Ralph Ellison died without ever completing his second novel. After his death, the executor of his literary estate, John F. Callahan, edited Ellison's work into a novel published under the title Juneteenth. This thesis examines the problems posed by Ellison's posthumously released text, especially the issues of authorial intent and reading incomplete narratives. As a way of addressing these problems, this thesis draws upon the field of literacy studies as a method for approaching Ellison's fragmented text. Theory from the field of literacy studies provides a lens through which the novel is examined. A close reading of Juneteenth foregrounds the ways in which Ellison represents literate traditions in the novel, and speculates as to what these representations reflect about the author's concerns. / Graduation Date: 2000

No description available.

No description available.