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Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
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Reading Guide | Teacher’s Guide

Invisible Man

By Ralph Ellison

By Ralph Ellison

By Ralph Ellison
Preface by Charles Johnson

By Ralph Ellison
Preface by Charles Johnson

By Ralph Ellison

By Ralph Ellison

By Ralph Ellison
Read by Joe Morton

By Ralph Ellison
Read by Joe Morton

Best Seller

Part of Vintage International

Part of Modern Library 100 Best Novels

Part of Vintage International

Paperback $17.00

Mar 14, 1995 | ISBN 9780679732761

Hardcover $24.00

Jun 14, 1994 | ISBN 9780679601395

Ebook $11.99

Sep 29, 2010 | ISBN 9780307743992

Audiobook Download $24.00

Dec 21, 2010 | 1117 Minutes

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    Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
    Audiobook Download
    Dec 21, 2010 | ISBN 9780307915122 | 1117 Minutes

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    • $17.00

      Mar 14, 1995 | ISBN 9780679732761

      Buy from Other Retailers:

    • $24.00

      Jun 14, 1994 | ISBN 9780679601395

      Buy from Other Retailers:

    • Sep 29, 2010 | ISBN 9780307743992

      Buy from Other Retailers:

    • Dec 21, 2010 | ISBN 9780307915122

      1117 Minutes

      Buy from Other Retailers:

    Buy the Audiobook Download:

    About Invisible Man

    NATIONAL BOOK AWARD WINNER • NATIONAL BESTSELLER • In this deeply compelling novel and epic milestone of American literature, a nameless narrator tells his story from the basement lair of the Invisible Man he imagines himself to be.

    One of The Atlantic’s Great American Novels of the Past 100 Years

    He 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,” before retreating amid violence and confusion.

    Originally published in 1952 as the first novel by a then unknown author, it remained on the bestseller list for sixteen weeks and established Ralph Ellison as one of the key writers of the century. The book is a passionate and witty tour de force of style, strongly influenced by T.S. Eliot’s The Waste Land, James Joyce, and Dostoevsky.

    About Invisible Man

    Selected by the Modern Library as one of the 100 best novels of all time • Nominated as one of America’s best-loved novels by PBS’s The Great American Read

    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.

    About Invisible Man

    NATIONAL BOOK AWARD WINNER • NATIONAL BESTSELLER • In this deeply compelling novel and epic milestone of American literature, a nameless narrator tells his story from the basement lair of the Invisible Man he imagines himself to be.

    One of The Atlantic’s Great American Novels of the Past 100 Years

    He 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,” before retreating amid violence and confusion.

    Originally published in 1952 as the first novel by a then unknown author, it remained on the bestseller list for sixteen weeks and established Ralph Ellison as one of the key writers of the century. The book is a passionate and witty tour de force of style, strongly influenced by T.S. Eliot’s The Waste Land, James Joyce, and Dostoevsky.

    About Invisible Man

    Selected by the Modern Library as one of the 100 best novels of all time

    Ralph Elllison’s Invisible Man is a monumental novel, one that can well be called an epic of modern American Negro life. It is a strange story, in which many extraordinary things happen, some of them shocking and brutal, some of them pitiful and touching–yet always with elements of comedy and irony and burlesque that appear in unexpected places. It is a book that has a great deal to say and which is destined to have a great deal said about it.

    After a brief prologue, the story begins with a terrifying experience of the hero’s high school days, moves quickly to the campus of a Southern Negro college and then to New York’s Harlem, where most of the action takes place. The many people that the hero meets in the course of his wanderings are remarkably various, complex and significant. With them he becomes involved in an amazing series of adventures, in which he is sometimes befriended but more often deceived and betrayed–as much by himself and his own illusions as by the duplicity of the blindness of others.

    Invisible Man is not only a great triumph of storytelling and characterization; it is a profound and uncompromising interpretation of the Negro’s anomalous position in American society.

    Read An Excerpt

    Reading Guide | Teacher’s Guide

    Read An Excerpt

    Reading Guide | Teacher’s Guide

    Read An Excerpt

    Reading Guide | Teacher’s Guide

    Read An Excerpt

    Reading Guide | Teacher’s Guide

    Listen to a sample from Invisible Man

    Also in Vintage International

    The Thinking Heart
    Voices of the Fallen Heroes

    Also in Vintage International

    The Thinking Heart
    Voices of the Fallen Heroes

    Also by Ralph Ellison

    The Collected Essays of Ralph Ellison
    The Selected Letters of Ralph Ellison
    Juneteenth
    Flying Home And Other Stories
    Three Days Before the Shooting . . .
    See all books by Ralph Ellison

    Also by Ralph Ellison

    The Collected Essays of Ralph Ellison
    The Selected Letters of Ralph Ellison
    Juneteenth
    Flying Home And Other Stories
    Three Days Before the Shooting . . .
    See all books by Ralph Ellison

    Also by Ralph Ellison

    The Collected Essays of Ralph Ellison
    The Selected Letters of Ralph Ellison
    Juneteenth
    Flying Home And Other Stories
    Three Days Before the Shooting . . .
    See all books by Ralph Ellison

    Also by Ralph Ellison

    The Collected Essays of Ralph Ellison
    The Selected Letters of Ralph Ellison
    Juneteenth
    Flying Home And Other Stories
    Three Days Before the Shooting . . .
    See all books by Ralph Ellison

    About Ralph Ellison

    Ralph Ellison (1914–1994) was born in Oklahoma and trained as a musician at Tuskegee Institute from 1933 to 1936, at which time a visit to New York and a meeting with Richard Wright led to his first attempts at fiction,… More about Ralph Ellison

    About Ralph Ellison

    Ralph Ellison (1914–1994) was born in Oklahoma and trained as a musician at Tuskegee Institute from 1933 to 1936, at which time a visit to New York and a meeting with Richard Wright led to his first attempts at fiction,… More about Ralph Ellison

    About Ralph Ellison

    Ralph Ellison (1914–1994) was born in Oklahoma and trained as a musician at Tuskegee Institute from 1933 to 1936, at which time a visit to New York and a meeting with Richard Wright led to his first attempts at fiction,… More about Ralph Ellison

    About Ralph Ellison

    Ralph Ellison (1914–1994) was born in Oklahoma and trained as a musician at Tuskegee Institute from 1933 to 1936, at which time a visit to New York and a meeting with Richard Wright led to his first attempts at fiction,… More about Ralph Ellison

    Product Details

    Category: Fiction

    Paperback | $17.00
    Published by Vintage
    Mar 14, 1995 | 608 Pages | 5-3/16 x 8 | ISBN 9780679732761

    Category: Classic Fiction | Literary Fiction

    Hardcover | $24.00
    Published by Modern Library
    Jun 14, 1994 | 624 Pages | 4-11/16 x 7-1/4 | ISBN 9780679601395

    Category: Literary Fiction

    Ebook | $11.99
    Published by Vintage
    Sep 29, 2010 | 608 Pages | ISBN 9780307743992

    Category: Literary Fiction | Audiobooks

    Audiobook Download | $24.00
    Published by Random House Audio
    Dec 21, 2010 | 1117 Minutes | ISBN 9780307915122

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    Praise

    “A book of the very first order, a superb book.” —Saul Bellow

    Awards

    National Book Awards WINNER 1953

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