The great series of American novels: Invisible Man (Ralph Ellison)

In 1952, Ralph Ellison published Invisible Man, a fictional masterpiece that follows its anonymous narrator through his hardships, first as a student at an all-black college, where he is expelled; then as a worker in a paint factory, where he causes an explosion and is sent to a psychiatric hospital; then through his involvement in a black nationalist faction in Harlem. Influenced by Hemingway, Faulkner, and Eliot, Ellison's novel defies easy characterization or classification. Yet he continually makes lists of the greatest American novels. What was it about Invisible Man that resonated so strongly with readers then, and today?

Join the NAS on May 5 at 2 p.m. ET to find out!

This event will feature National Association of Scholars board member Wight Martindale; Herbert William Rice, professor of English at Kennesaw State University; and Mark Shiffman, associate professor of philosophy, classical studies, and social and political theory at Villanova University. The discussion will be moderated by NAS Director of Research David Randall.

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