The “author myth” surrounding Ralph Ellison usually centers on the follow-up novel to Invisible Man that never happened, the many years of promises unfulfilled. But if writing novel #2 was so difficult for Ellison, how did novel #1 happen?
If you want to know when and how Ralph Ellison wrote Invisible Man, Google is fine. The wikipedia entry tells you have, after graduating blah blah, he spent a summer in Vermont and out poured all those words. If you want to know what people thought about Invisible Man when it was published, wikipedia is again useful. A quick paragraph on what a sensation it caused is right there, in the Reception section. Invisible Man was published in 1952 by Random House, and was an instant hit, reviewed by all the muckity-mucks of the day.
Read Full Article »
