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.
Invisible Man (Vintage International)
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We rely, in this world, on the visual aspects of humanity as a means of learning who we are. This, Ralph Ellison argues convincingly, is a dangerous habit. A classic from the moment it first appeared in 1952, Invisible Man chronicles the travels of its narrator, a young, nameless black man, as he moves through the hellish levels of American intolerance and cultural blindness. Searching for a context in which to know himself, he exists in a very peculiar state. "I am an invisible man," he says in his prologue. "When they approach me they see only my surroundings, themselves, or figments of their imagination--indeed, everything and anything except me." But this is hard-won self-knowledge, earned over the course of many years.
As the book gets started, the narrator is expelled from his Southern Negro college for inadvertently showing a white trustee the reality of black life in the south, including an incestuous farmer and a rural whorehouse. The college director chastises him: "Why, the dumbest black bastard in the cotton patch knows that the only way to please a white man is to tell him a lie! What kind of an education are you getting around here?" Mystified, the narrator moves north to New York City, where the truth, at least as he perceives it, is dealt another blow when he learns that his former headmaster's recommendation letters are, in fact, letters of condemnation.
What ensues is a search for what truth actually is, which proves to be supremely elusive. The narrator becomes a spokesman for a mixed-race band of social activists called "The Brotherhood" and believes he is fighting for equality. Once again, he realizes he's been duped into believing what he thought was the truth, when in fact it is only another variation. Of the Brothers, he eventually discerns: "They were blind, bat blind, moving only by the echoed sounds of their voices. And because they were blind they would destroy themselves.... Here I thought they accepted me because they felt that color made no difference, when in reality it made no difference because they didn't see either color or men."
Invisible Man is certainly a book about race in America, and sadly enough, few of the problems it chronicles have disappeared even now. But Ellison's first novel transcends such a narrow definition. It's also a book about the human race stumbling down the path to identity, challenged and successful to varying degrees. None of us can ever be sure of the truth beyond ourselves, and possibly not even there. The world is a tricky place, and no one knows this better than the invisible man, who leaves us with these chilling, provocative words: "And it is this which frightens me: Who knows but that, on the lower frequencies, I speak for you?" --Melanie Rehak
From Publishers Weekly
These three volumes have been redesigned and reissued to commemorate the first anniversary of Ellison's death.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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Most helpful customer reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Paperback
Having grown up in the South during the civil rights era, I thought I knew all there was to know about the black/white relationship, or lack thereof. But lately, probably due to the aging process and a desire to revisit my (and other's) past, I've been delving into books that take me someplace different and offer a different perspective. The first book I read was "Raising Fences"--totally captivating and alive with emotion. Then I read "The Bark of the Dogwood"--a tale of the heroics of an African-American housekeeper in Alabama during the 60s. Then I came across "Invisible Man." Boy was this one an eye opener. First of all, this book could stand alone on the writing style--it's great. But couple this with the author's handling of the materials and you've got what should be termed "a classic." "Invisible Man" was something of a sensation when it first appeared, albeit in smaller than normal circles, but over the years it appears to have picked up steam. The reason for this is simple: it's a great book. Also recommended: Raising Fences and The Bark of the Dogwood
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
By Chris Gannon
Format:Paperback
Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man is at its core a treatise on man's inhumanity to man. What could cause people to put up with the horrifying "Battle Royal" depicted early in the novel. It's very simple, actually, as Ralph Ellison repeatedly lets us know. Most human beings treat their fellow men as pawns to be manipulated in order to fulfill certain selfish means. We see this again and again in the novel. The white benefactor to the college views the main character and his university as nothing more than another tax write-off or an antidote to his nagging conscience. When he is confronted with the reality of the deep South, when the horror of the true conditions of most blacks is revealed to him during the road trip, the main character is expelled for exposing these members of society the dean wants to keep "invisible." The Communist Party also views blacks as nothing more than a special interest group that they can keep in check and manipulate through their rhetoric. To them, the main character, with his great legitimate success and intelligence, is a greater threat than Ras the Destroyer, a mindless thug. Ras is helping the blacks stay invisible, but the main character is pushing them to succeed and forcing society to deal with them as human beings, which the party finds unacceptable. Upon realizing this, the main character at first tries to "defeat them with yeses" as his father advised him and withdraws from the people who cannot see his inner being. However, he concludes that such an acceptance is a betrayal of himself. He decides to learn to start "saying yes and saying no" to the roles that are thurst upon him.
