Shadow and Act by Ralph Ellison

Shadow and Act Reviews

• 
  B. P. Rinehart

  Ellison's first collection of essays are nothing short of genius. This book really shows and gives a good look at the mind and ideas of the man who created the masterpiece Invisible Man.
  
  This book was what I used to diversify my literary taste. I would not have discovered the likes of Twain, Joyce, Stephen Crane (who's
  The Red Badge of Courage I need to remember to review, a very good story), Will Faulkner, Herman Melville, and others. He also gives a very thorough account of
  Richard Wright and his work, who had mentored him and James Baldwin personally, when he came to New York. Incidentally this book caused me to stop reading Native Son in favor of
  Black Boy, which I will get to some day. It also chronicled a very good debate between him and
  Irving Howe, among many other things.
  
  This book (and more importantly this author) is what I have to thank for shaping me up to be a serious reader and examiner of not just literature but culture and art overall.
• 
  Colin

  An AMAZING collection of essays that articulates Ellison's dilemma for a negotiations of a sort of jazz-writing which: dances between his places as an Afro-American writer, with all the inherent social-political connotation towards which the burden of representation is placed ; also as a modernist (by way of Eliot), who creates a detached aesthetic from which an universal work can be created. I find these essays to be the perfect example of the tension between the political/poetic that is often faced by many writers of color.
• 
  Courtney Ferriter

  ** 4 stars **
  
  This classic essay collection by Ralph Ellison is divided into three parts. The first part was 100% a 5-star read for me. Just pearls of wisdom in every essay, really. The second part is focused on music and musicians. It was fine, but I didn't get nearly as much out of it as the essays in Part I, so it was more like a 3-star read. The third section of the volume has some miscellaneous pieces, including two unpublished essays. This last section was in the middle for me, so around 4 stars. Thus, if I average all of those together, I arrive at the final rating of 4 stars for the collection as a whole. I highly encourage you to read it just for the essays in Part I, though. So many wonderful insights about democracy in the US and African American experience and art.
  
  Here are just a few of those insights:
  "[African Americans] have the obligation of freeing themselves--whoever their allies might be--by depending upon the validity of their own experience for an accurate picture of the reality which they would seek to change, and for a gauge of the values they would see made manifest." - from "The World and the Jug""
  
  "When American life is most American, it is apt to be most theatrical." - from "Change the Joke and Slip the Yoke"
  
  "And isn't one of the implicit functions of the American frontier to encourage the individual to a kind of dreamy wakefulness, a state in which he makes-in all ignorance of the accepted limitations of the possible-rash efforts, quixotic gestures, hopeful testings of the complexity of the known and the given?" - from the introduction
• 
  Julio Pino

  This sterling collection of essays and interviews reveal the man behind INVISIBLE MAN; the novel critic Alfred Kazin called "the greatest literary voyage through an existential wilderness" produced after World War II. (Ellison's own modest judgment: "I doubt that it will last.) We gain some insights into the composition of that masterpiece that are startling: "The character of Ras {the Black Nationalist} is not based on Marcus Garvey. I wrote that chapter after my wife and I were addressed in a most condescending manner by a white couple at a hotel we were staying at." Ellison also conjures up the ghost of the man who taught him the most about writing, Richard Wright: "You must sketch your characters as Dostoevsky did, Wright would tell me". Along the way are Ralph's meditations on jazz, "the only musical art form native to America and invented by the Negroes", along with not-so-nice swipes at more radical Black writers such as Leroi Jones: "BLUES PEOPLE might work if Jones knew how to impose some sort of structure on his essays in music." More jarring is his support for President Lyndon Johnson during the early days of the Viet Nam War, "out of gratitude for his civil rights legislation." A terrific way to spend an evening or two communicating with a great mind.
• 
  Ben Siems

  I read several of the essays in this collection for a college course some years ago, but recently decided to embark on the journey of reading the book cover to cover. Most know Ralph Ellison as the author of Invisible Man, that influential masterpiece of mid-twentieth century American fiction (a review of which can be found among my books). Like Harper Lee, Ellison never produced a second novel, though unlike Lee, he spent more than forty years attempting to do so. Few know of Ellison's other writings, however, representing his work as a literary and social critic, and an essayist on a diversity of topics surrounding the role of race in U.S. culture.
  
  This collection of Ellison's writings spanning a historical era from World War II to the Vietnam War offers a fascinating journey through the mind of a remarkably curious, well-read, diversely skilled, and thoughtful man — in my mind, one of the great thinkers of the 20th century. I do not always agree with his theses (nor, it may fairly be said, does he; in the span of twenty years one's views will inevitably change), but I never cease to find in his arguments food for thought of the most nourishing sort. 'Aha moments' may be found here in abundance. Through the course of it all, what emerges is an oblique but three-dimensional portrait of a pivotal period of U.S. history, and one man's determined, courageous, and at times humorous journey through it. I recommend it highly to anyone who longs to see below the surface of American, and human, life.
  
