A Routledge Literary Sourcebook on 's Moby-Dick

Edited by Michael J. Davey

Routledge Taylor &. Francis Group

NEW YORK AND LONDON Contents

Series Editor's Preface ix Acknowledgments x

Introduction I

I: Contexts

Contextual Overview 9

Melville's Career and the Writing of Moby-Dick 9

Melville and Antebellum America 20

Chronology 28 Contemporary Documents 34

From Owen Chase, The Wreck of the Whaleship Essex (1821) 34 From Herman Melville, "Hawthorne and His Mosses" (1850) 38 From , "The Custom-House Sketch" (1850) 40

Transcendentalism 41 From , "Self-Reliance" (1841) 44 From Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nature (1836) 45 From Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nature: "Chapter IV. Language" (1836) 46

Selected Letters 48 From Melville to Evert A. Duyckinck (March 3, 1848) 48 From Melville to Nathaniel Hawthorne (April 16, 1851) 49 vi CONTENTS

From Melville to Nathaniel Hawthorne ([June 1?], 1851) 51 From Melville to Nathaniel Hawthorne (November 1851) 52 From Melville to Sarah Huyler Morewood (September 1851) 53

2: Interpretations

Critical History 57 Early Critical Reception 66

Introduction 66 From review of , United States Nautical Magazine (March 1846) 66 From review of Typee, Critic [London], (March 1846) 67 From review of , Bentley's Miscellany [London], (November 1849) 68 From review of Redburn, New York Sunday Times and Noah's Weekly Messenger (November 18, 1849) 69 From review of Moby-Dick, New York Evangelist (November 20, 1851) 69 From review of Moby-Dick, Boston Post (November 20, 1851) 70 From review of Moby-Dick, Albion [New York], (November 22, 1851) 71 From Evert A. Duyckinck, review of Moby-Dick, Literary World [New York], (November 22,1851) 72 From review of Moby-Dick, Literary Gazette [London], (December 6, 1851) 74

Modern Criticism 75

The Melville Revival 75 From E. L. Grant Watson, review of Melville's Moby-Dick (1920) 75 From Frank Jewett Mather, Jr., "Herman Melville" (1919) 77 From Raymond M. Weaver, "The Centennial of Herman Melville" (1919) 78 From Carl Van Doren, "Mr. Melville's Moby-Dick" (1924) 79 From H. M. Tomlinson, "A Clue to Moby-Dick" (1921) 80

Moby-Dick Rising: Melville Criticism 1919-1970 82 From William Charvat, "Melville and the Common Reader" (1958) 82 From Walter E. Bezanson, "Moby-Dick: Work of Art" (1953) 83 From Merton M. Sealts, Jr., "Melville and Emerson's Rainbow" (1982) 85 From Leon Howard, "The Influence of Carlyle" (1987) 88 From Henry A. Murray, "In Nomine Diaboli" (1951) 90 From J. A. Ward, "The Function of the Cetological Chapters in Moby-Dick" (1956) 92 From Robert M. Greenberg, "Cetology: Center of Multiplicity and Discord in Moby-Dick" (1981) 95 From Thomas Werge, "Moby-Dick and the Calvinist Tradition" (1969) 96

Moby-Dick at the Millennium 98 From Frank Shuffelton, "Going Through the Long Vaticans: Melville's 'Extracts' in Moby-Dick" (1983) 98 From Mark Niemeyer, "Moby-Dick and the Spirit of Revolution" (1994) 100 From John Alvis, "Moby-Dick and Melville's Quarrel with America" (1993) 103 From David S. Reynolds, " 'Its wood could only be American!': Moby-Dick and Antebellum Popular Culture" (1992) 105 From Sheila Post-Lauria, "Originality: The Case of Moby-Dick" (1996) 107 From Elizabeth Schultz, "The Sentimental Subtext of Moby-Dick: Melville's Response to the'World of Woe'" (1996) 109 From Leland S. Person Jr., "Melville's Cassock: Putting on Masculinity in Moby-Dick" (1994) 113 From Sterling Stuckey, "The Tambourine in Glory: African Culture and Melville's Art" (1998) 115 From Joseph Andriano, "Brother to Dragons: Race and Evolution in Moby-Dick" (1996) 119 From Paul Giles, " 'Bewildering Intertanglement': Melville's Engagement with British Culture" (1998) 122

3: Key Passages

Introduction 129

Principal Biblical Allusions 129

Chapter 1: Loomings 131 Chapter 3: The Spouter-Inn 134 Chapter 9: The Sermon 137 Chapter 10: A Bosom Friend 140 Chapter 16: The Ship 142 Chapter 23: The Lee Shore 144 Chapter 26: Knights and Squires 145 Chapter 27: Knights and Squires 147 Chapter 28: Ahab 149 Chapter 36: The Quarter-Deck 151 Chapter 41: Moby Dick 153 Chapter 42: The Whiteness of the Whale 155 Chapter 44: The Chart 158

CONTENTS v i i viii CONTENTS

Chapter 70: The Sphynx 159 Chapter 95: The Cassock 161 Chapter 96: The Try-Works 162 Chapter 99: The Doubloon 165 Chapter 114: The Gilder 169 Chapter 119: The Candles 170 Chapter 132: The Symphony 171 Chapter 135: The Chase - Third Day 173 Epilogue 176

4: Further Reading

Introduction 181

Primary Works and Letters 181

Biographies 182

Journals and Electronic Media Devoted to Melville 182

Recommended General Secondary and References Sources on Melville

and Moby-Dick 183

Recommended Essays on Melville and Moby-Dick 183

Recommended Book-Length Secondary Sources 185

Index 187