What is the universal message here? It is that in this world, social relationships have been established between human beings, but in almost all of these relationships we are restrained from exposing our inner self. Think about it. Try to count how many unwritten rules you follow in you interactions with other people. There are things you can and cannot say, feelings you can and cannot express, ideas that you can and cannot convey, parts of your soul that you can and cannot reveal. It all depends on who you are dealing with. How are we to respond to such a situation? We must "say yes and say no," we must accept certain boundaries but strive to look beyond them and, little by little, push them back. Pick up a copy of this great American Masterpiece. I promise Invisible Man will make you think! Another, much lighter book I need to recommend is The Losers Club by Richard Perez (Complete Restored Edition), an Amazon purchase that I stumbled on by accident and truly love.
By cielle
Format:Paperback
I don't know which was morer captivating to me: Ellison's writing style or Ellison's message. Obviously a must read for today's generation to understand not only the struggles, but the resulting feelings and perceptions of race at that time. Ellison presents it with such a powerful demonstration of words that you can experience his trials and tribulations. Great read!
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4.2 out of 5 stars
Most recent customer reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
I choose to see him
He is an invisible man, not that he is physically invisible, but because people refuse to see him as he is, or so the story starts. Read more
Published on April 19 2004 by R. Nguyen
5.0 out of 5 stars
The science of Nobodiness
Ralph Ellison's INVISIBLE MAN tackles an issue that frankly is so huge and complex that you wouldn't think it could be captured in a single novel. Read more
Published on April 19 2004 by Rocco Dormarunno
4.0 out of 5 stars
Great book
I am writing this review to all those who overestimate Ellison as much as to those who underestimate him. Read more
Published on April 9 2004 by Joe Adlai
5.0 out of 5 stars
As enthralling as it is provocative
Ralph Ellison, for starters, exhibits a masterful command of the English language and all of its literary power from therein. Read more
Published on April 9 2004 by Chris Salzer
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Greatest
Ellison is the Muhammad Ali, the colossus of fiction - I have never experienced a work of art in ANY medium as rich, provocative and poignant as "Invisible Man. Read more
Published on Mar 1 2004 by J. Park
2.0 out of 5 stars
Invisible Man
To be quite honest the book, "Invisible Man" was not what I expected. First, it's entirely too long, somewhat boring, a little confusing and terribly disturbing to me. Read more
Published on Jan 16 2004 by Brooke Saunders
2.0 out of 5 stars
Why am i reading this?
Throughout reading this book I found myself questioned with "Why and I reading this". Although very well written, I felt that it took the author 3 pages to say something that... Read more
Published on Jan 11 2004 by Jess
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Book to be Enjoyed -- Again and Again!
Dense with powerful symbolism and dancing with artfully subtle language, Invisible Man stands as one of the greatest works of American literature ever. Read more
Published on Nov 20 2003
4.0 out of 5 stars
Lengthy Novel is a Surprising Delight
I must confess. I was more than a little disappointed when I discovered the copy of The Invisible Man on my 11th grade reading list was authored by Ralph Ellison not H.G. Wells. Read more
Published on Oct 31 2003 by Nire G. Trachm
1.0 out of 5 stars
Am I awake?
This book was nothing that I thought it would be. I thought it was going to be about slavery and how black people became independent. Read more
Published on Oct 29 2003
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