num_pages: 581
description: 'One of the most important American novels of the twentieth century' The Times'It is sometimes advantageous to be unseen, although it is most often rather wearing on the nerves'Ralph Ellison's blistering and impassioned first novel tells the extraordinary story of a man invisible 'simply because people refuse to see me'. Published in 1952 when American society was in the cusp of immense change, the powerfully depicted adventures of Ellison's invisible man - from his expulsion from a Southern college to a terrifying Harlem race riot - go far beyond the story of one individual to give voice to the experience of an entire generation of black Americans.This edition includes Ralph Ellison's introduction to the thirtieth anniversary edition of Invisible Man, a fascinating account of the novel's seven-year gestation.With an Introduction by John F. Callahan'Brilliant' Saul Bellow
language: English
title: Invisible Man
titlecomplete: Invisible Man
characters: Brother Jack, Ras the Exhorter, Tod Clifton, Dr. Hebert Bledsoe, Lucius Brockway, Mr. Norton, Jim Trueblood, Unnamed Narrator, Mary Rambo, Sybil (Invisible Man)
genres: Classics, American, Race, African American, Novels, School, Historical Fiction, Literature, Literary Fiction, Fiction
ratings_count: 182948
places: New York City, New York, Alabama, Harlem, New York City, New York, The United States of America
awards: awardedAt: -536428800000
name: National Book Award
category: Fiction
publisher: Gardners Books