These13 storiesby the author ofTheInvisible Man"approach the elegance ofChekhov" (Washington Post) and provide "early explorations of (Ellison's) lifelong fascination with the 'complex fate' & 'beautiful absurdity' ofAmericanidentity" (John Callahan). First serial to The New Yorker. NPR sponsorship.°°°Ralph Ellison (1914–1994)was born inOklahoma& trained as a musician at Tuskegee Institute from1933to1936, at which time a visit toNew York& a meeting withRichard Wrightled to his first attempts atfiction, & eventually winning theNational Book AwardforInvisible Man. Appointed to theAcademy of American Arts & Lettersin1964,Ellisontaught at several institutions, including Bard College, the University of Chicago, & New York University, where he wasAlbert Schweitzer Professor of Humanities.