American author Ralph Waldo Ellison (1914-1994) wrote "Invisible Man," a classic 20th-century American novel. He was an early spokesman among African Americans for the need for racial identity. Ralph Ellison was born in Oklahoma City on March 1, 1914. Hi...

Centuries hence, when the important Afro-American writers of our day are studied, perhaps Ralph Ellison--novelist, short-story writer, and essayist--will be considered the most indispensable. Already, a great many critics think that his Invisible Man (19...

Though his reputation rests on a single novel, many critics consider Ralph Ellison to be the preeminent Afro-American writer, and others have argued that Invisible Man ranks with the most significant American literary works of this century. In the thirty...

Flying Home and Other Stories, a collection of thirteen texts, with corrections and an excellent introduction by John F. Callahan, forms a welcome complement to the Modern Library volume (1995) of Ralph Ellison's essays, also edited and introduced by Callahan and containing a...

And Other Stories Ralph Ellison, selected with an introduction by John F. Callahan. Random, $23 (208p) ISBN 0-679-45704-6 To read Ellison's early short stories after having read Invisible Man is like looking at the first sketches and blueprints of parts of...