Newsletter #14: Ralph Ellison

Feb 26

Hey!

Ellison’s Invisible Man begins with the word “I” and ends with the word “You” and in between is an endearing and deeply human story that is every bit a masterpiece in American letters as any other book before or since. It’s easily one of my top five novels of all time.

In this newsletter:

3 sentences/2 quotes/1 cool thing from Ralph Ellison

My newest short story, “An Android’s Letter to Santa”

Links to articles on getting started, Steven Soderbergh, and work/life balance

And now here’s this week’s newsletter featuring Ralph Ellison.

Three Sentences by Ellison to Imitate and Study

Man's hope can paint a purple picture, can transform a soaring vulture into a noble eagle or moaning dove.

from Invisible Man

Practice: Try this sentence frame using a concept from your writing:

Man’s/Woman’s/Other’s _____ can _____ a _____, can _____ a _____ into a _____ or ____.

Here’s an example I came up with:

Man’s selfishness can evaporate an ocean of potential, can erode a moutain of hope into a mound of misery or canyon of despair.

II.

Live with your head in the lion’s mouth.

from Invisible Man

Practice: Try this sentence frame using a concept from your writing:

Live with _____ on/in the _____.

Here’s an example I came up with:

Live with your dreams and desires on the poker table.

III.

Meaning grows in the mind, but the shape and form of the act remains.

from Juneteenth

Practice: Try this sentence frame using a concept from your writing:

_____ grows in the ____, but the _____ and _____ remains.

Here’s an example I came up with:

Jealousy grows in the ego, but the stench and bitterness remains.

Two Quotes by Ellison on the blues and a writer’s identity

“The blues is an impulse to keep the painful details and episodes of a brutal experience alive in one's aching consciousness, to finger its jagged grain, and to transcend it, not by the consolation of philosophy but by squeezing from it a near-tragic, near-comic lyricism. As a form, the blues is an autobiographical chronicle of personal catastrophe expressed lyrically.”

Journal Prompt: How would you describe your favorite genre of music? How does the sound and tone does express and explores the human experience?

II.

“By and large, the critics and readers gave me an affirmed sense of my identity as a writer. You might know this within yourself, but to have it affirmed by others is of utmost importance. Writing is, after all, a form of communication.”

Journal Prompt: What is your identity as a writer? Who or what affirms your identity as writer? To what extent is your identity as a writer formed by the perceptions of others?

One Cool Thing - Ralph Ellison Documentary

Ellison is a bit of an enigma in literature. Sure, Invisible Man is a recognizable and lauded novel. But the man behind the book is rarely discussed. Ask anyone who Ralph Ellison is and they will probably say, “He’s the writer of Invisible Man.” And, sadly, that’s it. The long but fantastically produced documentary illuminates the polyglot who is Ralph Ellison.

Around the Interwebs

Here are a few links I found that I thought you’d like.