Invisible Man (alkuperäinen julkaisuvuosi 1952; vuoden 1995 painos)

Didn't really know what to expect out of this one. There were some powerful bits especially closer to the end, but on the whole I found it a lot more tedious than some others of a similar bent I've read this year. ( )

En 1953, Ralph Ellison ganó el Premio Nacional del Libro de Ficción de Estados Unidos con esta descarnada obra. Se trata de una novela de iniciación en la que el personaje, un hombre de raza negra, como el mismo escritor lo era, va evolucionando desde que era una joven promesa en una institución educativa benéfica para jóvenes promesas de su raza en el Sur, pero por un desgraciado malentendido se ve obligado a abandonar los estudios y marchar al Norte para convertirse en un obrero. Tras este contratiempo en su vida se unirá a un sindicato, donde ascenderá por su prodigioso don de oratoria hasta que llegará a darse cuenta de que incluso los de su clase se dan peor trato entre ellos que el que les dan quienes en teoría consideran sus enemigos. Es una obra dura y pesimista, muy influenciada por el naturalismo y las ideas políticas y raciales que flotaban en el ambiente de los Estados Unidos en la época en la que el autor la escribió. Destaca la maestría de su lenguaje, que se adapta al sur en la primera mitad de la novela y al norte en la segunda mitad, de acuerdo con el periplo al que se va viendo arrastrado el personaje. ( )

I believe Mr. Ellison’s purpose in writing Invisible Man was simply education. Sadly, his first-person account of all the ways Black people face oppression is not as shocking as it could be because it simply reiterates that there is nothing simple or easy about the life of a Black person. Not only do they face hatred and oppression through racism, but they also face something similar through those Black persons who cater to white people. It is something we have been hearing from Black people for years, but reading it as a first-person story somehow drives it home more than any news article or interview.

Joe Morton takes a difficult story and brings it to life with his performance. He approaches the written word as a script, and it shows in his narration. Not only does he bring each unique character to life, but he also exudes each emotion our unnamed narrator feels just through the speed at which he speaks. It is an extraordinary performance that makes a story that is, frankly, not an enjoyable read worthwhile.

Invisible Man is not an easy read, but it is an important one because it provides a first-hand glimpse of racism and segregation. It matters not that the story occurs 100 years ago because the unnamed narrator’s experiences simply prove that nothing really changed in those 100 years. Through his story, we see the insidious nature of racism and how it can affect anyone. In that regard, Invisible Man is essential reading for those who want to become anti-racist. ( )

Invisible Man, Ralph Ellison’s ground-breaking fictional exploration of racial and social issues in mid-twentieth century America, begins with one of the most celebrated openings in all of modern literature: “I am an invisible man…I am invisible, understand, simply because people refuse to see me.” Indeed, that pretty much sums up the theme of the entire novel, although the journey will take the reader almost another 600 pages before it ends. The story follows a young, unnamed African-American man—whose lack of identity and terse physical description make him almost as invisible to us as to the other characters—from his school days in a small Southern town to his migration to New York City, where he spends time working in a paint factory followed by an unlikely ascent to being a leading social activist in Harlem before being forced into hiding after a race riot that goes horribly wrong. Along the way, Ellison weaves into the tale a wide-ranging and diverse set of topics, including the fraught nature of black-white relationships, the relative effectiveness of reform policies, and Marxist-Communist philosophy, as well as some of the most remarkable story-telling I have come across in quite a while.

There is little question that this is an important book, but it is also one that would be difficult to classify as an enjoyable reading experience, if for no other reason than the consistently grim picture it portrays. What was the most striking thing about the novel, though, was just how relevant is still seems today, some seven decades after it first appeared. For instance, in a pivotal scene near the end, an unarmed black man resisting a questionable arrest is gunned down on the street by a white police officer, an event that eventually galvanizes the community to violent protest. Of course, that sounds all too familiar still, despite the apparent progress made on race relations during the past century. On the other hand, Invisible Man could have benefitted from a good editor; some of the vignettes border on being over-the-top hysterical (e.g., the infamous Battle Royal scene, the roadhouse incident, the Brotherhood meetings) and simply go on too long. Also, the author’s use of symbolism throughout the story (e.g., paint that cannot become truly white until mixed with a dark-colored compound) is quite heavy-handed. Nevertheless, those that regard this book as a classic are not wrong and it is one that continues to demand attention so many years after its publication. ( )

The book I suggest everyone read