Summary
Many critics view Invisible Man as one of the great American novels of the 20th century and perhaps the greatest novel by an African-American writer. This classic novel reflected race relations in America at the beginning of the civil rights movement. Few works have brought to life with such candor and lyrical grace, the life of a man who feels himself marginalized to the point of being rendered invisibly nonexistent. This new offering in the Bloom's Modern Critical Interpretations series considers Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man through a selection of critical essays. Additional features include an index for easy reference, notes on the contributing writers, a bibliography of the author's work, a chronology detailing the author's life, and an introductory essay by literature professor Harold Bloom.
Specifications
Chronology. Bibliography. Index.
About the Author(s)
Harold Bloom is Sterling Professor of the Humanities at Yale University. Educated at Cornell and Yale universities, he is the author of 30 books, including Shelley's Mythmaking (1959), The Visionary Company (1961), Blake's Apocalypse (1963), Yeats (1970), A Map of Misreading (1975), Kabbalah and Criticism (1975), Agon: Toward a Theory of Revisionism (1982), The American Religion (1992), The Western Canon (1994), Omens of Millennium: The Gnosis of Angels, Dreams, and Resurrection (1996), and Shakespeare: The Invention of the Human (1998), a 1998 National Book Award finalist. The Anxiety of Influence (1973) sets forth Professor Bloom's provocative theory of the literary relationships between the great writers and their predecessors. His most recent books include How to Read and Why (2000), Genius: A Mosaic of One Hundred Exemplary Creative Minds (2002), Hamlet: Poem Unlimited (2003), Where Shall Wisdom Be Found? (2004), and Jesus and Yahweh: The Names Divine (2005). In addition, he is the author of hundreds of articles, reviews, and editorial introductions. In 1999, Professor Bloom received the prestigious American Academy of Arts and Letters Gold Medal for Criticism. He has also received the International Prize of Catalonia, the Alfonso Reyes Prize of Mexico, and the Hans Christian Andersen Bicentennial Prize of Denmark.