Herman Melville ( )

Melville ’ s works Produced seven novels in six years Typee, an immense success Omoo, 1847-well-received Mardi surprised the readers Redburn 1849 White Jacket 1850 Moby Dick 1851 Pierre, or The Ambiguities 1852

Melville ’ s Works Israel Potter 1855 The Confidence Man 1857 The Piazza Tales 1856 Battle Pieces 1866 Clarel 1876 John Marr and Other Sailors 1888 Timoleon 1891 Billy Budd posthumous, 1924 Uncollected Prose

Moby Dick —— an Epic His titanic masterpiece Written under Hawthorne ’ s influence Influenced by Greek tragedy, Shakespeare ’ s tragedies, epic poetry, ancient and modern, Homer … A sea-haunted novel The whole book is about the pursuit of that phantom, an attempt to seek out the mystery,which seems to lie- malevolently or benevolently at the heart of human experience

Moby Dick — an Epic Epic in scope Contains several of the epic conventions: 1) the long and arduous journey 2) the great battle Much of the novel is dramatically shaped, staged,having scenes with speeches and images Defined as an epic —— a tragic drama, a tragedy of pride, and pursuit and revenge, also a tragedy of thought.

Moby Dick ’ s Structure The first stage: chapter1-chapter 42 Emphasis upon mystery and the inescapable challenge of the unknown Ishmael serves to introduce the theme of quest, who moves into a world dense with puzzles and portents

Moby Dick ’ s Structure Chapter 43-chapter 106 Every aspect of life aboard a whaling vessel The world of Pequod and the world in general come fully into being Use of soliloquies, dialogues, choral passages, adventures and misadventures Last stage —— an affirmation of proud and unyielding individual sovereignty

Typee —— a Pastoral Typee- an autobiographical narrative, a story of the retreat from civilization especially the one which was invaded by cities and industrialization, a major example of pastoral A symbol of the descent into the unconscious,

Mardi A brief stretch of straightforward, almost journalistic, narrative An allegorical tour of imaginary islands Allegorical figures engaged in philosophical debated

Redburn Based on his first voyage to Liverpool A number of the abstract problems of Mardi are again puzzled over but they appear in dramatic form by means of character and incident death,sickness, evil.grief and madness are artfully related to each other and subordinated to the main theme in Redburn —— initiation The loss of a father

Themes in Melville ’ s Writings Alienation Violence against women Gap/conflict between social classes Racism The system:capitalism, militarism Invisibility Perception Power/powerlessness

Melville ’ s Contributions One of the geniuses Unending and creative struggle between fierce and irresolvable contradictions: Good and evil Freedom and fate Knowledge and the unknowable The life of safety and the life of dangerous catastrophic pursuit of ultimate truth Enlarged the sense of life ’ s possibilities