The Collected Essays of Ralph Ellison

By: Ralph Ellison, John F. Callahan - editor, Saul Bellow - preface

Narrated by: Dominic Hoffman, Arthur Morey

Length: 33 hrs and 52 mins

Publisher's Summary

Compiled, edited, and newly revised by Ralph Ellison's literary executor, John F. Callahan, this classic collection includes posthumously discovered reviews, criticism, and interviews, as well as the essay collections Shadow and Act (1964), hailed by Robert Penn Warren as "a body of cogent and subtle commentary on the questions that focus on race," and Going to the Territory (1986), an exploration of literature and folklore, jazz and culture, and the nature and quality of lives that Black Americans lead. "Ralph Ellison", wrote Stanley Crouch, "reached across race, religion, class and sex to make us all Americans." 

©2011 Ralph Ellison and John F. Callahan (P)2018 Random House Audio

Critic Reviews

"[Ellison's] essays never fail to be elegantly written, beautifully composed, and intellectually sophisticated." (Los Angeles Times)

Too highbrow, dry and sadly boring

I wanted to hear a sample of Ralph Ellison's work before buying this however all the samples are of the introduction and not representative. This is pretty highbrow and dry for me unfortunately. I wanted to hear his writing on Jazz mainly and there are 3 or 4 essays on the subject however most is on the role of African Americans in 20th Century. His essays range from deeply descriptive and poetic and dry academic analysis, but too little of the former. And I am left with little idea of his point.

It is mainly dry essay and I lasted about 10h in before pulling the plug. There maybe some hidden gems but they are well hidden. Only to be used for as reference for a degree in African American History