Quest Courses – Fall 2023 / 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.

Other Classes:

• THEATER TALKBACK
• FOOD: BEYOND JUST CALORIES
• ELIZABETH GASKELL
• WEEK IN PARIS
• CREATIVE WORKSHOP
• EMILY DICKINSON CIRCLE
• SYMPOSIUM
• RUSSIAN GEOGRAPHY
• CONTEMPORARY BRITISH CULTURE
• AUSTRALIA – THE LAND DOWN UNDER
• HUCKLEBERRY FINN
• AGING
• FASCINATING ISLANDS
• BLACK WOMEN’S VOICES
• THE NOBEL PRIZES
• READING EDITH WHARTON
• WOMEN IN GREEK DRAMA
• THE NEAR EAST
• HISTORY OF GERMANY
• A PASSAGE TO INDIA
• INDIE FILMS
• 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
• READING BLACK LIVES
• BORDERS AND BOUNDARIES
• MOZART’S WOMEN
• ANTISEMITISM: PAST, PRESENT, FACTS, MYTHS
• AFRICAN CONTINENT
• PRESENTER’S SHOWCASE
• INVENTIONS THAT CHANGED THE WORLD
• ACTING CLASS
• LAW & ORDER
• POINT OF VIEW
• MODERN OPERA
• MOVERS & SHAKERS
• SOCRATES AND THE PROBLEM OF PHILOSOPHY
• GREAT CONVERSATIONS
• ORAL INTERPRETATION OF POETRY

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