Home Literary Studies 18. Ralph Ellison, Invisible Man (1952)
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18. Ralph Ellison, Invisible Man (1952)

  • Katharina Motyl
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Handbook of the American Novel of the Twentieth and Twenty-First Centuries
This chapter is in the book Handbook of the American Novel of the Twentieth and Twenty-First Centuries

Abstract

In Ralph Ellison’s novel Invisible Man, the nameless African American protagonist, who has sought refuge from white supremacist society in a basement, narrates his life story and the insights he has had in self-imposed exile. Throughout the story, in which he symbolically lives through African American history after emancipation from slavery, Invisible Man struggles to find his identity, as he is socially invisible to the white majority society and other characters fail to perceive his individuality. Rejecting various political ideologies with which he was at one point affiliated, especially communism and black accommodationism, Invisible Man finds his identity by narrating the multiple subject positions he occupies to the reader, hoping that the reader will afford him the recognition he is denied in the story world. The novel is written in a modernist style that draws on black expressive culture such as jazz and the blues.

Abstract

In Ralph Ellison’s novel Invisible Man, the nameless African American protagonist, who has sought refuge from white supremacist society in a basement, narrates his life story and the insights he has had in self-imposed exile. Throughout the story, in which he symbolically lives through African American history after emancipation from slavery, Invisible Man struggles to find his identity, as he is socially invisible to the white majority society and other characters fail to perceive his individuality. Rejecting various political ideologies with which he was at one point affiliated, especially communism and black accommodationism, Invisible Man finds his identity by narrating the multiple subject positions he occupies to the reader, hoping that the reader will afford him the recognition he is denied in the story world. The novel is written in a modernist style that draws on black expressive culture such as jazz and the blues.

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter I
  2. Editors’ Preface V
  3. Contents VII
  4. 0. Introduction 1
  5. Part I. Systematic Questions
  6. 1. Modernism 21
  7. 2. Postmodernism 35
  8. 3. Cultural Diversity 52
  9. 4. Intermediality 68
  10. 5. Inter-American Perspectives 84
  11. 6. The American Novel and the Marketplace 98
  12. 7. Futures of the American Novel 113
  13. Part II. Close Readings
  14. 8. Henry James, The Ambassadors (1903) 131
  15. 9. Willa Cather, My Ántonia (1918) 148
  16. 10. F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby (1925) 162
  17. 11. John Dos Passos, Manhattan Transfer (1925) 177
  18. 12. Ernest Hemingway, The Sun Also Rises (1926) 192
  19. 13. William Faulkner, Absalom, Absalom! (1936) 206
  20. 14. Djuna Barnes, Nightwood (1936) 222
  21. 15. John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath (1939) 237
  22. 16. Richard Wright, Native Son (1940) 250
  23. 17. Robert Penn Warren, All the King’s Men (1946) 264
  24. 18. Ralph Ellison, Invisible Man (1952) 278
  25. 19. Flannery O’Connor, Wise Blood (1952) 294
  26. 20. Vladimir Nabokov, Lolita (1955) 308
  27. 21. Thomas Pynchon, The Crying of Lot 49 (1966) 322
  28. 22. Leslie Marmon Silko, Ceremony (1977) 337
  29. 23. Sandra Cisneros, The House on Mango Street (1984) 351
  30. 24. Don DeLillo, White Noise (1985) 361
  31. 25. Toni Morrison, Beloved (1987) 374
  32. 26. Philip Roth, American Pastoral (1997) 388
  33. 27. Jonathan Safran Foer, Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close (2005) 401
  34. 28. Cormac McCarthy, The Road (2006) 414
  35. 29. Louise Erdrich, The Round House (2012) 427
  36. Index of Subjects 443
  37. Index of Names 447
  38. List of Contributors 459
https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110422429-020

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter I
  2. Editors’ Preface V
  3. Contents VII
  4. 0. Introduction 1
  5. Part I. Systematic Questions
  6. 1. Modernism 21
  7. 2. Postmodernism 35
  8. 3. Cultural Diversity 52
  9. 4. Intermediality 68
  10. 5. Inter-American Perspectives 84
  11. 6. The American Novel and the Marketplace 98
  12. 7. Futures of the American Novel 113
  13. Part II. Close Readings
  14. 8. Henry James, The Ambassadors (1903) 131
  15. 9. Willa Cather, My Ántonia (1918) 148
  16. 10. F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby (1925) 162
  17. 11. John Dos Passos, Manhattan Transfer (1925) 177
  18. 12. Ernest Hemingway, The Sun Also Rises (1926) 192
  19. 13. William Faulkner, Absalom, Absalom! (1936) 206
  20. 14. Djuna Barnes, Nightwood (1936) 222
  21. 15. John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath (1939) 237
  22. 16. Richard Wright, Native Son (1940) 250
  23. 17. Robert Penn Warren, All the King’s Men (1946) 264
  24. 18. Ralph Ellison, Invisible Man (1952) 278
  25. 19. Flannery O’Connor, Wise Blood (1952) 294
  26. 20. Vladimir Nabokov, Lolita (1955) 308
  27. 21. Thomas Pynchon, The Crying of Lot 49 (1966) 322
  28. 22. Leslie Marmon Silko, Ceremony (1977) 337
  29. 23. Sandra Cisneros, The House on Mango Street (1984) 351
  30. 24. Don DeLillo, White Noise (1985) 361
  31. 25. Toni Morrison, Beloved (1987) 374
  32. 26. Philip Roth, American Pastoral (1997) 388
  33. 27. Jonathan Safran Foer, Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close (2005) 401
  34. 28. Cormac McCarthy, The Road (2006) 414
  35. 29. Louise Erdrich, The Round House (2012) 427
  36. Index of Subjects 443
  37. Index of Names 447
  38. List of Contributors 459
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