DOCSLIB.ORG

ABSTRACT Melville''s Unfolding Selves: Identity Formation in Mardi

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
ABSTRACT Melville''s Unfolding Selves: Identity Formation in Mardi ABSTRACT Melvilles Unfolding Selves: Identity Formation in Mardi, Moby-Dick, and Pierre Margy Thomas Horton, Ph.D. Committee Chairperson: Joe B. Fulton, Ph.D. Mardi, Moby-Dick, and Pierre share striking parallels in form and content: each is narrated by an introspective yet adventurous narrator who encounters various triggers for his development, including authorities, mysterious people and phenomena, and evidence of the social contracts binding society together. All three novels juxtapose conflicting ideologies and culminate in an ambiguous integration of the narrator-protagonist into the larger world. Throughout the narration process, the narrator gradually progresses toward knowledge of self and world by learning from mistakes and altering behavior. These narrative characteristics are not drawn wholly from Melvilles imagination and experience, but rather typify a European genre, the Bildungsroman, that Melville read closely around 1850. Before now, scholars have assumed or argued that Bildungsromane did not exist in America as early as the mid-nineteenth century, with some scholars even denying that Bildungsromane can be written in an American context. However, this study shows that Melville wrote three novels that draw upon the conventions of that genre while revising them to depict a uniquely American process of identity formation, one in which no stable authority figure defined the path to maturity. Like America herself, the American Bildungsroman protagonist had to develop a means of self-invention. Melvilles maJor revision to the Bildungsroman is in his modification of the portrait self motif. In the European Bildungsromane Melville read, the portrait self is a text or image presented to the protagonist by an authority figure with the intent of showing the protagonist either who he is or who he should strive to be. The portrait self crystallizes the pedagogy designed by the protagonists father or guardian and is intended to motivate and focus the young mans efforts toward positive change. In Melvilles American Bildungsromane, the narrator-protagonist constructs his own portrait self: in Mardi, he constructs a dream self (Taji); in Moby-Dick, a remembered self (young Ishmael on the Pequod); and in Pierre, a fictional self (the character Pierre). As each narrator imagines and describes his portrait selfs formation, he himself is formed. The protagonists strive increasingly toward independent self-invention but find themselves still entangled in their cultural inheritance. Melvilles conception of identity formation challenges the still-current view that humans are capable of absolute self-invention; paradoxically, it also enables todays readers to see that, however environmental, social, or political factors may work against ones cultivation, resources for constructing ones own pedagogy are always available. Copyright © 2012 by Margy Thomas Horton All rights reserved TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS v DEDICATION vii CHAPTER ONE: Introduction 1 Mardi, Moby-Dick, and Pierre as a Triptych 17 Critical Interventions 25 Chapter-by-chapter Overview 27 CHAPTER TWO: Melvilles Identity Formation in Context 32 Melvilles family identity and American identity 58 Melvilles reading of European Bildungsromane 79 The Bildungsroman in American literature 97 CHAPTER THREE: Education as Conversation in Mardi 100 Critical Interventions 112 Views of identity and of growth 121 The Protagonists Developmental Process 139 Outcomes of the developmental process 146 CHAPTER FOUR: Education as Experiment in Moby-Dick 180 Critical Interventions 188 Views of identity and of growth 198 The Protagonists Developmental Process 201 Outcomes of the developmental process 208 CHAPTER FIVE: Education as Storytelling in Pierre 259 Critical Interventions 268 Views of identity and of growth 281 The Protagonists Developmental Process 292 Outcomes of the developmental process 301 CHAPTER SIX: Conclusion 334 Identity Formation in Melvilles Other Works 335 BIBLIOGRAPHY 343 iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The Baylor University community has made this project possible. Five years of funding were provided by the English department in the form of teaching and tutoring assistantships, the Graduate School gave generous supplemental funding, and the Universitys Mission Statement was a constant source of inspiration and focus during my years at Baylor. My professor Joe Fulton has been there all along the way: he introduced me to