Ralph Ellison

The postwar moment of a distinctive new American novel—Nabokov’s "Lolita"— is also the moment in which William Faulkner finally gained recognition.

The novelist's aestheticizing impulse contrasts with the relentless seriousness of his observations and critiques of American society.

How Ralph Ellison got Invisible Man into the canon.

Reflections on Richard Wright’s recently published novel, "The Man Who Lived Underground."

John Berryman's Dream Songs made explicit the racialization of American poetry's turn—and the whiteness of lyric tradition.

What is the role of artists in a crisis?

The pandemic is stress-testing two concepts Americans have historically gotten wrong.

Under the Trump administration's book police, Jackie Robinson’s life and actions are considered dangerous memories.

In contemporary publishing, novels fixated on the past rather than the present have garnered the most attention and prestige.

On Audrey Clare Farley’s “Girls and Their Monsters.”

Emancipation Days symbolized America’s attempt to free the enslaved across the nation. But those days were unable to prevent new forms of economic slavery.

Rejecting the resignation of the 1970s and ’80s, Robinson found in the disinvested ruins of the city a new egalitarian form of politics.

Amidst growing suspicion that equality talk is cheap, a new book explains where egalitarianism went wrong—and what it still has to offer.

Despite its universalist claims, the field is reckoning with a long legacy of racial exclusion.

How the commission that led to the creation of the U.S.’s public television and radio systems can serve as a model for countering disinformation today.

What the history of a gesture can tell us about Black creative power.

Late 1960s conflicts within the armed forces produced efforts to educate service members on racism.

Government support created jobs, built trust, and invigorated American literature. We should try it again.

How African Americans came to Indian Territory after the Civil War.

A newly restored novel tests an old dynamic between readers and the author of “Native Son.”