false 2766400 http://www.goodreads.com/images/nocover-111x148.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/images/nocover-60x80.jpg Invisible Man chronicles the travels of its narrator, a young, nameless black man, as he moves through the hellish levels of American intolerance and cultural blindness. Searching for a context in which to know himself, he exists in a very peculiar state. "I am an invisible man," he says in his prologue. "When they approach me they see only my surroundings, themselves, or figments of their imagination--indeed, everything and anything except me." But this is hard-won self-knowledge, earned over the course of many years.

As the book gets started, the narrator is expelled from his Southern Negro college for inadvertently showing a white trustee the reality of black life in the south, including an incestuous farmer and a rural whorehouse. The college director chastises him: "Why, the dumbest black bastard in the cotton patch knows that the only way to please a white man is to tell him a lie! What kind of an education are you getting around here?" Mystified, the narrator moves north to New York City, where the truth, at least as he perceives it, is dealt another blow when he learns that his former headmaster's recommendation letters are, in fact, letters of condemnation.

What ensues is a search for what truth actually is, which proves to be supremely elusive. The narrator becomes a spokesman for a mixed-race band of social activists called "The Brotherhood" and believes he is fighting for equality. Once again, he realizes he's been duped into believing what he thought was the truth, when in fact it is only another variation. Of the Brothers, he eventually discerns: "They were blind, bat blind, moving only by the echoed sounds of their voices. And because they were blind they would destroy themselves.... Here I thought they accepted me because they felt that color made no difference, when in reality it made no difference because they didn't see either color or men."

