The narrator of Ralph Ellison’s novel Invisible Man tells his story from underground in a retreat of his own construction. In 1952, the year the novel was published, Ellison collaborated with photographer Gordon Parks on a series of images that staged scenes from the novel. A selection of these photographs appeared in Life magazine, where Parks was a staff photographer. The article, entitled “A Man Becomes Invisible,” included just four photographs. The three versions on view at the Beneicke were captured in a single photo shoot. Titled Man Emerging, Emerging Man, and The Invisible Man – suggesting different interpretations of the novel’s famous final line: “Who knows but that, on the lower frequencies, I speak for you?” This is part of our current, exhibition, Revisiting the Past-Imagining the Future, which is on view until July 9th! Check out this and more at Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library!