Invisible Man
Assigned by 1 of the 9 reading lists, catalogue entry only
- Written
- 1952
- Form
- Novel
- Language
- English
- Length
- Long · 580 pp300 to 700 pages
- Difficulty
- Demanding3 of 5 for a first-year reader
We recommendInvisible ManVintage, 1995The standard paperback, with Ellison's 1981 introduction.
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An unnamed Black narrator tells his story from a basement lit by stolen electricity. As a promising student in the South he is expelled from a Black college for showing a white trustee the wrong side of town, goes north to Harlem with letters of reference that betray him, is nearly killed in a paint factory, and is recruited as a speaker by the Brotherhood, a Communist-style movement that uses and discards him. After a riot in Harlem he goes underground, invisible because no one will see him, and prepares to come out.
No reading guide yet
The catalogue entry above is complete: the dates, the form, the themes and every program that assigns Invisible Man are verified against each program's published list.
What is missing is the part that takes real work: the summary, the key passages, and a recommended translation. The edition named below is the one most programs assign, so the buy links are useful already.
