Shadow & Act: Essays.
New York: Random House, 1964. First Printing of the First Edition. A Fine copy in a Fine extremely bright unclipped dust jacket. In this essay collection, Ralph Ellison examines his antecedents and in so doing illuminates the literature, music, and culture of both black and white America. His range is virtuosic, encompassing Mark Twain and Richard Wright, Mahalia Jackson and Charlie Parker, The Birth of a Nation and the Dante-esque landscape of Harlem—“the scene and symbol of the Negro’s perpetual alienation in the land of his birth.” Throughout, he gives us what amounts to an episodic autobiography that traces his formation as a writer as well as the genesis of Invisible Man.Not only is Ellison a great writer of fiction but he truly excels as an essayist as he displays in this fine collection of some of his best work in a non-fiction role. He is one of the most cogent and articulate writers in the arena of ideas and assessments of culture and the arts. Item #29183
Price: $150.00