Shadowing Ralph Ellison

294 Pages·2006·8.69 MB·English

by  John S. Wright

Shadowing Ralph Ellison
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John S. Wright
Shadowing
Ralph Ellison
Ralph Ellison
University Press of Mississippi / JACKSON
Margaret Walker Alexander Series
in African American Studies
www.upress.state.ms.us
The University Press of Mississippi is a member of the
Association of American University Presses.
Copyright © 2006 by University Press of Mississippi
All rights reserved
Manufactured in the United States of America
First edition 2006
(cid:1)
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Wright, John.
Shadowing Ralph Ellison / John Wright. — 1st ed.
p. cm. — (Margaret Walker Alexander series in African American studies)
Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and index.
ISBN 1-57806-850-9 (alk. paper)
1. Ellison, Ralph—Criticism and interpretation. 2. African Americans in literature.
I. Title. II. Series.
PS3555.L625Z96 2006
818’.5409—dc22
2006003519
British Library Cataloging-in-Publication Data available
For Boyd and Mae,
Martha and Wilmette,
Beryl and Lock,
Warren and Katherine,
Fanny and Ralph
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Dance and mask collect their greasepaint,
idioms stand on bandstand, in stove-
pipe pants of riverman, gambling shoes,
gold-tooth venom vexing sundown,
the choir at sunrise-service cleansing
a life on a jim crow funeral car.
The fi rst true phrase sings out in barnyard;
the hunt in books for quail.
—MICHAEL S. HARPER
Going to the Territory: Icons of Geography of the Word:
A Meditation on the Life and Times of Ralph Waldo Ellison
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Contents
xi Acknowledgments
xv Chronology of Ralph Ellison’s Life, Contacts,
and of Relevant Events
3 Prologue
Orienting Metaphors for a Metaphysical Manhunt
13 Chapter One
Dedicated Dreamer, Consecrated Acts: Shadowing Ellison
79 Chapter Two
The Conscious Hero and the Rites of Man: Ellison’s War
131 Chapter Three
Ellison’s Spiritual Technologies
161 Chapter Four
The Man of Letters and the Unending Conversation
233 Epilogue
The Last Gestalt: Ellison’s Unfi nished Business
239 Notes
245 Bibliography
259 Index
ix