From the S&S archives:
U.S. fiction stirs German interest, says Ralph Ellison

FRANKFURT, Sept. 30 — Ralph Ellison, American author who was awarded the National Book Award for the best fiction of 1952, said here he has found "intense interest in American writing by Germans."

Ellison won the U.S. publishers' award with his first novel, "Invisible Man," which critics have described as "a deeply tragic and profoundly soul-searching story of one young Negro's baffling experiences on the road to self-discovery."

Ellison himself said, "If I were asked what I considered to be the chief significance of 'Invisible Man,' I would reply ... its attempt to return to a mood of personal moral responsibility for democracy which typified the best of our 19th Century fiction."

The book was first published by Random House and later as a reprint by Signet. The German firm, Fischer Verlag, also has published it in German.

"In looking at American fiction," Ellison said, "many Germans seem to be puzzled by assumptions which Americans take for granted when they write. American writers have a tendency to be critical of American civilization. They (the Germans) find it hard to understand that such criticism comes out of a feeling of love for the country."

Ellison came to Europe with his wife Aug. 18 as a lecturer at the Salzburg Seminar in American Studies. He lectured there until Sept. 18 on "the role of the novel in creating our experience." The seminar was begun in 1947 by the Harvard Student Council to establish a point of meeting between young American and European students and intellectuals.

Ellison said he never intended to get into the writing business. "I studied music for three years at Tuskegee Institute (in Alabama) and then I went to New York City in 1936. I met Richard Wright there and he suggested I do some book reviews for a little magazine he was editing then. I did, and then he suggested I do some short stories. That's how I got hooked."

"Invisible Man" became his first novel. He's working on a new novel now "on the problem of identity in American civilization." He said he thought he might have it ready for publication in 1956.

After his Salzburg lecture, Ellison and his wife carne to Frankfurt to visit the book fair here last week as guests of his American and German publishers.

His next stop is Spain, where the U.S. State Department has invited him to take part in a series of round-table discussions with Spanish writers and intellectuals.

The meetings will last until Oct. 3. After that the Ellisons plan on a short stay in Florence, Italy, then a trip to Paris and finally a flight back to New York City...

This is Ellison's first peacetime trip to Europe. During the war he made many stops at European ports as a merchant seaman. He said he likes it better this way.