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Happy birthday, Ralph Ellison (1914 –1994)!
Ralph Ellison, an American author, was born on this day in 1914. I remember the first time I read Ralph Ellison’s novel, Invisible Man. I was in college, an English major. Ellison’s writing was much more sophisticated than my comprehension at the time, but the book still made a deep impression on me.
I was intrigued by his ideas about identity—ideas that were controversial in the late 1940s when he wrote them. Ellison suggested that African Americans had an active role in shaping U.S. culture and defining their own identity. Other African American writers at the time had a different opinion. They suggested that African Americans, as a result of oppression over generations, had lost their cultural foundations and their sense of identity. Two different viewpoints. Two different takes on the world and life. Great writers like Ellison expand our perspectives. Thank you, Ralph Ellison!
For more information about Ralph Ellison, visit the PBS website.
Are there writers who helped you look at the world in a broader way? Please share their names and their works in the comment box below.
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Chad Vara springs to mind with his autogiography “Before I die again” which opened my eyes to the extended and universal viewpoints within the church spheres, as in a family with perhaps wide, differing views, but still a family. His approach to reincarnation was just a given, not even argued which made we go wider with my own perceptions. Karen Blixen’s “Out of Africa and other stories” was amazing in the perceptions, the opening up of her own prejudices, her own approaches and in the minutiae of detail and context which is riveting for the reader to ponder upon. Within the Jesuits, there are so many great writers and stories; Anthony de Mello was a marvel at dealing with the psychology and addressing our own, internal beliefs and prejudices. Excellent stuff.
Eileen, Hadn’t hear of Chad Vara’s autobiography. Sounds like one for my “Gotta Read This” list!
One of my favorite writers is Harper Lee and her book To Kill a Mockingbird. Lee’s writing took me into new cultures (the south, the Great Depression, racism, etc.) and helped me to see the world truly with new eyes.
Just another quick mention for fav authors on the topic of social justice — Tillie Olsen, whose short story “I Stand Here Ironing” is haunting in its simplicity and depth.
(I had Tillie Olsen on my post-it notes and Stan erased my dashboard the other day–thanks for reminding me.)
I remember reading Invisible Man in college, also. I loved the writings of most all of the Harlem Renaissance authors. Ellison and Langston Hughes were favorites. The HR is my favorite time period as far as novels go, next to southern fiction.
Dos Passos moved me quite a bit because I read The 49th Parallel when I was working at my U.A.W. job and reading it aroused so much passion in me for what the Union did for the everyday common worker.
One of my favorite reads is Can’t Quit You, Baby by Ellen Douglas. About a woman whose only real friend is her black servant. It’s set in the 60′s against a backdrop of racial turmoil that helped to define that decade.
My list really goes on and on…. I’ll quit here, though.
SJ, my favorite book of all time, TKAM. I could be Harper Lee. God, just let me pump out one good hit and I’ll never ask for another thing–ever. hehe.
My life has been soaked in Harper Lee’s “To Kill a Mockingbird.” Over 30 years, I taught that book, read sections of it aloud, showed the movie to 1-3 classes a year. Do the math. I’ve nearly memorized the text. I *have* memorized the movie: I know every wrinkle in Atticus’s white suit.
I think it’s one book every person should read at least once, but I recommend re-reads because it’s not nearly as simple as it seems. Just as those wrinkles in the back of Atticus’s jacket are so evocative of what he is feeling when he walks down the sidewalk after learning that Tom Robinson has been killed, every line of the dialogue carries layers of meaning.
How can Scout, raised by Atticus (with Calpurnia’s help) try to comfort Dill in his anguished disillusionment by saying, “But Dill. He’s just a nigger?” How can Scout Finch have been that corrupted just by growing up in Maycomb? Do you hear the echoes there of Tom Sawyer’s answer to his aunt when she asks if anyone was hurt in the explosion on the steamboat? Tom says, “No’m. Killed a nigger.” When I taught these books, it was my hope that every one of my students would think of those ironic responses in terms of their own lives and that they would recognize their responsibility to free themselves from the embedded racism of society. I have long felt that novels have more power to shape our social values than the straight study of history.
I have two books that I read a couple years apart. Durning a time that I was doubting the teachings of the mega church I was a part of at the time. The first is The Irresistible Revolutions: Living as an Ordinary Radical by Shane Claiborne. This was the first time I had ever considered living life in some sort of community. Never thinking that almost six years later I would be Catholic. Having the deep longing that I have to be a part of something bigger then myself. It was about two years later that I was trying to find out what the Catholic Church was all about. Reading anything and everything I could find. Since, a pastor of the church made a few comments that did not sit while with me. I had to find out for myself what the Catholic Church was all about. The more I read the more I found that I had to say yes to becoming Catholic. It was in reading Sweat Home Rome, by Scott and Kimberly Hahn. This was the “push” I need to finally say yes to the Catholic Church and that was two years ago this coming Easter.