Ralph Ellison (1913–1994)

Read it twice, fiercely written from the first page where the narrator looms out of his underworld existence to punch an angry white man in the face, then laughs at how absurd it must be to be beaten up by an invisible man. Also striking is the down south boxing and speech, and the by turns patronising and manipulative ways that the protagonist is used by white communists and artists as much as he is abused by outright racists, until the book reaches its climax in Harlem riots.

37. Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
OPD: 1952
format: 596-page paperback (1995 edition)
acquired: February 2022 read: May 7 – Jun 12 time reading: 18:29, 1.9 mpp
rating: 5
genre/style: Classic novel theme: Richard Wright sorta
locations: Manhattan, circa 1930s? or maybe post-war.
about the author: 1913-1994. American writer and critic from in Oklahoma City, mostly famous for this novel.

What a monster of a book, laying out long gangly arms every which way, rolling as it wants, until suddenly there show more is structure and its slowly locks into a reality, and then stays there a long time, but not entirely. It pushes a little surreal one way, a little the other, wobbly between literary states. Ellison uses American communism to work his ideas of racism, blindness, and the truth of conformity as an argument used for power grabs. But it's gloriously complex while staying completely within reach. Long, wandering, and very powerful. Not sure what I expected, but this was certainly richer and more rewarding than whatever I imagined.

A plot summary, it opens in the present, with famous opening lines:

"I am an invisible man. No, I am not a spook like those who haunted Edgar Allan Poe; nor am I one of your Hollywood-movie ectoplasms. I am a man of substance, of flesh and bone, fiber and liquids -- and I might even be said to possess a mind. I am invisible, understand, simply because people refuse to see me."

We never learn the man's name, or names. But after setting his underground Manhattan situation, he reflects back on his history, attending a Jim Crowe era southern black college, and being expelled for mishandling a white trustee's visit. Arriving and stumbling through Manhattan and especially Harlem. He becomes the spokesperson for a lightly disguised equivalent of the communist groups active in New York in the 1930's. Communists were the first only non-all-black group of this era to openly recruit black members and support black issues and equality. Most of the book is about his role in this organization, how they use him and he uses it, how he learns and manages his community. But his success brings unexpected responses and lessons. It's here, where equality is preached, racism and blindness stand out so clear, and incontrovertible. In many ways, this world falls apart.

This is a demanding, but smart, creative and rewarding 5-star read.

2023
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I'm deeply saddened that once again this is a book I wasn't introduced to until adulthood. I missed out on so many wonderful works of literature simply because of my proximity to whiteness. And though I'm rectifying it now, I wonder what younger me would have gained from the thoughts and themes around race and identity in this work. Would she have been less ashamed of her blackness? Would she have embraced being biracial sooner? We'll never know.

Invisible Man's nameless southern protagonist forces the reader to run the gamut of emotions: by turns we are frightened, touched, shocked, amused, even pitying and hopeful. When we first meet him, he lives on the hem of society in an unused part of the basement of a building for whites. He steals shelter and electricity like a boogeyman. He is truly invisible. There comes a point in time when he tries to reach the light by going to college only to be expelled after being accused of show more offending a white man. Invisible again. Through various trials and tribulations this nameless young man finally makes it to New York where he is confronted with the reality of his race. His lack of identity allows him to be mistaken for someone else. As he becomes more and more invisible, the more and more I wanted him to rage against it. The problem is, when you are a young black man trying to escape the white man's thumb in the 1940s, rage is the last emotion you are allowed to express. Every endeavor leads him closer to destruction. Like a horror movie, I wanted to read Invisible Man with one eye closed against all the gross misunderstandings prejudice and racism can bring. show less