Ralph Ellison in Context

Paul Devlin is Associate Professor of English at the United States Merchant Marine Academy and Book Review Editor of African American Review. With Henry Louis Gates, Jr., he is co-editor of the scholarly editions of Albert Murray's writings. He is also editor of Rifftide (2011) and Murray Talks Music (2016).

'… an ideal introduction to the scholarship surrounding this important writer … Recommended,' J. W. Miller, Choice

• Part I. Geographical, Institutional, and Interpersonal Contexts: 1. Oklahoma City and 'the territory' Tracy Floreani; 2. Ghosts of Tuskegee Caroline Gebhard; 3. Morteza drexel sprague Matthew McKnight; 4. New York City, 1936-1946 Sara Rutkowski; 5. The U.S. merchant marine Paul Devlin; 6. Fanny Ellison Colleen Eils; 7. Rome, 1955-1957 Sara Marzioli; 8. Postwar New York Andrew Davenport; 9. Albert Murray after 1962 Paul Devlin; Part II. Historical, Political, and Cultural Contexts: 10. Visualizing Black identity in Ellison's fiction Lena Hill; 11. Alternating currents: Electricity, humanism, and resistance Jennifer L. Lieberman; 12. Sounds and signs of Black womanhood Meina Yates-Richard; 13. Masculinity E. Al-Tariq Moore; 14. Aesthetics of democracy Sterling Lecater Bland, Jr; 15. Black power and Black arts Matthew Calihman; 16. Wrestling with the far right: Ellison's representations of fascism Kevin Moore; 17. Southwestern swing Steven Lewis; 18. The self-fashioned American blues identity Kimberly Mack; 19. Ellison's durational view of bebop Michael Germana; Part III. Literary and Critical Contexts: 20. The Harlem renaissance Michael Borshuk; 21. Ellison's early writings Barbara Foley; 22. The Wright school Stephan Kuhl; 23. Literary modernism Tessa Roynon; 24. Beyond raglan's Hero: Ellison's ritualist influences Bryan Crable; 25. Sociology Scott Selisker; 26. The soapbox speech in Ellison's fiction Granville Ganter; 27. Postwar literary aesthetics Jesse McCarthy; 28. Ellison as correspondent Marc C. Conner; Part IV. Reception and Reputation: 29. Critical reputation, 1994-2020 Paul Devlin and Robert Butler; 30. Reading invisible man by design Kinohi Nishikawa; 31. Reception of the Hickman novel Benji de la Piedra; 32. Reception of the essay collections Matthew Lambert; 33. Reception in the USSR and former USSR Olga Panova; 34. Biographies of Ellison Timothy Parrish; 35. Ellison and digital humanities J. D. Porter.