Heroism and the Black Intellectual: Ralph Ellison, Politics, and Afro-American Intellectual Life / Edition 1

by Jerry Gafio Watts

Overview

Before and after writing Invisible Man, novelist and essayist Ralph Ellison fought to secure a place as a black intellectual in a white-dominated society. In this sophisticated analysis of Ellison's cultural politics, Jerry Watts examines the ways in which black artists and thinkers attempt to establish creative intellectual spaces for themselves. Using Ellison as a case study, Watts makes important observations about the role of black intellectuals in America today.

Watts argues that black intellectuals have had to navigate their way through a society that both denied them the resources, status, and encouragement available to their white peers and alienated them from the rest of their ethnic group. For Ellison to pursue meaningful intellectual activities in the face of this marginalization demanded creative heroism, a new social and artistic stance that challenges cultural stereotypes.

For example, Ellison first created an artistic space for himself by associating with Communist party literary circles, which recognized the value of his writing long before the rest of society was open to his work. In addition, to avoid prescriptive white intellectual norms, Ellison developed his own ideology, which Watts terms the 'blues aesthetic.' Watts's ambitious study reveals a side of Ellison rarely acknowledged, blending careful criticism of art with a wholesale engagement with society.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780807844779
Publisher:	The University of North Carolina Press
Publication date:	10/28/1994
Edition description:	1
Pages:	170
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.39(d)
Lexile:	1480L (what's this?)

About the Author

Jerry Gafio Watts is associate professor of American studies at Trinity College.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

A complex, probing analysis.—Library Journal

Heroism and the Black Intellectual opens promising paths for discussion of black intellectual culture.—Choice

A complex, probing analysis of black intellectual life. . . . Provides a fresh look at a complex subject. Watts not only describes Ellison as a mythmaker 'weaving fictions' around himself and others but also succeeds in beginning to unravel Ellison's web.—American Literature

Watts's book belongs on the shelves of anybody who has an interest in the sociology of culture.—Contemporary Sociology

Superb. A probing, perceptive, and refreshing treatment of a great figure so grossly misunderstood and mistreated. A whole new generation of American intellectuals is hungry for such a work.—Cornel West, Princeton University

Approaching his complex subject from the perspective of the sociology of knowledge, Watts analyzes Ellison's . . . articulation of heroic individualism, [his] ambivalence in his encounter with Richard Wright, his work on the Federal Writers' Project, and his break with the Communist Party. Watts's portrait of Ellison as an emerging intellectual . . . is fascinating.—Werner Sollors, Harvard University

Editorial Reviews

A complex, probing analysis of black intellectual life. . . . Provides a fresh look at a complex subject.

"American Literature"

A complex, probing analysis.

"Library Journal"

Superb. A probing, perceptive, and refreshing treatment of a great figure so grossly misunderstood and mistreated.

Cornel West, Princeton University

"A complex, probing analysis of black intellectual life. . . . Provides a fresh look at a complex subject.

"American Literature""

"A complex, probing analysis.

"Library Journal""

"Heroism and the Black Intellectual"opens promising paths for discussion of black intellectual culture.

"Choice"

"Superb. A probing, perceptive, and refreshing treatment of a great figure so grossly misunderstood and mistreated.

Cornel West, Princeton University"

Watts's book belongs on the shelves of anybody who has an interest in the sociology of culture.

"Contemporary Sociology"

From the Publisher

Watts (African American studies, Trinity Univ.) has expanded part of his doctoral dissertation into a complex, probing analysis of Ellison's political philosophy. He argues that the noted black author saw himself as an artist, not as a political activist. He believed that his art, by emphasizing the complexity of African American life and highlighting the positive value of overcoming suffering, would make a contribution to the overall Civil Rights movement. As Watts sums up this view: "Writers write. Fighters fight." The author sees this stance as only partially successful and perhaps insulting to victims of white racism. Because of its difficulty, this work is recommended only for academic libraries and specialists.-Anthony O. Edmonds, Ball State Univ., Muncie, Ind.

Library Journal

Focusing on his essays written after Invisible Man, explores how Ellison tried to establish himself as an American intellectual in a social climate that marginalized both blacks and creative pursuits, and forced him into the forms of a white discourse that progressively alienated him from his own people. Paper edition (unseen), $14.95. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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