The Function of the Novel in American Democracy

[Urbana-Champaign]: [University of Illinois], 1967. Fine.. Original poster advertising Ellison's University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign lecture on the history and development of the novel. In this lecture, Ellison focuses on 19th-century developments in the American novel, examining individual works' commentaries on the American condition – among them THE BOSTONIANS by Henry James, RED BADGE OF COURAGE by Stephen Crane, and HUCKLEBERRY FINN by Mark Twain. The subject of this lecture further speaks to Ellison's intentions for his own famous novel: in his 1953 acceptance speech for the National Book Award, Ellison said that the "chief significance" of INVISIBLE MAN was "its experimental attitude and its attempt to return to the mood of personal moral responsibility for democracy." Together, these two speeches show how Ellison tied his own work with earlier canonized ones, thus offering a subtle bid for canonization himself. First delivered in March of 1967, this lecture was ultimately published in his essay collection GOING TO THE TERRITORY. 22'' x 14''. Single printed broadsheet on tan posterboard with large image of a typewriter below three lines of text. (Inventory #: 1272)