Going to the Territory

by Ralph Ellison

Overview

The work of one of the most formidable figures in American intellectual life."

— Washington Post Book World

The seventeen essays collected in this volume prove that Ralph Ellison was not only one of America's most dazzlingly innovative novelists but perhaps also our most perceptive and iconoclastic commentator on matters of literature, culture, and race. In Going to the Territory, Ellison provides us with dramatically fresh readings of William Faulkner and Richard Wright, along with new perspectives on the music of Duke Ellington and the art of Romare Bearden. He analyzes the subversive quality of black laughter, the mythic underpinnings of his masterpiece Invisible Man, and the extent to which America's national identity rests on the contributions of African Americans. Erudite, humane, and resounding with humor and common sense, the result is essential Ellison.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780679760016
Publisher:	Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Publication date:	03/01/1995
Series:	Vintage International Series
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	338
Sales rank:	417,418
Product dimensions:	5.18(w) x 7.97(h) x 0.71(d)

About the Author

Ralph Ellison (1914–1994) was born in Oklahoma and trained as a musician at Tuskegee Institute from 1933 to 1936, at which time a visit to New York and a meeting with Richard Wright led to his first attempts at fiction. Invisible Man won the National Book Award. Appointed to the Academy of American Arts and Letters in 1964, Ellison taught at several institutions, including Bard College, the University of Chicago, and New York University, where he was Albert Schweitzer Professor of Humanities.

Date of Birth:

March 1, 1914

Date of Death:

March 16, 1994

Place of Birth:

Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

Place of Death:

New York City

Education:

Tuskegee Institute, 1933-36

Editorial Reviews

These three volumes have been redesigned and reissued to commemorate the first anniversary of Ellison's death. (Mar.)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

A new book by the author of Invisible Man is always a welcome event. Like Ellison's Shadow and Act , this collection of essays, addresses, and reviews deals with topics in literature, music, and race relations. ``Remembering Richard Wright,'' ``Homage to Duke Ellington on His Birthday,'' and ``What America Would Be Like Without the Blacks'' are among the essays included. While most of these essays have appeared previously, reprinting them here is nevertheless useful. When read together, they resonate off one another, reinforcing Ellison's emphasis on what blacks and whites share rather than on their differences. Throughout, Ellison tries to view American culture as a cloth of one piece. His analysis of the growth of that culture, and of the dynamic interaction of the diverse elements within it, is perceptive and convincing. Highly recommended. William Gargan, Brooklyn Coll. Lib., CUNY

Library Journal