Review by Choice Review
Germana (West Virginia Univ.) applies the postmodern theory of temporality to the whole of Ralph Ellison's work, including his unfinished second novel, Three Days before the Shooting (2010). Germana's approach to the philosophy of history derives from a synthesis of writings by Bergson, Nietzsche, and Deleuze--works that, among other interpretations, view history as no longer merely linear. History is also peristrephic (i.e., revolving) and rhopographic (depicting the mundane). In the Einsteinian universe, time, space, sight, sound, and nature are open-ended and constantly changing. The title character of Invisible Man, then, is a characterization of becoming. This study of Ellison's use of music, art, cinema, narrative, and photography may render previous critiques of his work incomplete, but not without value. Linear interpretations of time remain true in Ellison's writing, just as Einstein does not replace Newton. Germana provides valuable insights into Ellison's Three Days, both its connections to and departures from earlier works. As a temporal technologist, Ellison understood the malleability of time, but he was also a master of tradition. This volume joins Germana's Standards of Value: Money, Race, and Literature in America (CH, Feb'10, 47-3018), which compares the subjective value of money to the nature of race. Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty. --Loretta L. Johnson, Lewis & Clark College
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Choice Review
