While contemporary critics have placed Ralph Ellison's 1952 novel Invisible Man near the top of the 20th century's shortlist of most influential fiction, he isn't widely known among today's students of modern American literature. Partly, this is because of the small body of work Ellison produced; in fact, after winning the National Book Award in 1953 for his brilliant debut, Ellison was unable to complete a follow-up novel in his lifetime. Writer/director Avon Kirkland's Ralph Ellison: An American Journey, narrated by Andre Braugher, offers a comprehensive portrait of an often maligned and misunderstood figure, combining archival footage and stills, dramatic recreations, and interviews with Cornel West and Amiri Bakara, among others, to explore Ellison's life and work. Coming from a "deeply painful" childhood of poverty and loss, Ellison originally hoped to make a career in jazz (and his writing is certainly influenced by improvisational jazz techniques), before emerging as a writer and "Renaissance man," surrounded by a circle of friends, colleagues, and critics who helped or hurt his career over the decades. An early admirer of Richard Wright, Ellison's work went beyond the protest novel to achieve a richer, more complex appreciation of the lives of everyday black people, although his ties to the literary establishment and his insistence on pursuing his personal vision led to charges from '60s militants that he was nothing more than an Uncle Tom. Although a 1967 house fire destroyed a voluminous manuscript of his new novel, Ellison would still leave behind some 2,000 pages upon his death in 1994--eventually resulting in his second, controversial posthumous novel Juneteenth (1999). While not prolific, he continues to occupy a central place in modern American fiction, and this absorbing documentary that aired as part of the American Masters series underscores why. Highly recommended. Aud: H, C, P. (S. Rees)
Ralph Ellison: An American Journey
(2001) 87 min. $49.95: public libraries & high schools, $195: colleges & universities. California Newsreel. PPR. Color cover. Closed captioned. Volume 17, Issue 5
Ralph Ellison: An American Journey
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