  Of particular interest are the many references made in this book to Richard Wright. Generally regarded as two of the first three African American writers to produce world-class novels (the third being James Baldwin), Richard Wright and Ralph Ellison would spend their lives being mentioned together and publicly compared. Shadow and Act provides tremendous insight into the (at times strained) friendship and rivalry of these two great artists. I am struck by a deep irony regarding their art and their lives. In Native Son (also to be found among my books), Wright writes in a brutally naturalistic style, indicative of his deep belief that people are very much a product of their environment. Indeed, he often said that he did not create Bigger Thomas; white American society did. In contrast, Ellison believed fervently in every human being's innate ability to rise above even the most horrifically oppressive circumstances and become whatever he or she wishes to be. Invisible Man was, above all, an expression of that belief.
  
  Here, then, is the irony: Wright lived a life that was dramatically different from any one might have anticipated based on the circumstances of his childhood. He rebelled fiercely against his own background throughout his entire life, and was living proof of how much power an individual has to define himself or herself. Meanwhile, the course of Ellison's life was very much in line with his experience of the world as a child, even down to his middle name, Waldo, which was given to him by his father in the hope that Ralph would grow up to be a writer.
  
  It seems as though this irony was never fully appreciated by either man. Self-awareness truly is elusive, even for geniuses.
• 
  Cara Byrne

  This collection of critical reviews, interviews, transcripts of speeches, and essays captures Ellison's poetic voice and musical background just as well as that found in his fiction. Organized in 3 sections by theme ("The Seer and the Seen," "Sound and the Mainstream," and "The Shadow and the Act"), Ellison is consistent in his opinions about art, life, and the complex identity of the "Negro American." The most interesting essays for me include "The Way It Is," "Hidden Name and Complex Fate," "The World and the Jug," and "Twentieth-Century Fiction and the Black Mask of Humanity." In 1958, Ellison wrote: “I would like to see a qualified Negro as President of the United States. But I suspect that even if this were today possible, the necessities of the office would shape his actions far more than his racial identity” (272). Fifty years later, Obama became president and it would be interesting to think about his presidency through this quotation. I can't help but notice, too, that even in 1958, Ellison could only imagine a male Black president, which captures some of the frustration held by Black feminist/womanist writers. Other key quotes:
  
  “The act of writing requires a constant plunging back into the shadow of the past where time hovers ghostlike” (xix).
  
  “It is not skin color which makes a Negro American but cultural heritage as shaped by the American experience, the social and political predicament; a sharing of that ‘concord of sensibilities’ which the group expresses through historical circumstance and through which it has come to constitute a subdivision which the group expresses through historical circumstance and through which it has come to constitute a subdivision of the larger American culture. Being a Negro American has to do with the memory of slavery and the hope of emancipaton and the betrayal by allies and the revenge and contempt inflicted by our former masters after the Reconstruction, and the myths, both Northern and Southern, which are propagated in justification of that betrayal” (131).
  
  “Archetypes are timeless, novels are time-haunted. Novels achieve timelessness through time. If the symbols appearing in a novel link up with those of universal myth they do so by virtue of their emergence from the specific texture of a specific form of social reality” (57).
  
  
• 
  Shaimaa Suleiman

  One of the greatest books I have ever read. Ellison's critical prowess amounts to that of Ezra Pound and T.S. Eliot.
  
  
  UPDATE: Eliot is in the air.
  
  Turns out the title is an allusion to "The Hollow Men". I read this poem long before reading the book but only recognized the the unmistakable link today with a second reading.
  
  "Between the motion
  And the act
  Falls the Shadow" -- T.S. Eliot.
• 
  Nancy

  This book is not worth the hours I need to read 838 pages.
  Mr. Ellison wrote a wonderful novel Invisible Man and based on that book
  I attempted to read his essays.
  Weak point: My main problem with Mr. Ellison’s essays
  is the flowery baroque writing style.
  Some people mistake flowery baroque writing for good writing.
  Unfortunately....I do not.
  I would rather read a well organized essay...that actually makes a point.
  Mr. Ellison rambles on and on....
  I read 40% of the book.
  Life is too short and I have many other books to read.
• 
  Jonathan Blanks

  Every once in awhile you come across a book you've never heard of by a writer you admire. Sometimes it's a great find, other times you realize there may have been a reason why you'd never heard of the book. Shadow and Act is a gem of the former variety. It is a wondeful collection of essays on culture, music, and history.
  
