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Ralph Ellison
Ralph Ellison (1914-94) was born in Oklahoma and trained as a musician at Tuskegee Institute from 1933 to 1936, at which time a visit to New York and a meeting with Richard Wright led to his first attempts at fiction. Invisible Man won the National Book Award. Appointed to the Academy of American... show more

Ralph Ellison (1914-94) was born in Oklahoma and trained as a musician at Tuskegee Institute from 1933 to 1936, at which time a visit to New York and a meeting with Richard Wright led to his first attempts at fiction. Invisible Man won the National Book Award. Appointed to the Academy of American Arts and Letters in 1964, Ellison taught at several institutions, including Bard College, the University of Chicago, and New York University, where he was Albert Schweitzer Professor of Humanities.
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Birth date: March 01, 1914
Died: April 16, 1994
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Community Reviews
Fangirl Moments and My Two Cents
Fangirl Moments and My Two Cents rated it 4 years ago
Told from a black man's POV. He starts young at a school in the south and ends in a city in the north. It's not a feel good tale, but it is interesting. It's tragic how some things don't seem like they have gotten any better since this was written.
Reading For The Heck Of It
Reading For The Heck Of It rated it 6 years ago
Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison is another title from the list of 100 books compiled for the Great American Read. (Have you voted today?) I feel somewhat chagrined that I had never heard of this classic until I checked out this list. The reader follows a nameless narrator who tells the story of his d...
The better to see you, my dear
The better to see you, my dear rated it 7 years ago
On various fronts. The overarching subject, the sense of hopelessness, helplessness and despair, the long-winded, meandering way the story is told (which is on par with the idea that it is a stream-of-conscience recount), and the purpose way in which this guy's obliviousness is made plain (and cring...
Chris Blocker
Chris Blocker rated it 8 years ago
Sometimes the story about the story is much more interesting than the tale itself. Take for example the story of Ralph Ellison's second novel. Following his award-winning debut, Invisible Man, there was undoubtedly intense pressure on Ellison to triumph. Before he'd even finished Invisible Man in 19...
Sheila's Reads
Sheila's Reads rated it 8 years ago
Beautiful prose. I loved the lyricism of his words. His writing flows. This book is a timely today as when it was written and during the time it is set. Unfortunately not much has changed in the U.S. regarding how people are seen or not seen and used. Everyone needs to read this.
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