“The Invisible Man: The title of two very different novels. The first is a work of science fiction by H.G. Wells (1866-1946), published in 1897. In this story a scientist finds the secret of invisibility, which lures him into temptation. The first film version(1933), starring Claude Rains, was highly regarded, but its several sequels less so.
The second novel with this title was by the black US writer Ralph Ellison (1914-94). Published in 1952, it won the 1953 National Book Award for fiction. The novel tells the story of a Southern black who moves to New York, participates in the struggle against white oppression, and ends up ignored and living in a coal hole.
I am an invisible man. I am a man of substance, of flesh and bone, fibre and liquids—and I might even be said to possess a mind. I am invisible, understand, simply because people refuse to see me.
The Invisible Man, prologue.
Excerpted from: Crofton, Ian, ed. Brewer’s Curious Titles. London: Cassell, 2002.
Mark's Text Terminal 