I
am an
invisible
man.
When people approach me they see
only my surroundings, themselves, or
figments
of
their imagination ... indeed
everything and anything except me.
"From these first sentences
of Ralph Ellison's powerful
novel you are carried for–
ward by an intensity rare in
the fiction of any time or
place. You become Mr. Elli–
son's protagonist, a dark Gull–
iver whose progress through
our society is
as
'unreal'
as
a
surrealistic painting,
as
be–
lievable as Raskolnikov's
through crime and punish–
ment. The essential truth is
conveyed so skilfully that
you feel that here, for the
first time, is the whole truth
about the Negro
in
America.
"In the course of his jour–
ney towards understanding,
the protagonist meets nearly
every significant variety of
modem man. The minor
characters, the leader of the
'Brotherhood; the preacher
and Numbers man, the white
woman who pleads to be
raped, the hater of unions,
the many Negroes, are as
vivid
as
the minor characters
in Dickens.
"Many Negro writers of
real distinction have emerged
in our century. But none of
them, except Richard Wright,
have been able to transcend
their bitter way of life or
master the intricacies of
craftsmanship so that they
become the peers of the best
white writers of our day. Mr.
Ellison has achieved this dif–
ficult transcendence. INVIS–
IDLE
MAN is a work of art any
contemporary writer could
point to with pride."
-THE
SATURDAY
REVIEW.
Invisible
Man
A novel
by
RALPH ElLISON
At all bookstores, $3.50,
RANDOM
HOUSE,
N. Y.
