Xander ,'Lessons'
There's more to life than watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer! No. Really, there is! Honestly! Here's a place for Buffistas to come and discuss what it is they're reading, their favorite authors and poets. "Geez. Crack a book sometime."
Sophia, Invisible Man is really distinct. I had read both Native Son and Black Boy and had zero interest in teaching them. I had approached IM very cautiously because I thought it would be another book of a type.
But damn! It was so amazing -- I think the search for individual identity in the face of societal (of all races) expectations is a challenge and a great story to tell.
I loved it so much.
I loved Invisible Man too, Kat. I wrote a paper on it in college.
There's a ton there to address so it must be a fun book to write ABOUT. It was extremely fun to teach. And I hadn't realized that the Battle Royale scene was actually written to be an intentional stand alone if necessary.
I've been delving into the Paris Review's interviews. The Ralph Ellison one [link] is excellent.
Invisible Man was one of the formative books of my childhood. I think probably I wasn't actually supposed to read it yet, but once I realized that nobody stopped kids from going to the adult book shelves in the library, it was all a lost cause from that point on.
Hmmm.... my formative books were Shakespeare's comedies, though I didn't get 80% of it read in 5th grade. Followed quickly by John Jakes books. Then when I hit high school it was the Brontes. Then there was a Leon Uris phase. I think Handmaid's Tale and Margaret Atwood came next.
Then the next really big memorable book was The Magus. Then a whole mess of nonfiction (Francis Fukuyama). Then Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Mario Vargas Llosa.
I didn't read TKAM until a few years ago. And I wish I had read IM in high school. But no. I had the Scarlet Letter and Huck Finn (ptooey) shoved down my throat.
I went on a short-story kick recently and just posted my reviews of Fragile Things, Smoke and Mirrors, and Machine of Death (two Gaiman collections and an awesome anthology that everyone should read).
I have read "Invisible Man' but not since I was seventeen...we were assigned it senior year. I imagine reading it would be different now that i have my own power plant. Back then, I was all "Got to, man. This America."
I want to read Machine of Death - sad I missed the Amazon outing.
Kat - Invisible Man is always on my list of favorite reads.
It disturbs me to realize how long it took me to realize that the Invisible Man you're talking about isn't about a guy who turns himself invisible and embarks on a life of evildoing.
I think that is "The Invisible Man" Right?