E. Lynn Harris - Invisible Life

Rookie Season: Debuts | Week 68º

Jun 27, 2024

Extra seasoning for your everyday food for thought

Genre: Romance Novel, Coming-of-Age

“Kyle appeared to be quite comfortable with who he was. A black man and gay. This sometimes made me a little bit uncomfortable.”
— E. Lynn Harris

Back Cover (Anchor Books):

“The re-issue of a remarkable first novel by a young, gay, black author who fashioned a deeply moving and compelling coming of age story out of the highly controversial issues of bisexuality and AIDS.

Law school, girlfriends, and career choices were all part of Raymond Tyler’s life, but there were other, more terrifying issues for him to confront. Being black was tough enough, but Raymond was becoming more and more conscious of new sexual feelings. He was completely committed to Sela, his longtime girlfriend, but his attraction to Kelvin, whom he had met during his last year in law school, had become more than just a friendship.

Fleeing to New York to escape both Sela and Kelvin, Raymond finds himself more confused than ever before. New relationships—both male and female—give him enormous pleasure but keep him from finding the inner peace and lasting love he so desperately desires. The horrible illness and death of a friend eventually force Raymond, at last, to face the truth.”

Invisible Life, an originally, self-published debut novel by E. (Everette) Lynn Harris in 1991 (taken up by Anchor Books and traditionally published in 1994), tells the story of Raymond Winston Tyler Jr., an African-American lawyer, his religious southern family, his liberal New Yorker friends, and his journey of sexual discovery and freedom.

“No black man in his right mind would choose to be gay.”
— E. Lynn Harris, Invisible Life

Did You Know?

Did you know that E. Lynn Harris made history while in college (at the University of Arkansas) as its first Black yearbook editor, as well as the university’s first Black male cheerleader?

We got spirit, yes we do! **Credit:** @**razorbackspirit**

Tell Me More . . .

“Even though I was never physically harmed or called any names, as a Black student you were aware of what would in fact happen. So those were difficult times,” Harris once said. As a sophomore, he became president of his fraternity (Alpha Phi Alpha) proving to be a peerless, and fearless, leader of many talents.

Earning a degree in journalism and graduating with honors, E. Lynn Harris instead spent over a decade selling computers. Unfilled with his day-to-day work, he returned to his life’s calling. After self-publishing Invisible Life, Harris went on to write ten consecutive New York Times best-sellers, often depicting the lives of closeted gay men and finding an audience that was largely overlooked at the time.

For this reason, Harris was among the first 50 writers, artists, activists, federal workers, and others inducted in the National LGBTQ+ Wall of Honor,1 a memorial wall dedicated to “pioneers, trailblazers, and heroes.”

The memorial wall is located inside the Stonewall Inn2, a gay bar, historic landmark, and site of the 1969 riots that launched the gay rights movement in New York City’s Greenwich Village.

Some Food For Thought:

The oldest LGBTQ+ organization in North America, The International Imperial Courts of the U.S.A, Canada and Mexico3 (established in 1965), and the oldest national LGBTQ+ advocacy organization, the National LGBTQ+ Task Force, dedicated the Wall of Honor at the historic Stonewall Inn on June 27, 2019.4

Sadly, E. Lynn Harris went on to be with the Lord far too soon, in 2009, at the young age of 54, ten years prior to his Wall of Honor dedication, so he wasn’t alive to see it.5

The full list of the first 50 honorees: