RALPH ELLISON (1913–1994) was an American novelist, literary critic, and scholar who began contributing short stories, reviews, and essays to various periodicals in 1937.

He is best known for INVISIBLE MAN (1952), a deeply compelling bestselling novel and an epic milestone of American literature that won the National Book Award in 1953.  It explores a person's search for their identity and place in society, as seen from the perspective of its narrator, a naive and idealistic African American man in the 1930s.  The (unnamed) narrator is "invisible" in a figurative sense, in that "people refuse to see" him, and also experiences a kind of dissociation.  Ellison won praise for his stylistic innovations in infusing classic literary motifs with modern Black speech and culture, while providing a thoroughly unique take on the construction of contemporary African-American identity.

After the novel's appearance, Ellison published only two collections of political, social and critical essays: SHADOW AND ACT (1964) and GOING TO THE TERRITORY (1986).  For The New York Times, the best of these essays in addition to the novel put him "among the gods of America's literary Parnassus."

Ellison lectured widely on Black culture, folklore, and creative writing and taught at various American colleges and universities.  Following his death, more manuscripts were discovered in his home, resulting in the posthumous publication of FLYING HOME & OTHER STORIES (1996).  A second novel, written over 40 years and left unfinished at his death, was published, in a much-shortened form, as JUNETEENTH (1999).  All the manuscripts of this incomplete novel were published collectively under the title THREE DAYS BEFORE THE SHOOTING (2010).


The following books are in ePUB format unless otherwise noted:

== FICTION ==

* Flying Home and Other Stories (Vintage, 1998)
* Invisible Man (Vintage, 1995)
* Invisible Man (Penguin, 2016)
* Juneteenth (Vintage, 2021)
* Juneteenth (Penguin, 2016)
* Three Days Before the Shooting (Modern Library, 2010)

== ESSAYS ==

* Collected Essays (Modern Library, 2003). J. Callahan, ed.
* Going to the Territory (Vintage, 1995)
* Living with Music: Jazz Writings (Modern Library, 2002) – PDF
* Shadow and Act (Vintage, 1995)

== LETTERS ==

* Selected Letters (Random House, 2019). J. Callahan, ed.
* Trading Twelves: Selected Letters (Modern Library, 2000)

== OTHER ==

* Conversations with Ralph Ellison (Mississippi, 2005). Graham, ed. – PDF


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