P and Invisible Man

[Mark Kohut]

Not as precocious as you, I read *Invisible Man* at college age (but not
for a course). I, too, remember that brightly, so to shine, and
other scenes....He reached mythic levels of meaningful scenes....he had
trouble with 'transitions' in his fiction he wrote....

I saw a room more lit up---I mean 13, 000---than at any amusement park, all
with bright white.......

I will bet it did helpp Pynchon conceive of Byron the Bulb.......endless
power

On Tue, Aug 18, 2020 at 3:21 PM beverly fairchild <bwfair73 at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Ellison's book... I read it decades ago, as a high school student.  That
> this analysis cites the lightbulbs is so compelling for me, as this is one
> of the images that seared itself on my mind, even at that young age.  (I
> measure the power of books I have read by the strength of the images that
> imprint on my brain and last, forever.)  Thanks for resurrecting this one.
>
> On Tue, Aug 18, 2020 at 2:49 PM Mark Kohut <mark.kohut at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Plist fave reader-critic Tony Tanner has a
>>  terrific long essay on Ellison's *Invisible Man*, which I
>> am rereading for a course I am teaching on Roth (*The Human Stain* which
>> is indebted to IM).
>>
>> In Tanner's what might I call the sometimes metaphysical reach of his
>> criticism, he observes this.
>> You may recall the elaborate light arrangement for his room , 13 thousand
>> some bulbs run off a stolen line from the power
>> company that the invisible man has set up proudly and elaborates on.
>>
>> He, Tanner, finds the deep genius of this scene and metaphor to be to
>> show the power connection that even an
>> invisible man needs to exist in the US. Power, energy from the system,
>> the grid (but he doesn't use that term) and
>>
>> it made me think of Byron in GR. Anyone, anyone?
>>
>