While Ralph Ellison is perhaps best known for his novel Invisible Man, he was also a significant twentieth-century intellectual, having authored numerous essays and papers that shaped thought on subjects from jazz to liberalism. Ralph Ellison: The Next Fifty Years gathers outstanding scholars in the fields of American and African American studies to engage Ellison s theoretical and critical writings.

Several essays in this collection focus on an area of Ellison s thinking that has yet to be adequately scrutinized his study of, and writing about, music, specifically jazz...