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From "Invisible Man" to "Three Days Before the Shooting . . . "

By Adam Bradley, associate professor of English

Ralph Ellison may be the preeminent African-American author of the 20^th听century, though he published only one novel, 1952鈥檚 鈥淚nvisible Man.鈥� He enjoyed a highly successful career in American letters, publishing two collections of essays, teaching at several colleges and universities, and writing dozens of pieces for newspapers and magazines, yet Ellison never published the second novel he had been composing for more than 40 years.

A 1967 fire that destroyed some of his work accounts for only a small part of the novel鈥檚 fate; the rest is revealed in the thousands of pages he left behind after his death in 1994, many of them collected for the first time in the recently published 鈥淭hree Days Before the Shooting鈥� .鈥�

鈥淩alph Ellison in Progress鈥� is the first book to survey the expansive geography of Ellison鈥檚 unfinished novel while re-imaging the more familiar, but often misunderstood, territory of 鈥淚nvisible Man.鈥� It works from the premise that understanding Ellison鈥檚 process of composition imparts important truths not only about the author himself but about race, writing and American identity. Drawing on thousands of pages of Ellison鈥檚 journals, typescripts, computer drafts and handwritten notes, many never before studied, Adam Bradley argues for a shift in scholarly emphasis that moves a greater share of the weight of Ellison鈥檚 literary legacy to the last 40 years of his life and to the novel he left forever in progress.

鈥淎dam Bradley鈥檚 brilliant work of literary archeology delivers revelations that illuminate Ralph Ellison鈥漵 life, philosophy and fiction. If you have not read 鈥楻alph Ellison in Progress,鈥� you cannot say you understand the genius that guided this giant of American literature.鈥�

-Dr. Charles Johnson, author of 鈥淢iddle Passage鈥�

鈥淎n original and groundbreaking argument that will-this is no mere hyperbole-transfigure Ellison scholarship and criticism as we know it.鈥�

-David Yaffe, author of 鈥淔ascinating Rhythm: Reading Jazz in American Writing鈥�

鈥淎rmed with unparalleled access to, and knowledge of, Ellison鈥漵 manuscripts, Adam Bradley delivers a major achievement. Ralph Ellison in Progress really is groundbreaking scholarship: there is nothing quite like it.鈥�

-James A. Miller, author of 鈥淩emembering Scottsboro: The Legacy of an Infamous Trial鈥�

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