Congratulations to UWaterloo English’s newest PhD, Dr. Samuel Rowland! On September 22nd, successfully defended his dissertation, “Sounds of the Land of Promise: Listening to Ralph Ellison’s Metaphors of Memory in Invisible Man” The supervisor was Dr. Kevin McGuik with committee members Dr. Ken Hirschkop (UWaterloo English) and Dr. Victoria Lamont (UWaterloo English). The internal/external was Dr. Andrew Hunt, and the external was Dr. Thomas Carmichael, University of Western Ontario.
Abstract
This
project
studies
Ralph
Ellison’s
incorporation
of
sonic
memory,
soundscapes
(sonic
environments),
and
music
into
his
novel
Invisible
Man
(1952).
The
central
focus
of
this
dissertation
is
the
influence
of
the
sonic
on
Ellison’s
work,
beyond
his
interest
in
jazz.
This
project
argues
that
Ellison’s
work
incorporates
his
memories
of
sound
and
music
as
well
as
the
sonic
imagery
and
philosophies
of
the
sonic
he
draws
from
his
literary
influences,
namely
T.S.
Eliot,
James
Joyce,
and
Fyodor
Dostoevsky.
I
approach
Invisible
Man
as
a
semi-autobiographical
text,
which
I
argue
transfigures
Ellison’s
own
sonic
experiences
into
fiction.
I
draw
on
Ellison’s
essays,
interviews,
and
letters,
as
well
as
the
two
major
biographies
on
Ellison,
Lawrence
Jackson’s
Ralph
Ellison:
Emergence
of
Genius
(2002)
and
Arnold
Rampersad’s
Ralph
Ellison:
A
Biography
(2007),
in
order
to
contextualize
the
sonic
elements
and
metaphors
of
memory
that
Ellison
integrates
into
the
soundscapes
of
Invisible
Man.
This
project
argues
that
Ellison
is
an
“earwitness”
who
draws
on
the
sonic
in
his
work
in
order
to
emphasize
the
significance
of
listening
as
well
as
draw
attention
to
overlooked
African-American
soundscapes.
Carolyn
Birdsall
elaborates
on
the
term
“earwitness”
as
follows:
“In
1977,
Raymond
Murray
Schafer
defined
the
earwitness
as
an
author
who
lived
in
the
historical
past,
and
who
can
be
trusted
‘when
writing
about
sounds
directly
experienced
and
intimately
known’
(1994
[1977],
p.
6).
Schafer’s
understanding
of
the
earwitness
endorses
the
authority
of
literary
texts
for
conveying
an
authentic
experience
of
historical
sounds”
(169).
Essentially,
Ellison
and
his
novel’s
narrator
are
concerned
with
both
the
intimacy
of
listening
and
the
critical
consideration
of
the
psychological
and
personal
impact
of
diverse
and
unique
sound
memories
and
soundscapes.
I
employ
a
variety
of
approaches
in
my
study
of
Ellison’s
use
of
the
sonic
in
his
work
–
including
history,
autobiography,
analysis,
and
compositional
method
–
in
order
to
contextualize
the
nuances
of
sonic
experience
that
inform
Ellison’s
writing.
I
begin
this
project
with
a
study
of
the
historical
context
that
informs
Ellison’s
work,
and
then
I
gradually
introduce
analytical
perspectives
of
the
sonic
as
the
dissertation
progresses.
I
scaffold
this
project
in
this
way
in
order
to
foreground
the
historical,
contextual,
and
subjective
uniqueness
of
listening
before
I
apply
scholarly
approaches
and
analysis
of
the
sonic
to
Ellison’s
work
later
in
the
dissertation.
Chapters
One
and
Two
are
history-based,
as
I
provide
historical
context
on
Harlem’s
soundscapes
and
Ellison’s
education
at
the
Tuskegee
Institute.
Chapters
Three
and
Four
are
analytical
approaches
to
Ellison’s
use
of
the
sonic
which
build
on
the
background
information
I
provide
in
Chapters
One
and
Two.
Chapter
Five
blends
sonic
analysis,
autobiographical
and
historical
context,
and
compositional
method
in
order
to
demonstrate
the
breadth
of
Ellison’s
nuanced
integration
of
the
sonic
into
his
writing.