No one is really sure, but March 1 was either Ralph Waldo Ellison’s 99th or 100th birthday. We have at least three copies of Invisible Man floating around our house. More than likely, if you ask, all three of my sons will tell you that was their favorite book from high school. In addition, my bookshelf holds a hardback edition of his collected essays as well as his story collection Flying Home and his under-appreciated 1101-page unfinished novel, Three Days Before the Shooting…. I posted the very short essay, below, on my first blog 8 years ago. I offer it again in appreciation and honor of this master and genius of American Letters.

Ralph Ellison and the Floating Self

It seems to me that Ralph Ellison may be this country’s most important writer. Not so much for his production or even his style, but because of his deep wisdom and his remarkable understanding of the links between literature, politics, and our national struggle with the culture of Continue reading →