Courses – Fall 2025 / Old Courses / INVISIBLE MAN BY RALPH ELLISON
Coordinators: Lynnel Garabedian, Sandy Kessler,
This semester we will consider Ralph Ellison’s novel “The Invisible Man” (1952), which deals with the problems of race relations and Black identity in the United States.
The unnamed African-American protagonist of the book is “invisible” because people tend to view him in terms of their own stereotypes rather than who he really is. Some critics consider it a masterpiece, while others fault it for focusing more on the psychology of the protagonist than on the evils of American racism.
We will consider this, and other controversies related to the book as we read and discuss it together.
A WEEK / MONDAY / 10:30 AM – 12:00 NOON
Other Classes:
- GREAT EXPECTATIONS
- CRIME AND PUNISHMENT
- WOMEN LEADERS
- THE TWILIGHT ZONE
- OLD TESTAMENT AS LITERATURE AND IN THE ARTS
- HEALTH AND MEDICINE
- POWER: THE GLORY OF IT
- JAZZ: YESTERDAY AND TODAY
- IT CAN’T HAPPEN HERE, CAN IT?
- FLAWED GREATNESS OF THOMAS JEFFERSON
- PORTRAIT OF A LADY
- STAR-CROSSED LOVERS
- ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE: A BRAVE NEW WORLD?
- WOMEN SPIES
- DAISY MILLER & WASHINGTON SQUARE
- BEETHOVEN: THE MIDDLE YEARS
- ALL THE KINGS MEN
- JAZZ AT NOON
- WORLD OF THEATRE
- THE SCARLET LETTER
- THE GREAT GATSBY
- TOCQUEVILLE'S DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA
- MEXICO: SOUTH OF OUR BORDER
- HISTORY OF MEDICINE
- HARLEM RENAISSANCE
- CONSTRUCTION: BEYOND BRICKS AND MORTAR
- ACTING WORKSHOP I
- THEATER TALKBACK
- BOOK CHATS
- ADVENTURES IN DINING
- SCIENCE CLUBHOUSE
- FOOD: BEYOND JUST CALORIES
- TONI MORRISON: THE LEGEND
- SIXTIES
- ELIZABETH GASKELL
- WEEK IN PARIS
- CLASSICAL MUSIC
- CREATIVE WORKSHOP
- MUSIC OF THE HEART
- EMILY DICKINSON CIRCLE
- SYMPOSIUM
- NYC AND ITS ENVIRONS: PEOPLE, PLACES, THINGS
- RUSSIAN GEOGRAPHY
- WATER
- FOLK MUSIC AND MELLOW ROCK
- CONTEMPORARY BRITISH CULTURE
- AUSTRALIA – THE LAND DOWN UNDER
- HUCKLEBERRY FINN
- AGING
- FASCINATING ISLANDS
- BLACK WOMENS VOICES
- THE NOBEL PRIZES
- READING EDITH WHARTON
- WOMEN IN GREEK DRAMA
- THE NEAR EAST
- HISTORY OF GERMANY
- A PASSAGE TO INDIA
- INDIE FILMS
- SLAVERY'S ROLE IN U.S. CAPITALISTIST DEVELOPMENT
- RISE AND FALL OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE
- READING THE RABBIS
- RACE RELATIONS IN AMERICAN POLITICAL THOUGHT
- MYTHOLOGY
- LITERARY HEROINES
- HOWARDS END
- HOUSE OF MIRTH
- FABULOUS FIFTIES
- COMEDY CENTRAL
- READING BLACK LIVES
- BORDERS AND BOUNDARIES
- MOZARTS WOMEN
- ANTISEMITISM: PAST, PRESENT, FACTS, MYTHS
- AFRICAN CONTINENT
- PRESENTERS SHOWCASE
- INVENTIONS THAT CHANGED THE WORLD
- ACTING CLASS
- FOREIGN AFFAIRS
- LAW & ORDER
- POINT OF VIEW
- MODERN OPERA
- MOVERS & SHAKERS
- SOCRATES AND THE PROBLEM OF PHILOSOPHY
- FASCINATING NONFICTION
- GREAT CONVERSATIONS
- ORAL INTERPRETATION OF POETRY
- SHAKESPEARE: CYMBELINE