Ralph Ellison in the USSR and Post-Soviet Russia: ‘Hidden Name and Complex Fate’

Abstract:

The chapter examines the history and politics of the reception, translations, publishing and teaching of Ralph Ellison’s works in the USSR and post-Soviet Russia. It considers Ellison’s paradoxical status of an ‘invisible classic’ – almost unknown to the common Russian reader (due to the fact that Invisible Man still remains untranslated into Russian), but very well-known to the Russian scholars specializing in American literature. Tracing the complex dynamic of Ellison’s image and reputation in the USSR /Russia since 1960s, when his novel was for the first time mentioned by Soviet literary critics, through the late Soviet decades and up to the present day, the chapter uses a variety of materials, including periodicals, archived documents, correspondence and memories.