In this class, we will do close-reading and critical analysis of Invisible Man. We will focus on the central themes, symbols, and metaphors of the novel. We will analyze the novel as Bildungsroman and as cultural archaeology. At the end of the class we will have a fuller understanding of and appreciation for Ellison's unique contribution to American literary modernism, the ways in which Invisible Man changed the standards for the American novel, and why Invisible Man remains a seminal text within the African American/American literary traditions.
Instructor: Dr. Brenda R. Smith retired from her position as Associate Professor, English, at Kent State University, Stark County Campus, in 2019. During her tenure at Kent State Stark, she taught American, African American, and modernist literatures, women’s literature, and freshman composition. Dr. Smith earned both her B.A. in English and her Ph.D. in American and African American literatures from Case Western Reserve University. She earned her M.A. in American literature from Cleveland State University. Her doctoral dissertation, The Construction of BiCultural Subjectivity in African American Migrant Autobiography, which earned her Case Western Reserve University’s distinguished Neil McIntyre Memorial Essay Award and Kent State University’s Regional Campus Professional Development Award, explored the relationship between African Americans’ involuntary immigration to and voluntary migration within the United States and their formation of American subjectivity. Her current research interests include the study of immigrant/migrant autobiography and the construction of American subjectivity, and the evolution of the Bildungsroman (coming-of-age) literary form in African American women’s writing.
Details: Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man takes place Saturdays April 3, 10, 17 & 24 from 1:00-3:00pm remotely through Zoom.