the Transcendentalists, let me help him teach Melville to his undergraduates, pushed me to apply for my first conference, led me toward my first publication, always expected excellence in my work, and most of all has been a warm and honest human being throughout the long graduate school process. I am honored that he would direct my dissertation. Each of the other members of my dissertation committeeSarah Ford, Daniel Walden, James Barcus, and Todd Burashas been indispensable in his or her own way. They and my other professors have done so much for the graduate students at Baylor, including designing and teaching seminars that I always felt privileged to attend and sorry to finish. I would also like to thank Laine Scales, as well as my fellow graduate student teachers and my students, for teaching me how to help other people pursue knowledge inside and outside the classroom. Lois Avey, the endlessly patient woman who runs the English department office, always had the smile or the v form I needed, and cannot go without acknowledgment here. Also, I cannot thank enough the colleagues and friends with whom I have, over the past five years, escaped from abstraction into concrete reality and shared the rich conversations that will remain my warmest memories of graduate school: Holland Whiteburch, Lanta Davis, Jessica Hooten Wilson, Noelle Davies, Kat Adams, Nathan Kilpatrick, Jeffrey Bilbro, Steven Petersheim, Cameron Weed, Anna Blanch, and so many others. You taught me that books come alive not in the individual imagination but rather in conversation with others. Finally, thank you to my family. Dad, you taught me dogged-stick-to-it- iveness and the importance of always (metaphorically) shining my shoes; Mom, you taught me to be a problem-solver and a listener, two virtues that Im still working on; Betsy, you taught me how much there really is to laugh at in the world; Jewell, you taught me that everything is connectedespecially science and artand did so long before I read it in Emerson; Jack, you have challenged me in a good way with the otherness of your perspectives; and Nick, you have taught me to be diplomatic when expressing my shockingly strong opinions. Herman and Pablo, the Amazing Dissertating Dachshunds, you kept have me company through many a long day of writing and have been worthy namesakes of Melville and Picasso. Most of all, I want to thank my partner Seth Horton, who makes me a whole human being instead of a disembodied brain, and our son Abraham, whose Bildung will be our greatest joy. vi DEDICATION To the parents who shaped and the siblings who shared, and to Seth and Abe, who are the unambiguously happy ending of my Bildung vii CHAPTER ONE Introduction Until I was twenty-five, I had no development at all, writes Herman Melville to Nathaniel Hawthorne around June 1, 1851, adding that he dates his life from his twenty-fifth year. Three weeks have scarcely passed, at any time between then and now, that I have not unfolded within myself (Correspondence 193). Twenty-five had indeed been a significant age for Melville; it was then, in 1844, that he had left behind the life of a common sailor and begun shaping his experiences at sea into fantastic tales for his family and friends. If ships were a Yale College and [a] Harvard for Melville as they were for his most famous protagonist, Ishmael, then it was not until Melville graduated from college and began narratizing his college experiences, and reading books that helped him to make sense of those experiences, that his development really began. Writing this letter at age thirty-two, he could recognize that turn to narration as the fulcrum of his life, the impetus of his development. He understands that development in the Romantic terms of an unfolding plant, a metaphor that also appealed to the Transcendentalists. Still, amidst the sense of flourishing in Melvilles letter lurks an intuition of coming decay. Despite, or because of, his rapid development over the previous six years, Melville realized that this process was doomed to end soon. 1 He writes, But I feel that I am now come to the inmost leaf of the bulb, and that shortly the flower must fall to the mould (193). He compares himself to one of those seeds taken out of the Egyptian Pyramids, which, after being three thousand years a seed and nothing but a seed, being planted in English soil, it developed itself, grew to greenness, and then fell to mould.1 At the heart of Melvilles assertions lie profound questions about human development: how do we define and measure human growth, and how does growth differ from stagnation or regression? How long can inevitable decay be staved off, and by what means? A deeper