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Ralph Waldo Ellison

ラルフ・ワルド・エリソン

Ralph Waldo Ellison

Profile

Gender
Male
Born
1913-03-01 （Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, United States）
Died
1994-04-16 （New York City, United States） age 81
Nationality
United States
Languages
English
Residence History
Oklahoma City (birthplace) → Gary, Indiana (moved during childhood) → Tuskegee, Alabama (studied) → New York City (Harlem) → Plainfield, Massachusetts (summer home)

Career

Occupations
Writer, Literary critic, Scholar
Active Years
1933-1994
Affiliations
Bard College (faculty), Rutgers University (faculty), Yale University (faculty), New York University (Albert Schweitzer Professor of Humanities, 1970–1980), Hudson Institute (consultant), American Academy of Arts and Letters (member), Fellowship of Southern Writers (charter member)
Memberships
American Academy of Arts and Letters, Century Association, Fellowship of Southern Writers
Influenced By
T. S. Eliot, James Joyce, Gertrude Stein, Richard Wright, Morteza Drexel Sprague (teacher), Jazz music and jazz culture
Influenced
John Edgar Wideman, Toni Morrison, Albert Murray (friend and correspondent)

Education

Tuskegee Institute
Department of Music / Music
Period: 1933–1936
Country: United States
Admitted partly as a trumpet player in the orchestra; left before completing degree requirements.

Awards

National Book Award (Fiction)
1953
Work: Invisible Man
Organization: National Book Foundation
Result: 受賞
Presidential Medal of Freedom
1969
Organization: Office of the President of the United States
Result: 受賞
Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (Chevalier)
1970
Organization: Government of France
Result: 受賞
National Medal of Arts
1985
Organization: National Endowment for the Arts
Result: 受賞
Langston Hughes Medal
1984
Organization: City College of New York
Result: 受賞
Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards (Special Achievement)
1992
Organization: Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards
Result: 受賞
Honorary Doctorate (Harvard University)
Organization: Harvard University
Result: 受賞

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

Invisible Man

1952 Novel 581 pages

A novel narrated by an unnamed African-American man who searches for identity and place in society. Set in the American South and 1930s New York, it addresses race, invisibility, and social and political tensions.

IdentityRace and racismInvisibilitySouthern vs Northern racial dynamicsMusic (jazz)
Translations
  • Invisible Man (Japanese translation)

Shadow and Act

1964 Essay/criticism

A collection of essays on politics, society, culture, and literature, blending personal experience with literary criticism on race and the role of art in America.

Literary criticismRace in AmericaJazz and culture

Going to the Territory

1986 Essay/criticism

A collection of essays including reflections on William Faulkner, Richard Wright, Duke Ellington, and the contributions of African Americans to national identity.

Literary essaysMusic (jazz)American culture

Juneteenth

1999 Novel (posthumous, edited) 368 pages

A posthumously published novel assembled from Ellison's extensive notes and manuscripts, edited into a coherent volume representing his long-unfinished second novel.

American historyRace and memoryViolence and documentation

Bibliography

  • Invisible Man (Random House, 1952)
  • Shadow and Act (Random House, 1964)
  • Going to the Territory (Random House, 1986)
  • Flying Home and Other Stories (Random House, 1996)
  • Juneteenth (Random House, 1999, posthumous/edited)
  • Three Days Before the Shooting... (Modern Library, 2010)

Translations of Works

  • Invisible Man (Japanese translations; multiple editions)
  • Shadow and Act (Japanese translation)

Style & Themes

Literary Style
Modernist-influenced, experimental and richly detailed proseClear, critical voice in essaysUse of musical rhythm and jazz sensibilities in language
Recurring Motifs
Metaphor of invisibility (social erasure)Music and jazzMovement between South and North (geographic/cultural contrast)Search for identity

Health

  • Pancreatic cancer
    1993–1994
    Ultimately caused his death; affected his final years and productivity.

Legacy

Ellison is a major 20th-century American writer best known for Invisible Man, a canonical work addressing race and identity. Through essays and teaching he linked literature and jazz culture and secured a prominent place in American letters.

Museums

  • Ralph Waldo Ellison Library (dedication) Oklahoma City Opened in 1975

Academic Societies

  • American Academy of Arts and Letters
  • Fellowship of Southern Writers

Archives

  • The Ralph Ellison Collection (Library of Congress)
  • Gordon Parks Foundation archives (collaborative photographic/essay material)

In Popular Culture

  • USPS 2014 commemorative stamp honoring Ralph Ellison
  • Riverside Drive monument in Harlem (dedicated 2003)
  • The Ellison, a tribute-named hotel

Quotes

  • I am an invisible man.
    Source: Invisible Man (1952)

Trivia

  • He learned trumpet and alto saxophone and once served as a school bandmaster.
  • He enjoyed taking apart and customizing radios and built elaborate hi‑fi systems.
  • His brief affiliation and subsequent disillusionment with the Communist movement influenced parts of Invisible Man.
  • He left over 2,000 pages of a second novel; posthumous editions (e.g., Juneteenth) were assembled from these manuscripts.
  • Died of pancreatic cancer in 1994.