Ralph Ellison (1913–1994)

I'm glad to have finally read this brilliant American classic, which I somehow have avoided or overlooked since I first heard of it back in high school. Chapter 1 is nothing less than an encapsulation of the entire history of the United States told as a brutal, ugly, incredibly racist "battle royale". Overall, this is the coming of age story of a young African American man, told in first person, who starts out as a naive but conflicted product of the Jim Crow south, and who has been indoctrinated with the ideas of Booker T. Washington while attending a historic Black college. From that point we follow him to Harlem where he sheds all his illusions and delusions and becomes "invisible", living underground off the grid so to speak, and surviving in some way that is hidden from us. We learn how he gets there and what might happen next. Along the way he becomes prominent in the Brotherhood (the American Communist Party, I guess) and these chapters are tense and frustrating. Run by white people, the organization blatantly and hyprocritically exploits Black people for its own ends, which are, confusing, contradictory, and incoherent. One day they adore Mr. Invisible, the next they are denouncing him internally and threatening him with...something. They are very big on being "scientific" and whitesplaining the hell out of their activities in Harlem. At any rate, when we reach the end, Mr. Invisible appears ready to emerge from underground, just in time for the civil rights movement and all that has happened since. Seventy years after its publication, this novel is still incredibly relevant.… (mere)