“Ralph Waldo Ellison: (1914-1993) American novelist, essayist, short-story writer, and critic. Ellison was recognized as one of the most influential and accomplished American authors of the twentieth century. He is best-known for his highly acclaimed first novel, Invisible Man, the story of a young African-American man’s painful efforts to find identity and recognition in a society that sees only his superficial racial characteristics. Recipient of the National Book Award for fiction, Invisible Man is regarded as a masterpiece for its complex treatment of racial repression and betrayal.
Ellison’s first collection of essays, Shadow and Act (1964), covers over two decades of reviews, criticism, and interviews concerning such subjects as literature, music, art, and race. Going to the Territory (1986) echoes many of these concerns. Ellison’s short stories, written in the 1940s and 1950s, are often anthologized. He taught and lectured widely in both America and Europe and was Albert Schweitzer Professor of Humanities at New York University (1970-79). Ellison was at work on another novel, which had once already been destroyed by a fire at his home, at the time of his death.”
Excerpted from: Murphy, Bruce, ed. Benet’s Reader’s Encyclopedia, Fourth Edition. New York: Harper Collins, 1996.
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