1 option
Herman Melville's Malcolm letter : "man's final lore" / by Hennig Cohen and Donald Yannella.
LIBRA - Special PS2386 .C64 1992
Available in person
Request an item
Access options
- Format:
- Book
- Author/Creator:
- Cohen, Hennig.
- Language:
- English
- Subjects (All):
- Melville, Herman, 1819-1891--Family.
- Melville, Herman.
- Melville, Herman, 1819-1891.
- Families.
- Melville, Herman, 1819-1891--Correspondence.
- Novelists, American--19th century--Biography--Families.
- Novelists, American.
- Novelists, American--19th century--Correspondence.
- Fathers and sons--United States--Biography.
- Fathers and sons.
- United States.
- Genre:
- Biographies.
- Correspondence.
- Personal correspondence.
- Penn Provenance:
- Gotham Book Mart (former owner) (Gotham Book Mart Collection copy)
- Physical Description:
- xii, 258 pages ; illustrations ; 24 cm
- Place of Publication:
- New York : Fordham University Press and the New York Public Library, 1992.
- Summary:
- The Malcolm Letter was written by Melville in 1849 on the birth of his son. This letter is one of thirty-six to be retrieved since the publication of The Letters of Herman Melville (1960) and has earned a place in the New York Public Library's Gansevoort-Lansing Collection. Addressed to Melville's brother, the letter entices critics to read it on several levels. It reveals Melville's serious consideration of his own father's influence on his upbringing as he anticipates undertaking the role of father himself. It is not a literary work, but a deeply personal outpouring distinguished by dark underpinnings barely hidden by his light-hearted tone. In a bit of dramatic irony, Melville reflects on the responsibility looming ahead of him as the reader notes the tragedy that Melville cannot possibly foresee - his son Malcolm's suicide eighteen years later. Cohen's and Yannella's careful study relives for the reader this and other events which shaped the clannish Melville family history. They also show how the author's struggle with these pressures are manifested in his writing. This volume is published in cooperation with the New York Public Library.
- Notes:
- Includes bibliographical references.
- Local Notes:
- Gotham Book Mart Collection copy has post it notes attached to some pages.
- Gotham Book Mart Collection copy has dustjacket retained.
- ISBN:
- 0823211843
- OCLC:
- 24212596
The Penn Libraries is committed to describing library materials using current, accurate, and responsible language. If you discover outdated or inaccurate language, please fill out this feedback form to report it and suggest alternative language.