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Reverent Self-Construction in Herman Melville's "Clarel"

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Reverent Self-Construction in Herman Melville's UNLV Retrospective Theses & Dissertations 1-1-2004 Reverent self-construction in Herman Melville's "Clarel" John Carey Murphy University of Nevada, Las Vegas Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalscholarship.unlv.edu/rtds Repository Citation Murphy, John Carey, "Reverent self-construction in Herman Melville's "Clarel"" (2004). UNLV Retrospective Theses & Dissertations. 2587. http://dx.doi.org/10.25669/4vb0-6mx6 This Dissertation is protected by copyright and/or related rights. It has been brought to you by Digital Scholarship@UNLV with permission from the rights-holder(s). You are free to use this Dissertation in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s) directly, unless additional rights are indicated by a Creative Commons license in the record and/or on the work itself. This Dissertation has been accepted for inclusion in UNLV Retrospective Theses & Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Digital Scholarship@UNLV. For more information, please contact [email protected]. REVERENT SELF-CONSTRUCTION IN HERMAN MELVILLE’S CLAREL by John Carey Murphy Bachelor of Arts St. Olaf College 1995 Master of Arts University of Alabama 1997 A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Doctor of Philosophy Degree in English Department of English College of Liberal Arts Graduate College University of Nevada, Las Vegas August 2004 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. UMI Number: 3144527 Copyright 2004 by Murphy, John Carey All rights reserved. INFORMATION TO USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. Broken or indistinct print, colored or poor quality illustrations and photographs, print bleed-through, substandard margins, and improper alignment can adversely affect reproduction. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if unauthorized copyright material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. UMI UMI Microform 3144527 Copyright 2004 by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights reserved. This microform edition is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. ProQuest Information and Learning Company 300 North Zeeb Road P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Copyright by John Carey Murphy 2004 All Rights Reserved Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Dissertation Approval The Graduate College University of Nevada, Las Vegas July 15 20 04 The Dissertation prepared by John Carey Murphy Entitled Reverent Self-Construction in Herman M elville's 'Clarel' is approved in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in English xamination Committee (thair Dean of the Graduate College Examination Committee Meimer Exammmion CommitJCe Membei Graduate Ci>üege Faculty Representative 11 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ABSTRACT Reverent Self-Construetion in Herman Melville’s Clarel by John Carey Murphy Dr. John C. Unrue, Examination Committee Chair Professor of English University of Nevada, Las Vegas The present study discusses Herman Melville’s late career narrative poem Clarel as the title character’s process of self-discovery and self-construction. During his experiences in and around the environs of Jerusalem, Clarel transforms himself through a new appreciation for subjective standards of truth. The internal transformation occurs as Clarel learns to recognize the validity of opinions different from those he previously holds. Most succinctly considered, Clarel leams the value of a constructed self independent of the previously influential notions of spiritual and physical love. A young theology student whose faith is waning, Clarel travels to Jerusalem because he imagines that the physical setting of his pilgrimage will provide the means to renew his faith. However, Clarel leams to recognize the integrity of his individual subjectivity only through experiences that disintegrate his previous beliefs and belief systems. Instead of renewing his faith, the pilgrimage becomes an arena for the systematic breakdown of Clarel’s various levels of commitment to spiritual, emotional, and intellectual processes. He discovers that he cannot learn from the example of another because this process 111 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. serves only an introductory purpose. Clarel’s hope to find an appropriate guide in the Holy Land who may show him how to live does not work effectively because he discovers no guide can teach another individual about his own subjective responses, interpretations, or evaluations; nor can the guide’s contributions supercede the experiences accrued by the individual on his own. At this recognition, Clarel accepts that the pilgrimage becomes the means by which he reconstructs his subjective interpretation and evaluation of the world. Once Clarel “unlearns” all of his previously held beliefs; once he establishes his own criteria for evaluation; once he accepts his own construction of truth; he possesses the capacity for questing that ultimately may yield a self more wholly realized and constructed. IV Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT............................................................................................................................. iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS..................................................................................................... vii CHAPTER ONE Claret A Pilgrimage of Self-Discovery .................................................. 1 CHAPTER TWO A Brief Critical History of Clarel..........................................................12 The 1920s...........................................................................................................................16 The 1930s...........................................................................................................................19 The 1940s.......................................................................................................................... 20 The 1950s.......................................................................................................................... 23 The 1960s .......................................................................................................................... 26 The 1970s.......................................................................................................................... 27 The 1980s...........................................................................................................................34 The 1990s.......................................................................................................................... 36 2000 and Beyond ..............................................................................................................45 CHAPTER THREE The Reverent Pilgrim-Readers of the Pilgrimage .............................48 Clarel..................................................................................................................................71 Derwent..............................................................................................................................97 Nehemiah .........................................................................................................................119 Rolfe................................................................................................................................. 126 The Narrator .....................................................................................................................129 CHAPTER FOUR ClareTs Developing Appreciation for Subjective Truth...................133 Nehemiah .........................................................................................................................146 Vine.................................................................................................................................. 154 Rolfe................................................................................................................................. 161 Derwent............................................................................................................................168 The Results.......................................................................................................................172 CHAPTER FIVE The Five Gams of the Pilgrimage .........................................................174 The Syrian Monk ............................................................................................................ 176 The Dominican Monk .....................................................................................................186 The Cypriote ...................................................................................................................207 The Lyonese ...................................................................................................................
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