ì /Jo, MELVILLE'S THE CONFIDENCE-MAN « THE MODE OF HIGH PARODY Ahmad Ramez Kutrieh A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate School of Bowling Green State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY August 1973 BOWUHG GREEN STATE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY 550844 ABSTRACT Vjo > Available literary terminology has not been adequate to describe or help in understanding Herman Melville’s The Confidence-Man« His Masquerade. All of the terms used by scholars have managed to describe one aspect of the book or another and always have been limited by the traditions from which they were borrowed. This study, which examined Mel­ ville’s The Confidence-Mant His Masquerade in order to under stand its total pattern as it forms from within, argues that a new term, "high parody," names and explains the pattern Melville uses to structure his book. An examination of character and characterization showed that Melville is not interested in the psychology or motivation of characters but, rather, that he presents a wide variety of characters who are agents but who cannot be known beyond what their appearances and speech would indicate The study next analyzed the temporal aspect of plot in The Confidence-Man and found that it does not follow any common literary pattern, that it is evocative and depends on the reader’s participation to maintain its unity. The spa­ tial aspect of the plot was found to be presenting a pano­ ramic picture of the America of Melville’s day rather than trying to demonstrate a thesis by the way he arranges his characters. The "rhythm" Melville uses is neither comic nor tragic—as defined by Susanne K. Langer—but rather "parodic." It presents an image of man, bewildered by the universe, neither triumphant nor conquered. The mode of the book is described as "high parody" which is defined as a mode by which the beliefs available to Melville are pre­ sented without being completely adopted or rejected. The attainable philosophies of life are not satisfactory yet there is no new belief to supplement them or replace them, so Melville, uncomfortable in any belief and unable of com­ plete negation, adopts an objective, keen, observing atti­ tude where he is content to mirror the total picture of his age, feeling that if he cannot answer the questions that he sees posed, he can at least pose all of them as accurately and as vividly as possible. Thus, Melville's stance becomes one of commitment to "high parodying" the cosmos. Finally, in addition to the relevant importance of. the biographical information available about Melville during the time he wrote the book, some earlier works of Melville’s were’ discussed in relation to the high parody mode. Ill ACKNOWLEDGEMENT It is a pleasure to acknowledge the many people who have made this study feasible. My sincere and deep thanks are extended to the chairman of my doctoral committee, Dr. Ray B. Browne, for his assistance and encouragement through­ out my doctoral program. I have very special appreciation for the help and guidance of Professor J. Robert Bashore. I am most grateful for the faith my wife, Marcia, and my parents put in me. I am also grateful for the hope and more than encouragement several persons gave me, espec­ ially Bob and Ghassan to whom I dedicate this work. IV TABLE OF CONTENTS Page INTRODUCTION .... ................................................................... 1 CHARACTER AND CHARACTERIZATION .............................................. 14 TEMPORAL AND SPATIAL ASPECTS OF PLOT .................................. 63 RHYTHM AND MODE.......................................................... .... 99 CONCLUSION.......................................................... .................... .... 141 LIST OF WORKS CONSULTED ..........................................154 I CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION For almost a century, Herman Melville's last literary work as a professional writer did not fare well with the pub­ lic or with the critics. Although his work in general has gone through a revival and many evaluations and réévalua­ tions, until recently little notice has been awarded to his 1857 book, The Confidence-Man» His Masquerade. Nineteenth-century literary commentary on this book continued only up to July 1857, a few months after its pub­ lication. For the remainder of the century The Confidence- Man slipped into oblivion. Of the reviews that appeared, the British ones were somewhat favorable» only two were extremely negative, one expressed some puzzlement, one recoiled at the book’s "Timonism," and three were positive. Of the American comments, three were favorable, while the rest were negative or praised parts but condemned the whole. Some portion of twentieth-century critical reception of the book was not more favorable than that of the previous century. William Ellery Sedgwick, for example, found the book overdone, *over-elaborated» its ingenuity is too potent, so that it has the intellectual feel of a jigsaw o puzzle." Another critic, Newton Arvin, finds a different major problem» incompleteness. Arvin describes the novel 2 as a little more than a tantalizing scenario for a book that never came into being—it is meager and monotonous and con­ sists of a series of conversations rather than action. Another critic who is not satisfied,* Ronald Mason, declares The Confidence-Man an unfinished ruin of an ambitious enter­ prise that does not satisfy the artistic standard of a tradi­ tional critic,A final example is Roy Fuller who, rather astonishingly, in an "Introduction" to a popular edition, describes the book as "neither sensible nor successful. This attitude, however, is not the one that pre­ dominates now. In 1946 Elizabeth S. Foster gave the novel its first major study in the form of a dissertation. Later, in 1954, Foster produced an excellent edition of the book which has yet to be surpassed despite the numerous editions that have appeared since. Foster’s study gave the impetus to critics who began to mention the book with interest and sometimes with excitement. Of these critics, Richard Chase considers The Confidence-Man Melville's second best book. Bruce Franklin goes further than Chase to affirm that more readers are considering The Confidence-Man Melville’s master­ piece and the conclusion and culmination of his work.^ Franklin’s praise does not stop at that, for he asserts that there is nothing in Melville's novel that "is wasted, mis­ placed, or merely decorative."? Despite this enthusiastic study, however--and pos­ sibly because of the diversity of the critical approaches 3 used in pursuing the many problematic aspects of the book— there seems to be no agreement about the basic meaning, structure, or form. There are numerous opinions about Melville’s intent and meaning. Some assume that Melville attacks mankind and the social institutions of the time, condemning and negating J the possibility of good by his affirmation of evil as an operative and controlling power. William Braswell, for example, argues that the novel presents a cynical view for it uncovers the meanness and stupidity of men and supports Hobbes' argument that all human actions are spurred by self- o ish motivations. Somewhat similar is the opinion of Newton Arvin who suggests that Melville's book is "most unbeliev­ ing?" its purpose is the unravelling of a series of national frauds, especially of hypocritical humanism and false Q optimism.7 In contrast, some critics assert that Melville is not cynical in his attitude toward the order and thought of his time, and that his criticism is aimed at correcting man's foibles. For example, Fred E. Brower finds Melville arguing that altruism must recognize the realities of human evil, that there should be a balance between other-worldly love and this-world justice.^0 Elizabeth S. Foster also sees the novel exposing the failure of professed Christians to be what they profess and showing that in this world true 4 charity is helpless while untrue charity works havoc. Yet there are critics who see the book as something other than cynicism and satire. Bruce Franklin, for one, argues for a reading that has Hinduism at its center. He sees the book as a dialectic masquerade of the two opposing forces, Siva and Vishna--hate and love, black and white, annihilation and continuity—which are different facets of the same being. Franklin sees Christ merging into Satan and the world created is one where everything is a fiction. "All men become indistinguishable, all gods become the Confidence-Man, salvation means destruction, and black is only another appearance of white. This vision, at first appearance so destructive, is in reality most creative. To experience and survive it is to be re-created." 1? These sharply-contrasting interpretations of the meaning parallel the differing views as to the structure of the book. Merlin Bowen, for instance, argues that there must be a plan in the novel for he notices that the seem­ ingly unplanned structure Is built up of a prose that is poised, precise, and controlled.Through the same method of analyzing the prose, in this case that of the first chapter, Warner Berthoff notices fifteen paragraphs of which seven consist of one sentence each. Berthoff con­ cludes that "The effect is at once of tightness or involu­ tion and yet of a radical casualness of development—an effect that corresponds to the disjointed coherence of the 5 book as a whole." 14 John G. Cawelti, among other critics, finds two sec­ tions in the book« chapters one to twenty-three have six major disguises of the con man who in each instance swindles some money? the rest of the book has one mask» the cosmo­ politan whose role is reversed for he seeks friendship but is rebuffed by distrust and hostility. Cawelti finds reversal on every level and chapter. He adds that Melville is interested in "Presenting a paradigm of reality as he envisages it and the Confidence-Man, enigmatic, ambiguous .