Paul Beatty and Ralph Ellison

I've been wondering for some time now on how to approach my writing about Paul Beatty's novel, "White Boy Shuffle. Indeed, I am drawn to his writing style, but after reading it for the third time now, I am still unsure of what to make of it. My paper hopes to link him with the stylistic and thematic grace of Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man. I haven't made up my mind if he is anti-Ellisonian or not. The recent tenor of criticism surrounding Ellison by the likes of Houston Baker Jr. and Arnold Rampersand has me wondering about my own reaction to Invisible Man or Ellison himself. I am going to write this paper with attention to the black messiah trope that both employ and relate that in some way to the fact that both are memoirs written by the main characters seemingly AFTER all of the other events in the novel have take place. Both characters question the role of the black leader and the responsibility to the community, but is it to similar ends or do the both arrive at different conclusions? This will be my guiding question. I have already found some sources that I want to use, which includes Houston Baker's Critical Memory and the edited collection History and Memory in African American Culture. I also want to draw on the fact that Beatty chooses to name his protagonist, Gunnar Kaufman, which gives homage to Gunnar Myrdal and Bob Kaufman. Beatty himself claims Bob Kaufman as an inspirational figure. All in all, I think this paper will prove to be interesting and a possible publication in the journal Critique. Now I'm off to get started.