reflection upon the specific conditions that prompted Melvilles sense of growth raises still another question: To what extent is human growth influenced or regulated by the selfs encounters with the external world, and to what extent is growth an unfolding of already present qualities? At this point in his writing career, as Melville reflects upon his own continual internal unfold[ing] (193), he also works out answers to these questions in his writings. Retrospective reflection upon ones past life and process of development is a key motif in the three major novels Melville wrote within five years of this letter to Hawthorne: Mardi (1849), Moby-Dick (1851), and Pierre (1852). Each of these three 1 If Melville senses at this moment in 1851 that he will not long be in full bloom, he also senses that he is still, if fleetingly, in full intellectual flower.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • A Stylistics Analysis of the Works of Herman Melville
    Striking Through the Pasteboard Mask: A Stylistics Analysis of the Works of Herman Melville By Kristal Eilein Metzger-Andersen, B.A. A Thesis Submitted to the Department of English California State University, Bakersfield In Partial Fulfillment for the Degree of Masters of English Spring 2012 Copyright By Kristal Eilein Metzger-Andersen 2012 Striking Through the Pasteboard Mask: A Stylistics Analysis of the Works of Herman Melville By Kristal Eilein Metzger-Andersen, B.A. This thesis has been accepted on behalf of the Department of English by their supervisory committee: Dr. Steven Frye This thesis is dedicated to Dr’s Charles MacQuarrie and Steven Frye. Without your constant reassurance and encouragement this thesis would never have seen the light of day. A special thanks to my husband, Chris Andersen, who gave me the confidence to continue when I wanted to quit. Thank you so much for being the light in the storm. Table of Contents Introduction 1 Chapter One: The Travel Narratives – Typee: A Peep at Polynesian Life, During a Four Months’ Residence in a Valley of the Marquesas 7 Chapter Two: The Philosophical Narratives – “Bartleby, the Scrivener: A Story of Wall Street” 17 Chapter Three: The Psychological Narrative – Moby Dick; or, The Whale 27 Chapter Four: The Satirical Narrative – The Confidence Man: His Masquerade 37 Conclusion 49 Glossary of Literary Terms 51 Bibliography 53 Metzger-Andersen 1 Introduction Herman Melville is arguably the most influential American writer of the nineteenth-century, yet he was not taken seriously by the critics of his time. Since the early twentieth-century, however, Melville’s oeuvre has been considered an important part of the Western canon and modern critics have been writing about his works at length.
    [Show full text]
  • Moby-Dick: a Picture Voyage
    Moby-Dick A Picture Voyage Library of Congress Cataloging–in–Publication Data Melville, Herman, 1819-1891 Moby-Dick : a picture voyage : an abridged and illustrated edition of the original classic / by Herman Melville ; edited by Tamia A. Burt, Joseph D. Thomas, Marsha L. McCabe ; with illustrations from the New Bedford Whaling Museum. p. cm. ISBN 0-932027-68-7 (pbk.) -- ISBN 0-932027-73-3 (Cloth) 1. Melville, Herman, 1819-1891. Moby Dick--Illustrations. 2. Sea stories, American--Illustrations. 3. Whaling ships--Pictoirial works. 4. Whaling--Pictorial works. 5. Whales--Pictorial works. I. Burt, Tamia A. II. Thomas, Joseph D. III. McCabe, Marsha. IV. Title. PS2384.M6 A36 2002 813'.3--dc21 2002009311 © 2002 by Spinner Publications, Inc. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America Spinner Publications, Inc., New Bedford, MA 02740 Moby-Dick A Picture Voyage An Abridged and Illustrated Edition of the Original Classic by Herman Melville Edited by Tamia A. Burt, Joseph D. Thomas, Marsha L. McCabe with illustrations from The New Bedford Whaling Museum Acknowledgments / Credits Naturally, no serious book concerning the American whaling industry can be done with- out interaction with the New Bedford Whaling Museum. We are grateful to Director Anne Brengle and Director of Programs Lee Heald for their support. We are especially grateful to the Museum’s library staff, particularly Assistant Librarian Laura Pereira and Librarian Michael Dyer, for their energy and helpfulness, and to Collections Manager Mary Jean Blasdale, Curator Michael Jehle, volunteer Irwin Marks, Emeritus Director Richard Kugler, and Photo Archivist Michael Lapides. When we began work on this project, The Kendall Whaling Museum was an indepen- dent entity in Sharon, Massachusetts, and we were fortunate enough to receive the gracious assistance and eminent knowledge of the Kendall’s Director, Stuart M.