  Too many of today's critics scrimp on insight and indulge in invective. Yes, we all like a good takedown of a bad book or argument, but critics should provide more context and knowledge than simply showing off their own vocabulary to skewer someone for the sake of spectacle. Ellison's deep knowledge of music and the dynamics at play in American society made me understand so much about our country in the early to mid-twentieth century. But he was also unsparing in his judgment, even of writers whom he most admires. The failure of Ernest Hemingway to deal with the nation's most important cultural conflict--race--becomes a broader indictment of almost all (white) American literature of the period.
  
  For writers he did not particularly admire or respect, Ellison's words were withering. His review of LeRoi Jones's Blues People is so vicious one may wonder whether it played a role in Jones's decision to change his name.
  
  The book also reveals some interesting autobiographical elements present in Invisible Man, which I would suggest you read before Shadow and Act.
• 
  Jake Berlin

  the middle section, about music, and primarily jazz, is wonderful, and absolutely worth reading. and ellison is unquestionably a top-notch wordsmith, and a deep thinker. but more than half of the chapters feel like the same ideas recycled over and over, and while they're certainly important -- as statements about race and america, and for when they were written -- after the first few it becomes a bit tiresome.
• 
  Jamall Andrew

  Excellent. Just excellent. I am both highly critical and extremely grateful of this collection of essays. I'm so glad I read this. Just excellent.
• 
  andré crombie

  “…in the United States the Negro and his status have always stood for…moral concern. He symbolizes among other things the human and social possibility of equality. This is the moral question raised in our two great nineteenth-century novels, Moby-Dick and Huckleberry Finn. The very center of Twain’s book revolves finally around the boy’s relations with Nigger Jim and the question of what Huck should do about getting Jim free after the two scoundrels have sold him. There is a magic here worth conjuring, and that reaches to the very nerve of the American consciousness…. Looking at the novelist as manipulator and depictor of moral problems, I ask myself how much of the achievement of democratic ideals in the United States has been affected by the steady pressure of Negroes and those whites who were sensitive to the implications of our condition, and I know that without that pressure the position of our country before the world would be much more serious even than it is now…since the nineteenth century American literature has avoided profound moral searching. It was too painful, and besides, there were specific problems of language and form to which the writers could address themselves. They did wonderful things, but perhaps they left the real problems untouched.”
  
  Notes: One of the great collections of nonfiction in American letters. Great on identity, jazz (its origins, the Oklahoma City scene, as dance music), Twain (my god, he is good on Twain), American language (especially the importance of idiom, and specifically black idiom), food (it isn’t in this book but his letters where he rages about being unable to find pigs’ feet in Rome, but I think Ellison is wonderful on food always), and integration; indeed, I can think of no other writer or thinker who so thoroughly imagines, articulates, and celebrates (in all of its complexities) what integration would actually entail, an important and overlooked contribution to the Freedom Movement.
• 
  Madeline

  Shadow and Act is dozens of essays from all prompts and sources— random in certain essays’ specificity but cohesive in clear logic and clear principles. I was struck by sections of great wisdom and great writing in essays of all different topics, from Huckleberry Finn to multiple pieces on different blues artists to visit arguments with Irving Howe via published back-and-forths. I learned about the specific topics and about philosophical truths (if that’s what you’d call deep, big thoughts that connect to the marrow of the wider human experience). It reminds me of Roxane Gay’s Bad Feminist, which began my long love affair with Gay—this will start my love affair with Ellison. And he’s an Oklahoman! Our very best.
  because it’s from the 1940s-60s, it was a little hard to read— just dense, and I was slow because I’m not used to it. I liked some esses more than others. “Change the Joke and Slip the Yoke” stands out in my memory, partially because I’ve gotten that far working back through my notes in the margins. There’s so many good essays and parts of essays throughout.
  Next up: Invisible Man!
• 
  Prooost Davis

  One of the pleasures of reading is the possibility of encountering great minds. The essays in Shadow and Act reveal Ralph Ellison as a scholar whose knowledge was both broad and deep. He wrote, of course, one of the great novels of the Twentieth Century, Invisible Man, but he was unable to finish a second novel, which has been published only in part. Two essay collections, this one and Going to the Territory, are pretty much all we have.
  
  As an artist, he considered his main influences to be Mark Twain, Stephen Crane, and Ernest Hemingway. He also admired William Faulkner. In his youth, he aspired to be a musician, playing trumpet. But, as time passed, he found the act of writing to be compelling, and dropped his musical ambitions.
  
