Ralph Ellison: Emergence of Genius [Hardcover]

Lawrence Jackson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 2002

AUTHOR. INTELLECTUAL. SOCIAL CRITIC. ONE OF THE MOST INFLUENTIAL WRITERS OF ALL TIME.
RALPH ELLISON.

Praise for
Ralph Ellison
Emergence of Genius

"Dr. Lawrence Jackson’s remarkable biography of Ralph Ellison is an essential contribution to the scholarship on one of the twentieth century’s greatest writers. Painstakingly researched and exhaustive, this compelling portrait of Ellison clarifies his genius––and his intellectual era––for a new century."––Charles Johnson, National Book Award Winner and author of Middle Passage

"Lawrence Jackson’s absorbing biography of Ralph Ellison makes a vital contribution to American literary history."––Ross Posnock, English Department, New York University, Author of Color and Culture: Black Writers and the Making of the Modern Intellectual

"Professor Lawrence Jackson’s painstaking documentation of Ralph Ellison’s early life and the beginning of his literary career provides a much needed resource for Ellison’s readers and critics."––Horace Porter, author of Jazz Country: Ralph Ellison in America and Director of African Studies at the University of Iowa

"An eloquently written and exquisitely researched biography. There is nothing quite like it. Jackson breathes life into those hidden nooks and crannies of Ellison’s youth that would later become cannon fodder for the grown Ellison’s explorations. An utterly groundbreaking biography, the idea of Ralph Ellison will never be the same."––Jerry Watts, author of Heroism and the Black Intellectual: Ralph Ellison, Politics, and Afro-American Intellectual Life

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Ralph Ellison (1913-1994) earned his place in the canon of African-American literature in a single act, the publication of Invisible Man (1952). His only completed novel, its controlled fury and modernist polish were thought by many to represent both the vanguard and the future of African-American literature. The book's uniqueness and its influence on subsequent generations have made the absence of an Ellison biography conspicuous; this first study by Jackson, an assistant professor of English at Howard University, ably answers the need. Its greatest limitation is that it ends in 1953, only halfway through Ellison's life. Hence Jackson doesn't discuss the highly anticipated second novel, the manuscript of which was destroyed in a fire in 1967, and which Ellison spent the rest of his life trying to complete. (The fragments were put together by Ellison's executor and published in 2001 as Juneteenth.) Material on Ellison's early years is hard to come by, and readers will find few of the anecdotes, letters or quotations that make up biographers' usual stock-in-trade. Still, these constraints do not seriously detract from the book's real merits. Jackson does a masterful job of re-creating the environments in which Ellison lived: childhood in Jim Crow Oklahoma, education at Tuskegee Institute, coming-of-age in the wake of the Harlem Renaissance. Ellison's intellectual and cultural development is faithfully traced, carefully researched and copiously annotated. Ellison will receive more comprehensive scrutiny in 2003, the projected publication date of acclaimed biographer Arnold Rampersad's authorized treatment. Till then, Jackson's study of the early Ellison does a fine job of shedding light on this enigmatic and revered figure in American letters. Agent, Jenny Bent.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Unlike his contemporary Richard Wright, Ralph Ellison was slow to make his grand entry into the literary world. But after working for six agonizing years on his best-known novel, Invisible Man, Ellison burst onto the scene to the thunderous acclaim of critics, winning the National Book Award in 1952. Jackson (English, Howard Univ.) traces the development of Ellison's life and work from his boyhood in Oklahoma City through his college days at Tuskegee Institute to his slow but steady rise among New York's intellectual elite in the 1940s and 1950s. Jackson's detailed and exhaustive study adroitly places Ellison in the cultural context that formed him intellectually, offering as well a splendid sketch of the benefits and shortcomings of New York literary life from the 1920s to the 1950s. Unfortunately, Jackson's biography ends in 1953 with the publication of Invisible Man, perpetuating the myth that for the next 40 years Ellison produced nothing of consequence. Jackson's neglect of the brilliant essays in Shadow and Act, Ellison's dazzling and funky writings on music, and the posthumous Juneteenth impoverishes this book. Still, since this is the first and only biography of Ellison now available, its broad contours will suffice until we get the definitive biography. Recommended for most collections. Henry L. Carrigan Jr., Lancaster, PA
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 512 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 1st edition (March 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0471354147
• ISBN-13: 978-0471354147
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 6.6 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.9 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #782,593 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Lawrence Jackson, a native of Baltimore, is Professor of English and African American Studies at Emory University, where he specializes in African American literature and literary history. Dr. Jackson earned his doctorate at Stanford University in English and American literature in 1997, and he also holds a master's degree from Ohio State University and he completed his undergraduate work at Wesleyan University. He began his professional career at Howard University, where he was promoted to associate professor in 2002.