    [Show full text]
  • Celebrating the 200Th Birthday of Herman Melville
    *Pop-up Moby Dick read-aloud contest. Visit HERM each of the ten sites, take a selfie of you reading AN M ELVILLE Celebrating the the Moby Dick selection from the podium. 200th Birthday Post it to Instagram and include the hashtag, 200th Birthday #ACKMobyDick. Winners will be selected NANTUCKET weekly for a gift certificate to one of the 1819 - 2019 of Herman Melville participating restaurants. List of locations to visit: Melville at 200/Essex at 200 Artists Association of Nantucket Participating Organizations 19 Washington Street Artists Association of Nantucket Greenhound Station Department of Culture and Tourism 10 Washington Street The Dreamland Maria Mitchell Association Egan Maritime Institute 2 Vestal Street Greenhound Station/ReMain Nantucket Maria Mitchell Association Museum of African American History Museum of African American History 29 York Street Nantucket Atheneum Nantucket Atheneum Nantucket Historical Association 1 India Street Nantucket Lightship Basket Museum Or, The Whale Restaurant Nantucket Lifesaving and Queequeg’s Restaurant Shipwreck Museum Sconset Trust 158 Polpis Road Theatre Workshop of Nantucket Nantucket Lightship Basket Museum 49 Union Street Queequeg’s Restaurant 6 Oak Street Sconset Trust 1 New Street, Sconset Nantucket Department of Culture and Tourism Herman Melville Whaling Museum 25 Federal Street Nantucket, MA 02554 15 Broad Street 508-228-0925 1819 - 1891 August Thursday, Aug. 1 About Herman Melville Calendar of Events 200th birthday of Herman Melville Born on August 1, 1819, into a once-prominent April Lecture by Joe and Kathy Galllichio on the Moby Dick New York family, Herman Melville was raised in Friday, April 26 basket at Nantucket Lightship Basket an atmosphere of financial instability and genteel Opening of the Whaling Museum’s Essex Disaster Museum, 49 Union Street pretense.
    [Show full text]
  • "No Life You Have Known": Or, Melville's Contemporary Critics Hester Blum
    "No Life You Have Known": Or, Melville's Contemporary Critics Hester Blum Leviathan, Volume 13, Issue 1, March 2011, pp. 10-20 (Article) Published by Johns Hopkins University Press For additional information about this article https://muse.jhu.edu/article/493026/summary Access provided at 9 Apr 2019 00:59 GMT from Penn State Univ Libraries “No Life You Have Known”: Or, Melville’s Contemporary Critics HESTER BLUM The Pennsylvania State University id-nineteenth century evaluations of Herman Melville’s work share acommonattentiontowhatmanyreviewers—anditcanseem Mlike all of them—called the “extravagance” of his writing and his imagination. Critics remarked on his general “love of antic and extravagant speculation” (O’Brien 389) and found that his imagination had a “tendency to wildness and metaphysical extravagance” (Hawthorne and Lemmon 208). In their estimation the “extravagant” Mardi featured “incredibly extravagant disguises” (“Trio” 462) and contained “a world of extravagant phantoms and allegorical shades” (Chasles 262), while Redburn was notable for “episodic extravaganzas” (“Sir Nathaniel” 453). “Unlicensed extravagance” (454) char- acterized even White-Jacket;and“theextravaganttreatment”(454)givento whaling in Moby-Dick stood in for the novel’s “eccentric and monstrously extravagant” nature (“Trio” 463), containing as it did “reckless, inconceivable extravagancies” (“Trio” 463) in addition to “purposeless extravagance” (A.B.R. 364). These surpassed the only “passable extravagancies” of his earlier works (“Book Notices” 93). The critical account offered above was assembled from fragments of criticism of the novels of Melville’s mid-career; readers of Pierre will hear in it the echo of Mary Glendinning’s equally insistent—and equally regulatory— catalogue of her son’s qualities: “A noble boy, and docile..