  His essays here include several on jazz, but mostly they are discussions of other aspects of American life and culture, race relations, and the often unrecognized contributions of Negroes in the making of American culture.
• 
  Samantha Shain

  I read this as part of a larger collected edition of Ellison's essays. I tremendously appreciated his candor and his nuance - I can only imagine that it was just as difficult then as it is now to complicate the reductive mainstream ideas about race and American culture. I found the book uneven in quality. Some essays, like "Living with Music" were instant favorites. Others felt dull or repetitive - perhaps they would have been more exciting if first encountered in a periodical, however when put in dialogue with other essays making a similar point, some of the magic was lost. The book was loosely organized into three sections: one on literacy criticism, one on jazz, and the third on cultural criticism. In general, I recommend for anyone interested in reading not the "same old, same old" about race and anyone who enjoys a scholarly voice.
• 
  1.1

  A solid collection of essays about art, culture, race, and society. Some pieces are definitely more must-read than others, but all taken together help one form a better picture of Ellison. There's autobiographical flourishes and insights I doubt would be as accessible in another book. For instance, I got the sense that he didn't love his first name, despite its namesake. There's also discussion of how jazz was commercialized (o, cycles of time!) and a plethora of other issues, writers, times, places, Hi-Fi sets and radios, even how it was in Oklahoma before the destruction of Black Wall Street.
• 
  Brandon

  A collection of essays from Ralph Ellison. Unless you're into pre-50's music, particularly Jazz, Blues, etc, you can skip the middle section. The bookends, which in fact comprise most of the pages here, are generally solid. The first section, 'The Seer and The Seen', is a stretch of writing that all this time later still lands punch after punch. Ellison has an eye and pen for sharp examination and criticism of American cultural artifacts and the American culture from which they permeated.
  
  For a class reading, 3 stars is mighty fine.
• 
  Ellis

  I love Ellison's written thoughts.
• 
  Wilson Hawk

  Like a lot of collections of criticism from this period, it's all very interesting and cogent until he starts talking about jazz.
• 
  CyLarge

  This collection of Ellison essays is perfect for anyone wanting to take a closer peak to the inner workings of the genius' mind, the one responsible for Invisible Man. His ability to combine his incisive intellect with poetic imagery, masterful comprehension of American history with political exigency is breathtaking. The only reason I give this 4 stars instead of 5 is because many of the essays are academic/literary critiques of other writers; and so, it's pretty easy to get lost in the reading if you don't actually search for the referenced writings. Also I had to skip over certain parts about William Faulkner's literature, because I plan on reading much, much more of his work. (I'm stoked that Ellison was fond of his work too!) But that shouldn't be a deterrent in not trying to soak up every word in this book. His (very long) review/critique of the landmark sociological text An American Dilemma by Swede economist Gunnar Myrdal is quite possibly the best read on race and racism in this collection. Recommended.
• 
  Angie

  Major Field Prep: 56/133
  The title essay in this collection of Ellison's interviews, critical debates, book reviews, and essays, concerns the cinematic manifestation of Negro stereotypes from A Birth of a Nation through early 20th century films. He writes, “In the beginning was not the shadow, but the act, and the province of Hollywood is not action, but illusion.” This sentiment, although places near the very end of the collection, represents his approach to topics of race, art, and critical thought in America more generally. While he takes as his subject matter specific texts and artists he is more concerned with the grand narrative and mythology of race in America as expressed through these "illusions" or texts. Recurring concerns and themes include the relationship of protest and art, particularly regarding his position on Richard Wright's writing and his very own novel Invisible Man; the place of jazz and blues in American and African American customs and culture; the union of American and African American culture (despite many critics and essayists attempt to declare their full autonomy); and the use of his own autobiography to argue for the plurality of Negro experience in America.
• 
  Drew

  Fairly evenly split between literature and music, Ralph Ellison's knockout collection of essays had me re-evaluating my views on Faulkner and Twain while also providing introductions to Jimmy Rushing, and the Lafargue Clinic. Though originally published in 1953, his clearheaded examinations of black identity is as elucidating as ever and his adamant eschewal of oversimplification, a reminder of how often we shrink from the rich complexity of things.
• 
  Anthony D'Juan Shelton

  2002 was perhaps the year that I did most of my Ellison reading. "Shadow and Act" -- a collection of Ellison's essays on race, jazz, social relevance, and writing -- gave me the insight to one of the greatest essayist next to Virginia Woolf and Mark Twain.
• 
  Maciek

  An insight into the mind of the author of Invisible Man. Ellison is, as always, fascinating. Recommended for anyone who would like to learn more about the man himself, and his opinions about fiction, music and life.
• 
  Walter

  Stimulating collection of essays from the mind who brought us
  Invisible Man.
• 
  Michael Stuart

  The wisdom of Ralph Ellison. 'Nuff said.