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Since the publication of Invisible Man in 1952, Ralph Ellison has been widely recognized as a major writer who has made lasting contributions to American, African American, and modernist traditions. This book traces the response to his works from the initial reviews of Invisible Man to the posthumous publication of Ellison's second novel, Juneteenth, in 1999. While the bulk of the volume includes previously published essays and reviews of Invisible Man, the book also includes sections devoted to Ellison's short fiction and nonfiction. It concludes with several posthumous estimates of Ellison's work and a selected bibliography of primary and secondary materials. ... Read more

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Dive deep into the story of Ralph Ellison's life anywhere you go: on a plane, on a mountain, in a canoe, under a tree.Or grab a flashlight and read Shmoop under the covers.Shmoop's award-winning Biographies are now available on your eReader. Shmoop eBooks are like having a trusted, fun, chatty, expert always by your side, no matter where you are (or how late it is at night).Shmoop Biographies offer fresh perspectives on great thinkers and doers. The biography includes a life story, family tree, resume of important works and accomplishments, jaw-dropping trivia and anecdotes, memorable quotes, and a timeline of formative events,Best of all, Shmoop's analysis aims to look at people from multiple points of view to give you the fullest understanding.After all, "there is no history, only histories" (Karl Popper). Experts and educators from top universities, including Stanford, UC Berkeley, and Harvard, have written guides designed to engage you and to get your brain bubbling. Shmoop is here to make you a better lover (of literature, history, life...) and to help you make connections to other historical moments, works of literature, current events, and pop culture. These learning guides will help you sink your teeth into the past.For more information, check out http://www.shmoop.com/biography ... Read more

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Out of Touch investigates how skin has become acrucial but disavowed figure in twentieth-century literature, theory and cultural criticism. These discourses reveal the extent to which skin likewise figures in the emergence of visual technologies positioned at the heart of the contest between surface depth and, by extension, between Western globalization and identity politics. Skin itself comes into explicit focus, though, only after a half-century of alternatingcirculation and suppression in American discourses about 'colour-blindness,' during which time colonialism elsewhere had begun to lose its purchase. Skin emerges most spectacularly at the close of this century in body modification practices - especially tattoo - that link visuality to writing and embodiment, urging complex identity politics that hedge against globalization. Nevertheless, even as interventions on theskin characterize the millennial turn, fantasy and science fiction literature and film trumpet skin's passing in the cybernetic age. Similarly feminist theory - otherwise concerned with corporeality - calls for abandoning the skin as a hostile boundary.Out of Touch produces a genealogy by which we can discern the implications of just such myriad tensions skin poses in novels as distinctive as Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway , Ellison's Invisible Man , Pynchon's Gravity Rainbow andAcker's Empire of the Senseless . ... Read more

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How can we read literatures from other cultures? The metaphors of fractal geometry can help us think about the complexity of the cultural situation of a text or an author. Postcolonial Literature from Three Continents identifies four primary themes common to postcolonial texts-technology, memory, language, and geography-and examines them in relationship to four texts from Nigeria, the United States, and Australia so that we see both the colonized and colonizing positions of these works. The quartet of texts are Amos Tutuola’s The Palm-Wine Drinkard, H. D.’s Helen in Egypt, Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man, and Patrick White’s Voss. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Good thinking
Remember the stories your parents told you about black experiences, then this is the book for you.

A Nice Collection of Short Stories!
Langston Hughes provides an introduction into this selected anthology of short stories by prominent African American writers like Langston Hughes' himself with his classic short story, "Thank You, Mam." We also have a short story by poet Gwendolyn Brooks and dancer/choreographer Katherine Dunham. There are the traditional authors like Zora Neale Huston, James Baldwin, Charles Chesnutt, Paul Laurence Dunbar, Ralph Ellison, Ernest J. Gaines, Jean Toomer, and Richard Wright only to name a few. It's still a great anthology of assorted stories about African American life in America from the South to Chicago and New York.

The Best of The Best
This book is a collection of short stories that was put together by the great Harlem Renaissance writer, Langston Hughes. Some authors whose works are also featured in the book are Richard Wright, Zora Neale Hurston, and Alice Walker. These stories are fun to read and they speak about the current issues that Black America was facing during the time period. This book is for anyone who is trying to better understand black thought during the 20th century.

"The Best Short Stories by Black Writers" is a #1 classic!
This book is an excellent example of reality. In each short story, there is some kind of relivance of growing up in a nation filled with crime, love, kindenss, hardships, and friendships. The writers express themselvesso wonderfully, vivid pictures of the events are played in my head. Itkeeps middle-school children very attentive, mainly because they can easilyrelate to the troubles of growing up today. Teens can feel a sense ofcomfort in this book because they know they are not alone. This bookcontains collections by some of the best authors in the world. It reallymakes the african-american culture shine to where all cultures will enjoy! ... Read more