    [Show full text]
  • Moby Dick in 50 Objects
    Dear Reader, Reading Moby-Dick is an adventure. The narrative takes you to MOBY DICK the deepest and strangest recesses of the human mind and through the daily life of a nineteenth-century whaleman. You’re in for a wild—sometimes dull, and other times queer—ride. Like any good adventure, a map will help you on your journey. IN These fifty objects will help you decode the literary symbolism of Moby Dick, a novel laden with meaningful images and motifs. This guidebook will also help animate the nineteenth-century context in which the novel emerged. The world looked different to Herman Melville in the nineteenth-century, and these objects 50 OBJECTS will help you better understand the text within its context. Of course, your best guide to Moby-Dick—whether it’s your first, second, or fifth read—is your own mind. Let the novel challenge A GUIDE THROUGH THE GREAT, WEIRD, AND LONG you, bore you, and take you outside of yourself. AMERICAN CLASSIC Good luck and bon voyage! BY Josh Ameen, Jacob Beaudoin, Laura Byrd, Isabelle Carter, Austin Cederquist, Isabella Conner, Sam Cooper, Tori Corr, Marissa Cuggino, Gianna Delaney, Kyle Erickson, Taylor Galusha, Jackie Ireland, Mathew Lannon, Melissa Lawson, Emma Leaden, Kathryn Mallon, Caroline May, Emily Nichols, Conrrad Ortega, Daniel Proulx, Dan Roussel, Krista Sbordone, Dustin Smart, Bobby Tolan, Sarah Tripp, Brianna Wickard, & Dr. Christy Pottroff A carpet bag is specifically made for travelling and is usually made out of the same material as an oriental rug. It was perfect for people who did not want to carry enough luggage that would require a heavier trunk.
    [Show full text]
  • Visionary of the Word: Melville and Religion
    BOOK REVIEWS 625 and positively of very few things, except of Matters of fact.” As a reference work, focused on “matters of fact,” Guthery’s book shines, but the fragmented nature of the text clouds the results of his research. Amy Fisher is assistant professor of the history of science and technol- ogy in the Science, Technology, and Society Program at the University of Puget Sound. Visionary of the Word: Melville and Religion. Edited by Jonathan A. Cook and Brian Yothers. (Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press, 2017. Pp. 296. $99.95 cloth; $34.95 paper.) Jonathan A. Cook and Brian Yothers begin their volume of ten es- says by calling religion “an often neglected subject in contemporary” Melville studies (3). This is odd since the second part of their use- ful introduction (the first part deals concisely with Melville’s life and reading in religion) traces a critical concern with the subject begin- ning with Raymond Weaver’s biography of 1921 and accelerating in the last forty years or so, with increasing attention to Melville’s late poetry. Religion is currently a hot subject; the difference between older and more recent discussions is that the latter tend to be more cul- tural than intellectual—a mixed blessing with Melville whose engage- ment with religion, while grounded in an intimate possession of the Bible, belongs more to the European and especially Anglophone in- tellectual context than to the native social and denominational one. In this respect the essays in Visionary of the Word are a mix of the tra- ditional and the new.
    [Show full text]
  • When Whales Lit the World Quiz
    When Whales Lit the World Up to the 20th century, men shipped out whaling—risking their lives and spending up to five years at sea per voyage. Why? Because whalers lit the world, providing oil for lamps and for the machines of the industrial revolution—at no small cost to the whale population. Test your whaling knowledge. 1. Many idioms and words we use today arose from maritime jargon. Which of the following is not true? The “slush” in “slush fund” referred to fat scum. “Blackstrap” was a sailor’s nickname for tar. “A good square meal” came into being due to common use of square plates. “Junk” referred to spent rope. 2. There are many whales in the sea, and each had its own peculiarities noted by whalers. Which of the following is not true? American whalers sought out the blue whale, as its immense size provided the most blubber, and therefore, profit. The name of the right whale comes from being considered the best or “right” whale to target for blubber and baleen harvesting. Sperm whales were occasionally referred to as “carpenter fish,” as their vocalizations sounded to seamen like hammer blows. John Smith was disappointed by his discovery of fin or humpback whales in America, as they did not provide baleen or oil. 3. Among seafaring tales, few are as well known as Herman Melville’s Moby Dick. Which of the following is not true? Moby Dick was likely modeled after a famous mankiller in the early 1800s. The chapel in New Bedford, MA, does indeed exist.
