Ralph Ellison

"The blues is an art of ambiguity, an assertion of the irrepressibly human over all circumstance whether created by others or by one's own human failings. They are the only consistent art in the United States which constantly remind us of our limitations while encouraging us to see how far we can actually go. When understood in their more profound implication, they are a corrective, an attempt to draw a line upon man's own limitless assertion."

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Source: Ralph Ellison (2011). “Shadow and Act”, p.245, Vintage

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Ralph Ellison

Ralph Ellison

Novelist, Essayist

Ralph Ellison was an American novelist and essayist, best known for his groundbreaking work 'Invisible Man,' which explores themes of identity and race.

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Ralph Ellison Novelist, Essayist

"If you can show me how I can cling to that which is real to me, while teaching me a way into the larger society, then and only then will I drop my defenses and hostility, and I will sing your praises and help you to make the desert bear fruit."

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