Invisible Man
American novelist, 1914–1994. Won the National Book Award for Fiction in 1953.
Invisible Man is a 1952 novel by Ralph Ellison. It won the National Book Award for Fiction in 1953.
On 6 of the 17 lists it was eligible for.
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At a glance
- Author
- Ralph Ellison
- First published
- 1952
- Length
- 608 pages (UK paperback)
- Awards
- National Book Award for Fiction winner, 1953
- Genre
- Literary fiction, Black American, Political
Is Invisible Man worth reading?
6 of the 17 best-of lists it could have made include it, among them the National Book Award for Fiction and 100 Best Novels (board's list) (Modern Library).
| List | Place | Original |
|---|---|---|
| 100 Best Novels (board's list) (Modern Library, 1998) | No. 19 | See the list |
| All-Time 100 Novels (Time, 2005) | Listed | See the list |
| Bokklubben World Library (Norwegian Book Clubs, 2002) | Listed | See the list |
| National Book Award for Fiction (winners and finalists) (National Book Foundation, 1953) | Winner | See the list |
| The 100 best novels of all time (The Guardian, 2026) | No. 37 | See the list |
| The Great American Read (PBS, 2018) | Listed | See the list |
Best edition of Invisible Man
The edition we link to is the Penguin Classics paperback (2001), 608 pages.
- Publisher
- Penguin Classics (paperback, 2001)
- Pages
- 608
- ISBN
- 9780141184425
How critics, prizes and readers rate Invisible Man
Prize juries rate it most highly: it earned 50% of the points available on prize lists, against 42% on critics' lists and 15% on readers' and booksellers' lists.
Share of the available points it earned on each kind of list it was eligible for. How the scores work
Books like Invisible Man
If you liked Invisible Man, try Nineteen Eighty-Four, To Kill a Mockingbird or Ulysses.
