"An extremely powerful story of a young Southern Negro, from his
late high school days through three years of college to his life in
Harlem. His early training prepared him for a life of humility
before white men, but through injustices- large and small, he came
to realize that he was an "invisible man". People saw in him only a
reflection of their preconceived ideas of what he was, denied his
individuality, and ultimately did not see him at all. This theme,
which has implications far beyond the obvious racial parallel, is
skillfully handled. The incidents of the story are wholly
absorbing. The boy's dismissal from college because of an innocent
mistake, his shocked reaction to the anonymity of the North and to
Harlem, his nightmare experiences on a one-day job in a paint
factory and in the hospital, his lightning success as the Harlem
leader of a communistic organization known as the Brotherhood, his
involvement in black versus white and black versus black clashes
and his disillusion and understanding of his invisibility- all
climax naturally in scenes of violence and riot, followed by a
retreat which is both literal and figurative. Parts of this
experience may have been told before, but never with such
freshness, intensity and power. This is Ellison's first novel, but
he has complete control of his story and his style. Watch it.
(Kirkus Reviews)
Ralph Ellison's blistering and impassioned first novel, winner of the prestigious National Book Award, tells the extraordinary story of a man invisible 'simply because people refuse to see me.' Published in 1952 when American society was on the cusp of immense change, the powerfully depicted adventures of Ellison's invisible man - from his expulsion from a Southern college to a terrifying Harlem race riot - go far beyond the story of one individual. As John Callahan says, 'In an extrarordinary imaginative leap, he hit upon the single word for the different yet shared condition of African Americans, Americans, and, for that matter, the human individual in the 20th century, and beyond'.
This edition includes Ralph Ellison's introduction to the thirtieth anniversary edition of Invisible Man, a fascinating account of the novel's seven year gestation.
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