University of New Hampshire University of New Hampshire Scholars' Repository Doctoral Dissertations Student Scholarship Winter 1984 THE MAKING OF AN AMERICAN AUTHOR: MELVILLE AND THE IDEA OF A NATIONAL LITERATURE DANIEL WARE REAGAN University of New Hampshire, Durham Follow this and additional works at: https://scholars.unh.edu/dissertation Recommended Citation REAGAN, DANIEL WARE, "THE MAKING OF AN AMERICAN AUTHOR: MELVILLE AND THE IDEA OF A NATIONAL LITERATURE" (1984). Doctoral Dissertations. 1443. https://scholars.unh.edu/dissertation/1443 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Student Scholarship at University of New Hampshire Scholars' Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Doctoral Dissertations by an authorized administrator of University of New Hampshire Scholars' Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. INFORMATION TO USERS This reproduction was made from a copy of a document sent to us for microfilming. 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Zeeb Road Ann Arbor, Ml 48106 8510483 Reagan, Daniel Ware THE MAKING OF AN AMERICAN AUTHOR: MELVILLE AND THE IDEA OF A NATIONAL LITERATURE University of New Hampshire Ph.D. 1984 University Microfilms International300 N. Zeeb Road, Ann Arbor, Ml 48106 Copyright 1984 by Reagan, Daniel Ware All Rights Reserved THE MAKING OF AN AMERICAN AUTHOR: MELVILLE AND THE IDEA OF A NATIONAL LITERATURE BY Daniel W. Reagan B.A., University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1977 M.A., University of New Hampshire, 1979 DISSERTATION Submitted to the University of New Hampshire in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in English December, 1984 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED c 1984 Daniel W. Reagan This dissertation has been examined and approved. Dissertation directcrrr'vGary Lindberg Professor of English Philip Nicoloff, Professpr, of English !/ J . ! ^ -- v ,a 6 1,-« / .r _____________________ David Watters, Associate Professor of English Robert Mennel, Professor of History David Andrew, Associate Professor of the Arts ■ V A V ,/jr >■ Date ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank Professor Gary Lindberg for his invaluable advice on substantive and stylistic revisions of the drafts of this dissertation and for the example he set as a scholar, teacher, and advisor for the past seven years. I would also like to thank Professor Philip Nicoloff for our long discussions about Melville and for his detailed reac­ tions to the drafts of this study, and Professor David Watters for his steady encouragement and astute comments. In addition, I would like to thank Professors Robert Mennel and David Andrew for their careful readings of the completed dissertation. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS.......................................... iv ABSTRACT.............................................. vi CHAPTER PAGE INTRODUCTION.............................................. 1 I. MELVILLE, YOUNG AMERICA, AND A NATIONAL.LITERATURE 8 II. TYPEE AND OMOO..................................... 37 III. MARDI.............................................. 62 IV. REDBURN AND WHITE-JACKET.................. 88 V. "HAWTHORNE AND HIS MOSSES"......................... 126 VI. MOBY-DICK.......................................... 140 VII. PIERRE AND BEYOND.................................. 187 APPENDIX.................................................. 226 BIBLIOGRAPHY.............................................. 247 v ABSTRACT THE MAKING OF AN AMERICAN AUTHOR: MELVILLE AND THE IDEA OF A NATIONAL LITERATURE by DANIEL W. REAGAN University of New Hampshire, December, 1984 In this study I examine the ways in which the idea of a national literature affected the development of both Herman Melville's career and of his reputation through 1930. Mel­ ville, as a member of the New York literary group Young America, participated in an effort to define and create a national literature. His apprenticeship was served under the influence of Young America, and the group's ideas about the act of writing, the defining qualities of a national work, and the relationship of writer and reader influenced the shape of his career. Although Melville's exploration into the implications of Young America's theories pushed him into profound religious and social questions that were, according to the group, better left unprobed, he could not escape the contradictions inherent in Young America's theo­ ries— contradictions that made professional authorship and the development of a national literature mutually exclusive enterprises. vi The first chapter of the dissertation examines Mel­ ville's relationship with Young America and the arguments of both Melville's group and the more conservative Whig review­ ers over the necessity of a national literature, the defin­ ing characteristics of that literature, and the role of professional authorship in America. The next six chapters trace the development of Melville's career in light of his relationship with Young America. In the appendix, I examine the dramatic revaluation of Melville's place in American literature during the 1920s. Just as Melville's career becomes representative of the difficulties that many American writers encountered in trying to resolve the paradoxes inherent in the profession of authorship during the 1840s and 1850s, his Revival is representative of the broader revaluation of the American literary canon that occurred during the 1920s. Melville's career and the history of his reputation help illuminate the central issues in America's peculiarly self-conscious at­ tempt to create and define a truly "national literature." INTRODUCTION In this study I examine the ways in which the idea of a national literature affected the development of both Herman Melville’s career and of his reputation through 1930. Mel­ ville, as a member of the New York literary group Young America, participated in an effort to define and create a national literature. His apprenticeship was served under the influence of Young America, and the group's ideas about the act of writing, the defining qualities of a national work, and the relationship of writer and reader influenced the shape of his career. Although Melville's exploration into the implications of Young America's theories pushed him into profound religious and social questions that were, according to the group, better left unprobed, he could not escape the contradictions inherent in Young America's theo­ ries— contradictions that made professional authorship and the development of a national literature mutually exclusive enterprises. The first chapter of the dissertation examines Mel­ ville's relationship with Young America and the arguments of both Melville's group and the more conservative Whig review­ ers over the necessity of a national literature, the defin­ ing characteristics of that literature, and the role of professional authorship in America. The next six chapters trace the development of Melville's career in light of his 1 2 relationship with Young America. Melville's participation in Young America has been demonstrated, but very little has been written about the importance of this connection for the shape of his career. Perry Miller, in The Raven and the Whale, has written a lively account of the literary war that was raging in New York when Melville became a professional writer, and has discussed Melville's participation with Young America in the fracas, but his concern is with Melville's impact on the war rather than with its impact on him. Miller's book, then, has been an invaluable source for this study, but its angle of interest is different than mine. Two articles have discussed Melville's relationship with Young America