English 230 - Fall, 2012

Study of a Major Writer

Topic: Ralph Ellison and His Interlocutors

Class Information

Instructor: Heard Mollel, Danielle
CRN: 43464
Time: T 12:10-3:00
Location: 120 Voorhies
Breadth: Later American
Focus: Interdiscipline, Other National, Theory

Description

Ralph Ellison and His Interlocutors

While he is well known as one of the most pivotal literary figures in the African American literary tradition, particularly through his National Book Award-winning Invisible Man, Ralph Ellison is less appreciated for his contributions to cultural theory. Arguably one of the twentieth century’s most important theorists and most talented essayists, Ellison produced over two volumes of criticism addressing topics ranging from race, identity, modernity, “Americanness,” governance and democracy to comedy, jazz, the blues, the problem of authenticity and representation, revolution, and freedom. He wrote in conversation with many of the New York intellectuals, including Saul Bellow, Irving Howe, and Hannah Arendt, as well as theorists as philosophers like Jean Baudrillard, Mikhail Bakhtin, Jean-Paul Sartre, Henri Bergson, and especially Kenneth Burke. As well, Ellison found himself writing in the tradition of W. B. Yeats, T. S. Elliot, Herman Melville, Henry James, Ernest Hemingway, William Faulkner, and Mark Twain. But on the “lower frequencies” of his criticism and fiction, one can hear Louis Armstrong’s virtuosic bending of high notes on the trumpet or the raucous laughter of Brer Rabbit having pulled a fast one on Brer Fox; the “sweet, high-floating sound” of Jimmy Rushing on “I Left My Baby” or the bone-penetrating sublimity of Mahalia Jackson’s “Soon I Will Be Done;” the audible silence of Bert Williams’ superior performance of “whiteness” via his impersonation of the “darky;” or the muted laughter of slaves forced to dunk their heads in the “laughing barrel” in order to avoid offending master. In this course, we will grapple with the richness that emerges from the confluence of cultural theory, literary dedication, and black folkloric appreciation emblemized by Ellison’s body of work. We will begin by getting a grasp on Ellison’s particular theoretical perspective, and the unique lexicon that sustains it, through his published essays and the letters he wrote to his primary interlocutor and best friend, Albert Murray. We will supplement our understanding of this perspective by reading key texts by Ellison’s primary theoretical influences and perusing African American folklore and performance history. With this understanding, we will proceed to unpack his most significant literary contribution, his lesser-known short stories, and the works cobbled together by editors from his hundreds of pages of unpublished manuscript.

Grading

Requirements:

One journal-length (15-25 page) paper due at the end of the term
One 20-minute presentation

Texts

The Collected Essays of Ralph Ellison, Ralph Ellison, John Callahan, ed.
Invisible Man, Ralph Ellison
Juneteenth, Ralph Ellison
Flying Home: And Other Stories, Ralph Ellison
Three Days Before the Shooting, Ralph Ellison