"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)
Invisible Man is a milestone in American literature, a book that has continued to engage readers since its appearance in 1952. A first novel by an unknown writer, it remained on the bestseller list for sixteen weeks, won the National Book Award for fiction, and established Ralph Ellison as one of the key writers of the century. The nameless narrator of the novel describes growing up in a black community in the South, attending a Negro college from which he is expelled, moving to New York and becoming the chief spokesman of the Harlem branch of "the Brotherhood", and retreating amid violence and confusion to the basement lair of the Invisible Man he imagines himself to be. The book is a passionate and witty tour de force of style, strongly influenced by T.S. Eliot's The Waste Land, Joyce, and Dostoevsky.
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