Invisible Man is certainly a book about race in America, and sadly enough, few of the problems it chronicles have disappeared even now. But Ellison's first novel transcends such a narrow definition. It's also a book about the human race stumbling down the path to identity, challenged and successful to varying degrees. None of us can ever be sure of the truth beyond ourselves, and possibly not even there. The world is a tricky place, and no one knows this better than the invisible man, who leaves us with these chilling, provocative words: "And it is this which frightens me: Who knows but that, on the lower frequencies, I speak for you?"
--Melanie Rehak]]> 16981 41 170957 book 1952 Invisible Man total:17773|5:6365|4:6085|3:3687|2:1189|1:447| 17773 70051 23960 1107 7508 3.94 18376 1162 46548347 193310 16981 0679732764 9780679732761 1045 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1255763439m/16981.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1255763439s/16981.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16981.Invisible_Man 3.94 17135 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.]]> 1952 2 12 false Mon Feb 16 13:44:32 -0800 2009 Mon Feb 16 13:52:06 -0800 2009 more...]]> 9944922 266462 16981 0679732764 9780679732761 1045 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1255763439m/16981.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1255763439s/16981.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16981.Invisible_Man 3.94 17773 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.]]> 1952 2 6 false Sat Dec 01 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Tue Dec 04 14:46:48 -0800 2007 Fri Jan 25 15:24:26 -0800 2008 more...]]> 2614136 165364 16981 0679732764 9780679732761 1045 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1255763439m/16981.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1255763439s/16981.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16981.Invisible_Man 3.94 17773 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.]]> 1952 4 5 false Wed Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Sun Jul 01 22:27:42 -0700 2007 Wed Dec 16 23:21:09 -0800 2009 Invisible Man is still as powerful and elegant now as it was when I first read it in school. I understand it better now that I am a bit more mature. I understand it better reading as an outsider looking back on my homeland. I understand it better as a member of the minority in my chosen home. I...more...]]> 44520445 1792361 16981 0679732764 9780679732761 1045 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1255763439m/16981.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1255763439s/16981.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16981.Invisible_Man 3.94 17773 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.]]> 1952 4 4 false Tue Jan 27 09:58:50 -0800 2009 Tue Jan 27 10:25:13 -0800 2009 more...]]> 11949665 752890 16981 0679732764 9780679732761 1045 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1255763439m/16981.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1255763439s/16981.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16981.Invisible_Man 3.94 17773 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.]]> 1952 4 3 false Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Tue Jan 08 03:59:37 -0800 2008 Thu Jan 24 07:14:15 -0800 2008 more...]]> 18134542 793295 16981 0679732764 9780679732761 1045 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1255763439m/16981.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1255763439s/16981.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16981.Invisible_Man 3.94 17773 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.]]> 1952 5 11 false Tue May 01 00:00:00 -0700 1979 Wed Mar 19 17:25:44 -0700 2008 Wed Mar 19 17:32:12 -0700 2008 more...]]> 3812148 234778 16981 0679732764 9780679732761 1045 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1255763439m/16981.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1255763439s/16981.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16981.Invisible_Man 3.94 17773 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.]]> 1952 5 3 false Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2002 Mon Jul 30 15:14:33 -0700 2007 Wed Aug 15 19:22:31 -0700 2007 more...]]> 21442850 795733 16981 0679732764 9780679732761 1045 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1255763439m/16981.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1255763439s/16981.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16981.Invisible_Man 3.94 17773 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.]]> 1952 5 4 false Thu May 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Thu May 01 23:30:40 -0700 2008 Mon May 19 20:47:43 -0700 2008 Toni Morrison, assuredly would also receive votes). The irony being a result of Ellison using key ev...more...]]> 28952312 1386612 16981 0679732764 9780679732761 1045 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1255763439m/16981.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1255763439s/16981.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16981.Invisible_Man 3.94 17773 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.]]> 1952 5 1 false Thu Jul 31 22:20:40 -0700 2008 Sat Aug 02 07:30:57 -0700 2008 more...]]> 25014545 1256232 16981 0679732764 9780679732761 1045 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1255763439m/16981.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1255763439s/16981.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16981.Invisible_Man 3.94 17773 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.]]> 1952 5 1 false Fri Jun 20 15:33:14 -0700 2008 Sun Jun 22 19:22:32 -0700 2008 more...]]> 7280022 467704 16981 0679732764 9780679732761 1045 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1255763439m/16981.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1255763439s/16981.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16981.Invisible_Man 3.94 17773 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.]]> 1952 3 1 false Wed Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Thu Oct 04 18:22:55 -0700 2007 Thu Oct 04 18:32:09 -0700 2007
I almost regret taking the job driving Mr. Norton. even thought the job does come with a good pay (especially since Mr. Norton is a millionaire); I made a mistake of showing him the cabins where the slaves live and I mentioned Jim Trueblood. I was just trying to show him th...more...]]> 5172351 82945 16981 0679732764 9780679732761 1045 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1255763439m/16981.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1255763439s/16981.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16981.Invisible_Man 3.94 17773 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.]]> 1952 3 1 false Wed Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Mon Aug 27 09:05:58 -0700 2007 Mon Sep 03 08:14:04 -0700 2007 more...]]> 2418396 155441 16981 0679732764 9780679732761 1045 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1255763439m/16981.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1255763439s/16981.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16981.Invisible_Man 3.94 17773 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.]]> 1952 5 1 false Tue Jun 26 15:18:25 -0700 2007 Wed Dec 16 22:48:12 -0800 2009 more...]]> 41232804 946210 16981 0679732764 9780679732761 1045 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1255763439m/16981.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1255763439s/16981.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16981.Invisible_Man 3.94 17773 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.]]> 1952 3 1 false Mon Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2001 Mon Dec 29 17:42:37 -0800 2008 Mon Dec 29 17:46:40 -0800 2008 more...]]> 1992934 129891 16981 0679732764 9780679732761 1045 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1255763439m/16981.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1255763439s/16981.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16981.Invisible_Man 3.94 17773 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.]]> 1952 5 1 false Tue Apr 01 00:00:00 -0800 2003 Fri Jun 15 05:09:25 -0700 2007 Wed Dec 16 21:37:56 -0800 2009 more...]]> 48661141 1415047 176958 0141184426 9780141184425 4 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1172445032m/176958.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1172445032s/176958.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/176958.Invisible_Man 3.92 25 1952 4 2 false Sun Mar 08 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Sun Mar 08 21:29:03 -0700 2009 Mon Mar 09 01:00:33 -0700 2009
This novel is just as trenchantly relevant today as it was in Ellison’s time, for the politics of identity is just as much, if not more, as potent an issue today as it was then. Muslim, fundamentalist, gay, red, blue … The labels of tod...more...]]> 43624386 388495 16981 0679732764 9780679732761 1045 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1255763439m/16981.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1255763439s/16981.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16981.Invisible_Man 3.94 17773 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.]]> 1952 5 0 false Mon Jan 19 15:41:20 -0800 2009 Mon Jan 19 15:42:21 -0800 2009 more...]]> 39055570 1749380 16981 0679732764 9780679732761 1045 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1255763439m/16981.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1255763439s/16981.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16981.Invisible_Man 3.94 17773 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.]]> 1952 0 0 false Mon Dec 01 15:07:17 -0800 2008 Mon Dec 01 15:48:28 -0800 2008 more...]]> 38368985 1740420 16981 0679732764 9780679732761 1045 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1255763439m/16981.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1255763439s/16981.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16981.Invisible_Man 3.94 17773 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.]]> 1952 2 0 true Fri Nov 14 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Sat Nov 22 05:53:50 -0800 2008 Sat Nov 22 05:54:35 -0800 2008 1
“I am an invisible man. No, I am not a spook like those who hanted Edgar Allan Poe; not am I one of your Hollywood-movie ectoplasms. I am a man of substance, ...more...]]> 79589278 2949440 11787 0375507914 9780375507915 24 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1166485835m/11787.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1166485835s/11787.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11787.Invisible_Man_A_Novel 4.13 273 Invisible Man revealed the pain of a black man's existence in a white world. It was shocking then, but remains important literature today. It is the story of a young man's journey--through the Deep South to the streets of Harlem, through events and experiences that range from tortured to macabre. As he moves through time, he learns about the black world, the white world, and a world of his own. His passage is a frightening but at the same time enlightening pilgrimage, for the Invisible Man and for all of us.]]> 1952 4 0 false Tue Dec 01 19:07:34 -0800 2009 Tue Dec 01 19:07:41 -0800 2009
Thousands of lights, all in one room; stories to be told, from that bright, bright room. As "Black and...more...]]> 8 http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=2766400