    [Show full text]
  • Moby Dick Part I 1
    Moby Dick Part I 1 from the land, leads them over the hills, down creeks and streams and rivers to the sea. The sea, where each man as in a mirror, finds himself. And so it was that I duly arrived at the town of New Bedford on a dark and dismal night late in the year 1841. Since I knew no one in the town, it soon became a matter of concern where I was to eat and sleep. With halting steps I paced the streets and passed the sign of The Crossed Harpoons inn. ISHMAEL: Hmmm. Looks too jolly—and, therefore, too expensive. NARRATOR: Moving on, I saw a swinging sign over a door with a white, tall straight jet of misty spray painted on it. These MOBY DICK: PART I words were written underneath: ISHMAEL: The Spouter Inn: Landlord, Peter Coffin. Looks dim and miserable CAST enough for me to afford. I’ll give it a try. NARRATOR Older Ishmael Narrating NARRATOR: Inside there was an old man ISHMAEL A Wandering Sailor behind the bar, selling sailors distilments COFFIN Innkeeper and death. Around the bar were the jaws of QUEEQUEG South Seas Islander Harpooner a whale, and the man standing within them MAPPLE Renowned Reverend seemed to be Jonah himself. NARRATOR: Call me Ishmael. Some years COFFIN: What brings ye here tonight, lad? ago, having little or no money, I thought I I am Peter Coffin, the landlord. would sail about and see the oceans of the world. Whenever it’s a damp, drizzly ISHMAEL: I’m headed to sea.
    [Show full text]
  • Traces of Religion and Science in Herman Melville's Moby Dick
    2011 International Conference on Languages, Literature and Linguistics IPEDR vol.26 (2011) © (2011) IACSIT Press, Singapore Traces of Religion and Science in Herman Melville's Moby Dick ∗ Nasser Mahmoudi1 and Fatemeh Azizmohammadi2 1Department of Persian Literature, Shoushtar Branch, Islamic Azad University, Shoushtar, Iran 2Department of English Literature, Arak Branch, Islamic Azad University, Arak, Iran Abstract: It may be stated that despite his scanty schooling, Melville has shown deep interest in the prevailing trends of his age. A true representative of his age is that he struggled hard not only to resolve the conflict between the Calvinistic and the Emersonian theories but also to bring a compromise between religion and science. Though basically a Christian confronted with the complex question of human existence, his experience as a sailor offered him ample scope to develop a systematic knowledge of the outer world. This systematic knowledge of the universe endowed him with the scientific spirit to solve the basic problems of human existence. But while attempting to solve the mystery of religion, he doubted his own religious faith. His religious faith and scientific beliefs are projected in his two major characters, Ishmael and Ahab respectively. Ishmael represents the religious mind of Melville upholding all the virtues of religion; he does not have the heroic grandeur of Ahab - an unheroic hero. Ahab is a real hero, hero of Melville's scientific self that is not prepared to admit defeat from a subhuman, a Prometheus who has descended on earth in the nineteenth century to establish the supremacy of man over creation at the cost of his own life.
    [Show full text]
  • The Prose Style of Herman Melville 11
    i THE PROSE STYLE OF HERMAN MELVILLE 11 THE PROSE STYLE OF HERMAN MELVILLE By MARY JANE FITCH 1 1 Bachelor of Arts Texas State College tor Women Denton, Texas 1938 . • : # ' ~~ r • •". C . 0 : ,. ~ . .. ... ' ' ' • l . • • • l , (" .. .. •• • • : ... ~-· • • • • • • • J ~ . • .. .... 'l,., •••••• , . • • e • • l• 1 , ; t • • •: : ~ : . .. ' . ... " ' "'•• :- • # •••• • l •el , e Submitted to the Department of English Oklahoma Agricultural and Mechanical College In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the degree of MASTER OF ARTS 1940 iii OKLAHOMA !&RJCULTulUL & MlYHAKICAL COLLE61 LIBRARY AUG 6 1940 APPROVED: I n Char ge of 'Thesis Head ot the English Department 126821 i.v TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter Page I. I ntroduction .............. .. ............... 1 II • . 1el ville' s Life and Work as a V' hole as Rela ted to his Style.................... 9 III. The Tools of a Style .•••••.......••••...•. 39 IV, Tone Color and Prose Rhythm. •...•••..•.•••. 84 V. Epilogue ............. ................... 102 Bibliography •••••••••••••• . ••••••••.•••••• 109 THE PROSE STYLE OF HERMJ\N MELVILLE CHAPTER I I NTRODUCTION In 1845 , Herman Melville wrote an account of his experiences in the Marquesas, which was published in 1846 under the titl~, Typee. As a result of the popularity of this book and a com­ panion volume of adventure in the South Seas, Omoo, published a year l a ter, Melville achieved both consider able f ame as a writer of romances and considerable notoriety as "the man who lived among cannib'-~ ls." In 1849, he published Mardi -- "to see whether, the fiction might not, possibly be received for a verity: in some degree the r everse of my previous experi­ ence," he s ays in the Preface. The book was an unmi ~t akable failure, i n spite of, or perhaps because of, the variety of muteriel Melville crammed into it.
