Reading Order
Three Days Before the Shooting Reading Order
Three Days Before the Shooting (2010) by Ralph Ellison is the posthumous publication of the full manuscripts that Ellison worked on for more than forty years after Invisible Man (1952) — edited by John Callahan and Adam Bradley, it presents the complete surviving manuscript of what was published in reduced form as Juneteenth (1999), along with additional material and alternative chapters. The complete manuscript runs to more than 1,100 pages, making it one of the most extraordinary documents in American literary history: a great novelist's forty-year struggle to complete a second novel that was as ambitious as anything in American fiction. Three Days Before the Shooting is not a novel in the conventional sense — it is a scholarly edition of manuscripts that Ellison left in various states of completion, with editorial apparatus explaining the choices made and the alternative versions available. For readers who want to understand what Ellison was attempting in the decades after Invisible Man, and who want more of the Hickman-and-Bliss material than the Juneteenth edition provides, Three Days Before the Shooting is essential. The editorial work of Callahan and Bradley is extraordinary, and the introduction and editorial notes are themselves important documents of American literary scholarship.
Where to start
Read Invisible Man (1952) first, then Juneteenth (1999) — Three Days Before the Shooting is the scholars' edition for readers who want the complete picture of Ellison's forty-year project. Any Modern Library hardcover.
Complete Three Days Before the Shooting Book List
- 1Buy
Three Days Before the Shooting
Ralph Ellison·2010·The complete posthumous manuscripts — the full version of what Ellison worked on for forty years; more than 1,100 pages; the scholars' edition with editorial apparatus; the complete picture of Ellison's forty-year project after Invisible Man; essential for understanding what he was attempting. - 2Buy
Invisible Man
Ralph Ellison·1952·The essential companion and Ellison's masterpiece — the National Book Award-winning novel; the foundation for everything Ellison attempted afterward; the only completed novel of his career. - 3Buy
Juneteenth
Ralph Ellison·1999·The companion abridged edition — the reduced version of Three Days Before the Shooting, focusing on the Hickman-and-Bliss story; the entry point for most readers to Ellison's posthumous work. - 4Buy
The Shadow and the Act
Ralph Ellison·1964·Ellison's collected essays — the companion in his nonfiction; the essays about American culture, jazz, and African American identity are the intellectual context for the fiction he was writing in the forty years of the manuscript. - 5Buy
Going to the Territory
Ralph Ellison·1986·Ellison's second essay collection — the companion nonfiction from his late career; the essays about American identity and culture show his thinking in the decades when he was working on Three Days Before the Shooting. - 6Buy
Beloved
Toni Morrison·1987·Morrison's Nobel and Pulitzer Prize-winning novel — the companion in African American literary fiction about the most ambitious engagement with American racial history; both Morrison and Ellison were working at the limits of what American fiction could do with the weight of American history. - 7Buy
Gravity's Rainbow
Thomas Pynchon·1973·Pynchon's National Book Award-winning novel — the companion in American literary fiction of the same era in terms of ambition and formal complexity; both Pynchon and the Ellison of Three Days Before the Shooting are working at the outermost limits of what the novel can do. - 8Buy
The Sound and the Fury
William Faulkner·1929·Faulkner's masterpiece — the companion in American fiction about a major writer's most ambitious and formally demanding work; where Faulkner's formal ambition is compressed into a short novel, Ellison's spreads across forty years of manuscript.
Three Days Before the Shooting — Frequently Asked Questions
What is Three Days Before the Shooting?
Three Days Before the Shooting is the scholarly edition of the complete manuscripts that Ralph Ellison left at his death in 1994, edited by John Callahan and Adam Bradley and published in 2010. Ellison worked on this project for more than forty years after the publication of Invisible Man in 1952 without completing it. The manuscripts, which run to more than 1,100 pages in this edition, include the Hickman-and-Bliss material that was published in abridged form as Juneteenth (1999) and additional chapters, alternative versions, and subplots that were not included in the Juneteenth edition. The edition includes extensive editorial apparatus — introductions, editorial notes, and appendices — that explain the editorial choices made and the alternative versions available.
How is Three Days Before the Shooting different from Juneteenth?
Juneteenth (1999), edited by John Callahan alone, is a reduced version of the manuscript material that focuses on the central Hickman-and-Bliss story and tries to present a reading version — something as close to a completed novel as the manuscripts allow. Three Days Before the Shooting presents the full scope of the manuscripts, including material that was excluded from Juneteenth: additional characters, subplots, alternative chapters, and scenes that expand the picture of what Ellison was attempting. The scholarly edition is not for casual reading — it is more than twice as long as Juneteenth and includes much less finished material — but it gives readers who want the complete picture of Ellison's work a far more comprehensive account.
Why couldn't Ellison finish the novel?
The reasons are not entirely clear, and scholars have offered various explanations. The 1967 fire that destroyed a portion of the manuscript is often cited, though Ellison himself said the fire set him back but did not stop him. Some scholars argue that Ellison was a perfectionist who could not stop revising; others argue that the novel's ambition was simply too vast — that he was trying to write the great American novel of the 20th century and could not find a structure adequate to that ambition. Others have noted that Ellison was deeply engaged with American culture and politics during these decades (he served on various presidential commissions, gave lectures, wrote essays) and that these commitments took time and energy from the fiction. The most honest answer is that we do not know why he could not finish it.
Is Three Days Before the Shooting worth reading?
Three Days Before the Shooting is essential for Ellison scholars and deeply rewarding for devoted readers of his work. It is not, however, a finished novel, and readers who come to it expecting the experience of reading Invisible Man will be disappointed. The best approach is to read Invisible Man first, then Juneteenth, and then, for readers who want more, Three Days Before the Shooting. The scholarly apparatus — particularly the introductions by Callahan and Bradley — is itself important literary scholarship, and the additional material in the edition significantly enriches the Hickman-and-Bliss relationship that is the core of the project.
What should I read after Three Days Before the Shooting?
After Three Days Before the Shooting, Invisible Man (1952) is Ellison's masterpiece and the essential companion. The Shadow and the Act (1964) and Going to the Territory (1986) are his essay collections. For American fiction in the same tradition of formal ambition and engagement with American racial history, Toni Morrison's Beloved and William Faulkner's The Sound and the Fury are important companions.
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