Ralph Ellison (1913-1994) was a critically acclaimed American author, public intellectual, and social critic. Invisible Man (1952), his only completed novel during his lifetime, won the National Book Award in 1953. His writing became a benchmark for understanding race relations and identity in America.
Ralph Ellison: Biography
Ralph Ellison was born in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma on March 1, 1917. His father was Lewis Alfred Ellison, a construction foreman who died on the job when Ellison was three. Consequently, he was predominantly raised by his mother, Ida Milsap. His father enjoyed literature and shared it with his sons (Ralph was one of two children, though he also had an older brother who died before he was born). His mother brought books homes from her house cleaning jobs. J.D. Randolph, the owner of the large rooming house that the Ellison family lived in, was also fond of books and of Ralph, reinforcing a love of literature started by his father.
In 1921, Ellison’s mother moved the family to Gary, Indiana, where she hoped to rely on support from her brother. Both Ida Milsap and her brother couldn’t find work. When they returned to Oklahoma, Ellison enrolled in Frederick Douglass High School, learning to play the trumpet at eight. He graduated in 1931.
Fig. 1 - Ralph Ellison studied literature to sharpen his writing skills.
After repeated attempts, Ralph Ellison was finally admitted to the historically Black Tuskegee Institute in Montgomery, Alabama, as a trumpet player and studied music. He hopped freight trains to make the trip and attended the school from 1933 to 1936. His experience of class consciousness at the Tuskegee Institute greatly influenced his writing. The student body was mostly comprised of middle and upperclassmen who looked down upon poor Black people.
In 1936 Ellison moved to New York City. At first, he became a political radical, writing for the Communist party, which had a significant presence in Harlem. He befriended Richard Wright, who was openly Communist and had invited Ellison to write for him. Ellison wrote articles for the Communist party, although he never publicly stated he was a Communist. Once he met Langston Hughes, a writer he greatly admired, Ellison began to consider writing fiction. He started writing with book reviews, articles, and short stories that were published in local magazines and newspapers.
In 1946 Ellison married Fanny McConnell. She supported Ellison while he wrote his most famous book, Invisible Man. For more than 40 years, Ellison and his wife lived in Harlem.
Ralph Ellison died of pancreatic cancer on April 16, 1994.1
Fig. 2 - When he arrived in New York City, Ralph Ellison first stayed at the 135th Street YMCA in Harlem.
Ralph Ellison: Writing Style
T.S. Eliot’s “The Waste Land” sparked Ellison’s curiosity about literature. While he was raised with adults who were interested in books, it wasn’t until well into adulthood did Ellison consider being a writer.
Ellison dissected classical literature along with contemporary writers he enjoyed, like Ernest Hemingway. Often he practiced copying sentences from other writers to observe and understand the sentence structure. Nearly all his notes were written in longhand. His posthumous publication Juneteenth was assembled from a vast collection of Ellison's longhand notes.
Ellison’s musical background heavily influenced his writing. He studied music throughout his formal education. He could read and compose music. Ellison often compared his favorite literature to jazz musicians, and he himself played jazz trumpet. Literary critics have commented on his improvisational writing style and flow of words on the page.
Writing for newspapers and magazines for the Communist party exposed Ellison to the reporter style of writing - direct and observant. This gave Ellison the ability to move between styles even within one narrative. Characters may spend much of a story sharing their innermost thoughts. Yet in the next paragraph or chapter, Ellison easily switched to direct observation and reporting of events in a detached manner.2
Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
Ralph Ellison is renowned for his novel Invisible Man. Published in 1952, he spent nearly seven years writing the story. It would be his only novel. Some elements of the story were written previously as short stories, such as the fight scene in “Battle Royal” (1947). Invisible Man was a turning point in Ellison’s writing career and life. It won the National Book Award in 1953, besting The Old Man and the Sea (1952) by his idol Ernest Hemingway.
Ellison’s novel received near-unanimous critical acclaim. Accolades poured in from institutions and editorials. It’s now considered one of the most exemplary works of literature on racism in the 20th century.
Invisible Man follows an unnamed Black man's journey from the south to the north, emulating the arc of literature by former slaves and reflecting Ellison’s own journey from Oklahoma City to Harlem in New York City. The story maintains a first-person point of view in a world of opposing realities. Ellison believed that what is real and consequential for a Black man is nearly invisible in the world of white people, and the story's narrator reflected this. Episodic scenes reveal the experiences and observations of the unnamed narrator navigating white spaces as a Black man.
Fig. 3 - Richard Wright inspired Ralph Ellison to start writing fiction.
Ralph Ellison: Books
Ellison’s other notable books were Shadow and Act (1964) and Going to the Territory (1986).
Shadow and Act
A collection of essays, this book takes its title from a T.S. Eliot poem, one of Ellison’s literary inspirations. The essays expound thematically on a film review that Ellison earlier wrote called “The Shadow and the Act” which critiqued film portrayals of Black people and their stereotypes. Shadow and Act illustrated Ellison’s experience of being a Black man in America through literature, folklore, music, and other forms of culture.
Going to the Territory
Ellison’s third book to be published in his lifetime is another essay collection, some new, with others derived from pieces he wrote for other publications. Two essays are a tribute to his friend and mentor Richard Wright, along with another novelist and idol, Erskine Caldwell. He also reflects on memories and experiences, such as the catharsis of laughing too loudly at caricatures of poor Southern white people when he saw his first Broadway play and the myth-making success of his novel Invisible Man.
Ralph Ellison: Quotes
Below are several quotes by Ralph Ellison.
“What and how much had I lost by trying to do only what was expected of me instead of what I myself had wished to do?”
-Invisible Man, Chapter 13
Invisible Man is a coming-of-age story that follows an unnamed narrator. The reader only knows that he’s Black and is generally unacknowledged by white people. The main character struggles to create his sense of self against the backdrop of the expectations of a Black man in a white world.
“Good fiction is made of that which is real, and reality is difficult to come by.”
-Shadow and Act, Introduction
Ellison struggled with the opposing realities of being Black and of being white in America. His fictional characters reflect personal experiences he had growing up in the South, then moving to the North. Often what he experienced and felt were at odds with the perception of white people.
The work of art is, after all, an act of faith in our ability to communicate symbolically.”
-Going to the Territory, “The Little Man at Chehaw Station”
Ralph Ellison was most concerned with his identity as an artist. Most readers and scholars remember his work for discussing what it means to be Black in America. However, Ellison felt that was secondary to his artistic and intellectual endeavors.
Ralph Ellison - Key takeaways
- Ralph Ellison was a critically acclaimed African American writer and intellectual.
- His experience of growing up in the South and moving to the North would be a recurring theme in his work.
- Ellison's musical studies influenced his writing style. He played jazz trumpet and is known for his improvisational style of writing.
- Ellison’s most famous novel is Invisible Man.
- Ellison’s two other books were essay collections that focused on his experience as a Black man in America and its portrayals in different modes and mediums.
1. Als, Hilton (2007, May 7). "In the Territory: A look at the life of Ralph Ellison." The New Yorker.
2. Rampersad, Arnold. Ralph Ellison: A Biography (2007).
References
- Fig. 2 - Harlem YMCA (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Harlem_YMCA_180_West_135th_Street_top.jpg) by Beyond My Ken (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Beyond_My_Ken) is licensed by CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)
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