    [Show full text]
  • Ishmael and His Sleeping Partners
    W&M ScholarWorks Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects Theses, Dissertations, & Master Projects 1977 Ishmael and His Sleeping Partners John Langley College of William & Mary - Arts & Sciences Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.wm.edu/etd Part of the American Literature Commons Recommended Citation Langley, John, "Ishmael and His Sleeping Partners" (1977). Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects. Paper 1539624985. https://dx.doi.org/doi:10.21220/s2-kmw5-d373 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Theses, Dissertations, & Master Projects at W&M ScholarWorks. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects by an authorized administrator of W&M ScholarWorks. For more information, please contact [email protected]. ISHMAEL AND HIS SLEEPING PARTNERS A Thesis Presented to The Faculty of the Department of English The College of William and Mary in Virginia In Partial Fulfillment Of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts by John Langley- 1977 APPROVAL SHEET This thesis is submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts Author Approved, October 1977 {jJ'sCCl* ^ ^i William F. Davis Ibrfh&L, Elsa Nettels Robert Sc^rblnick ISHMAEL AND HIS SLEEPING PARTNERS ABSTRACT Critical speculation concerning Ishmael's develop­ ment in Moby-Dick has argued for and against a mellowing of. his initial misanthropy, but has frequently ignored evidence in the book itself concerning his character sub­ sequent to the events he describes. This reveals an Ishmael to whom authorship itself is a central concern, which in turn suggests that an important passage which implies the relative insignificance of the "intellect or fancy" must be balanced against another passage, similar in tone and phrasing, indicating the reverse.
    [Show full text]
  • ANALYSIS Mardi, and a Voyage Thither (1849) Herman Melville
    ANALYSIS Mardi, and a Voyage Thither (1849) Herman Melville (1819-1891) “The encyclopedic subject of this large-scale exploration is what he referred to, in a letter to Hawthorne, as that ‘great allegory, the world.’ Under the guise of a South Sea archipelago, Mardi stands for the world, verbalized in the fictitious language that Melville invented along with the chartless geography of his imaginary voyage. His microcosm is neither an ideal commonwealth like Utopia nor yet an antipodal looking-glass kingdom like Erewhon; nor does it, like the countries of Gulliver’s Travels, cast back the reflection of irony. Melville’s recent reading, avid but unassimilated, provided a ballast which well nigh sank his ambitious undertaking. The result is not continuously readable, though it abounds in episodes and insights which would be the making of a lesser writer, and at least deserve to be canonized as purple passages. The difficulty is that, once he leaves the literal plane, Melville is caught between an allegory which is too narrowly topical in its allusiveness and a symbolism so transcendental that it bodies forth no more than a ‘spirit’s phantom’s phantom.’ Inevitably, ‘the mystery of mysteries is still a mystery’…. If Mardi does not reach its symbolic Ultimate, it faces an allegorical Penultimate, surveying the nations in critical panorama and directing its sharpest criticisms at Melville’s own nation, Vivenza. Through a series of political cartoons and editorial comments, he demonstrates that freedom is not the same in theory as in practice. His observations on equality might be summed up by rephrasing George Orwell: some men are less equal than others.
    [Show full text]