P and Invisible Man

[Mark Kohut]

Yet, Ellison was reading Lord Raglan’s famous THE HERO, the day he wrote the first words of IM, I’ve just learned. 

In a sense, the low frequency [ see the last line of the novel] heroism of the preterite, maybe. 

I like Tanner seeing power, proudly stolen to illuminate like Milton’s heaven. Illuminate his underground room. 




Sent from my iPhone

> On Aug 18, 2020, at 4:38 PM, David Morris <fqmorris at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> 
> It seems the IM is proud of his rebellious theft from the Power Co. it is a stealth rebellion, so not very heroic.  More like a game.
> 
> Byron is just being Byron, living forever, despite Their wishes.
> 
> David Morris 
> 
>> On Tue, Aug 18, 2020 at 1:49 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?
>> 
>> --
>> 
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