Book Review
Oct. 10th, 2008 10:48 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kenjariInvisible Man
by Ralph Ellison
I found this novel absolutely fascinating. The unnamed narrator, a young African-American from the South in the first half of the 20th century, recounts his experiences at a rather paternalistic all-black Southern College, and then his life in Harlem, where he becomes an organizer for a mysterious political organization called the Brotherhood. Through these experiences, which are characterized through repeated betrayals and manipulations, the narrator loses his illusions about the nature of American society, his place in it, and what he can expect from it.
Invisible Man is a very powerful novel. Not only does it have a lot of complex and profound things to say about racism and American society, it is also compellingly written. The language is lyrical and the prose is filled with metaphor and allegory. Ellison also works in a series of subtle references to The Odyssey and many wonderful uses of jazz and blues lyrics and music.
by Ralph Ellison
I found this novel absolutely fascinating. The unnamed narrator, a young African-American from the South in the first half of the 20th century, recounts his experiences at a rather paternalistic all-black Southern College, and then his life in Harlem, where he becomes an organizer for a mysterious political organization called the Brotherhood. Through these experiences, which are characterized through repeated betrayals and manipulations, the narrator loses his illusions about the nature of American society, his place in it, and what he can expect from it.
Invisible Man is a very powerful novel. Not only does it have a lot of complex and profound things to say about racism and American society, it is also compellingly written. The language is lyrical and the prose is filled with metaphor and allegory. Ellison also works in a series of subtle references to The Odyssey and many wonderful uses of jazz and blues lyrics and music.
