Offering students and scholars a variety of interpretations from which to fashion their own views of the novel and the man who created it, this text takes the position that there can be no last word on "Invisible Man". The essays share a respect for the novel's fluidity and for every reader's encounter with its narrator, story, and meanings.

John F. Callahan: Introduction Part I Prologue: Ralph Ellison on Invisible Man Before Publication After Publication Part II Critical Essays on Invisible Man 1: Kenneth Burke: Ralph Ellison's Trueblooded Bildungsroman 2: Larry Neal: Ellison's Zoot Suit 3: Nathan A. Scott, Jr.: Ellison's Vision of Communitas 4: Morris Dickstein: Ralph Ellison, Race, and American Culture 5: Robert G. O'Meally: The Rules of Magic: Hemingway as Ellison's "Ancestor" 6: Valerie Smith: The Meaning of Narration in Invisible Man 7: John S. Wright: The Conscious Hero and the Rites of Man: Ellison's War 8: Claudia Tate: Notes on the Invisible Women in Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man 9: Leon Forrest: Luminosity from the Lower Frequencies 10: John F. Callahan: Ellison's Invisible Man Part III Epilogue Ralph Ellison: On Initiation Rites and Power: A Lecture at West Point Selected Bibliography

Presents a wide range of the most important essays published on Invisible Man in the last thirty-five years Contains Ralph Ellison's comments on Invisible Man, many of which have never been published before

Presents a wide range of the most important essays published on Invisible Man in the last thirty-five years Contains Ralph Ellison's comments on Invisible Man, many of which have never been published before