Friday, May 26, 2006

Ralph Ellison's "Paris Review" interview

Michael S. Collins and Kim Pearson both suggested Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man as a novel that might help us better understand structural racism through fiction.

If you need more encouragement to pick up Ellison's novel, check out this interview he did with The Paris Review back in 1954.

It's been many years since I read Invisible Man, yet I still remember certain aspects of it that confused me: this interview cleared up quite a few elements of Ellison's approach. It also helped me understand how well it fits the structural racism series.

I wish I had read the interview before reading the novel.

--Marshal Zeringue