reference Reviews
Synopsis
A comprehensive introduction to novelist and critic Ralph Ellison and his masterpiece Invisible Man.
About the Author
Ross Posnock is Professor of English at New York University.
Table of Contents
List of figures; List of contributors; Chronology; Introduction: Ellison's joking Ross Posnock; 1. Ralph Ellison's invented life: a meeting with ancestors Lawrence Jackson; 2. Ellison and the black Church: the gospel according to Ralph Laura Saunders; 3. Ellison, photography and the origins of invisibility Sara Blair; 4. Ralph Ellison's music lessons Paul Allen Anderson; 5. Ralph Ellison's constitutional faith Gregg Crane; 6. Ralph Ellison and the politics of melancholia Anne Anlin Cheng; 7. Invisible Ellison: the fight to be a Negro leader Tim Parrish; 8. Ellison's experimental attitude and the technologies of illumination John S. Wright; 9. Female iconography in Invisible Man Shelly Eversley; 10. Chaos not quite controlled: Ellison's uncompleted transit to Juneteenth Kenneth W. Warren; 11. Ralph Ellison, Hannah Arendt and the meaning of politics Ross Posnock; 12. Dry bones Eric J. Sundquist; Selected bibliography and suggestions for further reading; Index.