In the Shadow of Invisibility: Ralph Ellison and the Promise of American Democracy
Sterling Bland Jr.
LSU Press
In the Shadow of Invisibility traces the growth and transformation of Ellison’s ideas across his life and work, from his early apprentice writing that culminated in his groundbreaking first novel, Invisible Man, through the posthumous publication of his unfinished second novel, Three Days before the Shooting. Bland charts Ellison’s evolving attitudes on several central topics including democracy, race, identity, social community, place, and political expression.
Focused on his mythic vision of the promise of America, this book firmly situates Ellison in the sociopolitical environments from which his ideas arose, with close consideration of his published writings, including his influential essays on literature and jazz, as well as his working notes and correspondence.