In January 2003, Black Issues in Higher Education recognized Jackson as one of the outstanding African American Ph.D.'s of the new millennium. He is a recipient of grants and fellowship awards from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Ford Foundation. He has been a Resident Fellow at Harvard University's W.E.B. Du Bois Institute and the National Center for the Humanities in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina. For over ten years, Lawrence Jackson has been building a national audience for his work. He is a nationally recognized expert on twentieth century African American writers and, perhaps, most broadly known for his televised appearance in the broadcast of the P.B.S. documentary Ralph Ellison: An American Journey (January 2002). In June of 2008 C-SPAN Book Notes TV carried a panel discussion featuring Professor Jackson at the National Black Writers Conference called "Historical Representations of Resistance and Transformation." In October of 2010, professor Jackson lectured and was interviewed widely in Maseru, Lesotho, as an invited guest for the United States Embassy Lesotho. Professor Jackson was also a member of the National Book Award non-fiction jury of 2003.

Dr. Jackson is the author of the acclaimed Ralph Ellison: Emergence of Genius (2002), the first biography of Ellison. The New York Times welcomed his "rich and meticulous" biography and considered the book a literary achievement that "evok[ed] Ellison's environment brilliantly."

His new book is the highly anticipated literary history The Indignant Generation: A Narrative History of African American Writers and Critics, 1934-1960 (Princeton University Press, 2010). Publisher's Weekly called the book "monumental," an "encyclopedic book [that] offers a chronological, old-fashioned history of literature, covering a period desperately in need of thoroughgoing research and detail, and presents a deeply documented, dense but thoroughly readable." They predict that the book will "guide the way African-American and American literature is studied."

Dr. Jackson has also published portions of his forthcoming Virginia family history From the Staunton to the Dan in leading literary reviews. Southern Quarterly published his "The Will" in summer of 2009, and the New England Review carried "To Danville" in spring of 2007. The entire project, which chronicles the lives of two enslaved male ancestors, Edward Jackson and Granville Hundley, lays bare the difficult ground necessary to begin a recovery of the past broken apart by enslavement. The book is expected in spring of 2012.

He is currently writing a full-length biography of the African American writer Chester Himes.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Ralph Ellison: Emergence of a Genius, May 14, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Ralph Ellison: Emergence of Genius (Hardcover)

This is the most detailed look at Ellison's life that I've seen. This biography covers his path from poverty in Oklahoma to becoming part of the literary elite in the early 1950's. The author examines Ellison's involvement in the black rights movement and his relationships with Langston Hughes and Richard Wright. From start to finish, this is a fascinating read.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant!, May 26, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Ralph Ellison: Emergence of Genius (Hardcover)

I loved this bio of Ellison, the first to be published, and its focus on the early years. The writing is top-notch and Jackson has clearly done exhaustive research to uncover an amazing amount of fascinating detail. Belongs in any reader's collection devoted to American and African American literature and history.

5.0 out of 5 stars A complete Ellison Bio, September 27, 2004

By 

zora97 (St Louis MO) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Ralph Ellison: Emergence of Genius (Hardcover)

This biography is a must have for all Ellison fans. I could barely put it down to sleep!