Ellison, Ralph Waldo

▪ 1995

      U.S. writer and educator (b. March 1, 1914, Oklahoma City, Okla.—d. April 16, 1994, New York, N.Y.), spent seven years writing his seminal novel, Invisible Man (1952), which explored through the eyes of a nameless black narrator the sense of racial alienation experienced by blacks and the social forces that conspire to deny all individuals an identity. His work, which was immediately recognized as a classic, earned him a National Book Award in 1953 and a permanent niche as one of the most important American writers of the 20th century. Ellison, who attended Tuskegee (Ala.) Institute, from 1933 to 1936, began writing short stories while serving in the Merchant Marine during World War II. Invisible Man told the story of a young black man who experienced rejection by both blacks and whites as he pursued university studies in the South and traveled north to become a political activist. Ellison, who produced two volumes of essays, Shadow and Act (1964) and Going to the Territory (1986), spent the remainder of his life working on a second novel, which was unpublished at the time of his death. He taught creative writing at New York University besides serving as a visiting scholar at various universities. Ellison influenced such writers as Joseph Heller and Kurt Vonnegut.

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