Abstract:
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.
