Melville and the visual arts : Ionian form, Venetian tint / Douglas Robillard.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Robillard, Douglas, 1928-2012.

Contributor:

Gotham Book Mart Collection (University of Pennsylvania)

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Melville, Herman, 1819-1891--Knowledge and learning--Art.

Melville, Herman.

Melville, Herman, 1819-1891.

Art and literature--United States--History--19th century.

Art and literature.

United States.

History.

Visual perception in literature.

Melville, Herman, 1819-1891--Knowledge--Art.

Art.

Local Subjects:

Melville, Herman, 1819-1891--Knowledge--Art.

Genre:

Art.

History.

Penn Provenance:

Gotham Book Mart (former owner) (Gotham Book Mart Collection copy)

Brown, Andreas (inscription) (Gotham Book Mart Collection copy)

Robillard, Douglas, 1928- (autograph) (inscription) (Gotham Book Mart Collection copy)

Physical Description:

xviii, 205 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Kent, Ohio : Kent State University Press, [1997]

Summary:

Throughout his professional life, Herman Melville displayed a keen interested in the visual arts. He alluded to works of art to embellish his poems and novels and made substantial use of the technique of ekphrasis, the literary description of works by visual arts, to give body to plot and character. In carefully tracing Melville's use of the art analogy as a literary technique, Douglas Robillard shows how Melville evolved as a writer. In separate chapters Robillard deals at length with Redburn, Moby-Dick, Pierre, and Clarel. In briefer discussions he looks at the Piazza Tales and the shorter poems. His extensive history of what Melville saw, responded to, and valued offers new insights into Melville's creative processes.

Contents:

The sister arts : "I shall ere long paint to you as well as one can without canvas"

The arts observed : "old blurred, bewrinkled mezzotint"

Redburn : "mythological oil-paintings"

Moby-Dick : "less erroneous pictures"

Pierre : "a stranger's head by an unknown hand"

Clarel : "dwell on those etchings in the night"

The visual imagination : "wanderings after the picturesque".

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 189-197) and index.

Local Notes:

Gotham Book Mart Collection copy has dustjacket retained.

Gotham Book Mart Collection copy inscribed "For Andreas Brown-- Memorable talk of books and Melville. Doug Robillard 4/19/2004" on front flyleaf.

Other Format:

Online version: Robillard, Douglas, 1928- Melville and the visual arts.

ISBN:

0873385756

9780873385756

OCLC:

36548853