Zen and the White Whale : a Buddhist Rendering of Moby-Dick / Daniel Herman.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Herman, Daniel, 1980-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Melville, Herman, 1819-1891. Moby Dick.

Melville, Herman.

Melville, Herman, 1819-1891--Philosophy.

Melville, Herman, 1819-1891.

Zen Buddhism in literature.

Philosophy.

Physical Description:

xviii, 215 pages ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Bethlehem, PA : Lehigh University Press, [2014]

Summary:

In Moby-Dick's wide philosophical musings and central narrative arch, Daniel Herman finds a philosophy very closely aligned specifically with the original teachings of Zen Buddhism. In exploring the likelihood of this hitherto undiscovered influence, Herman looks at works Melville is either known to have read or that there is a strong likelihood of his having come across, as well as offering a more expansive consideration of Moby-Dick from a Zen Buddhist perspective, as it is expressed in both ancient and modern teachings. But not only does the book delve deeply into one of the few aspects of Moby-Dick's construction left unexplored by scholars, it also conceives of an entirely new way of reading the greatest of American books--offering critical re-considerations of many of its most crucial and contentious issues, while focusing on what Melville has to teach us about coping with adversity, respecting ideological diversity, and living skillfully in a fickle, slippery world.

Contents:

I Melville's Encounters with Buddhism

1 The Prologue to Buddhist Studies 3

2 A Universal Absorber 7

3 Bayle's Dictionary 19

4 Possibilities and Probabilities 25

5 Mardi and Other Mysteries 33

II Ishmael's Way-Seeking Mind

6 Groundlessness 39

7 Narcissus and Dongshan 47

8 Searching for Ishmael 51

9 Whaling Life, Monastic Life 57

10 Ishmael's Meditation 67

11 Impermanence and Interdependence 79

12 Philosophy, Koans, and Silence 85

III Moby Dick's Inscrutable Selflessness

13 Sarcastic Science 97

14 The First Principle of All Things 103

15 Whiteness 107

16 The Measurements of the Whale Skeleton 113

17 Ox-Herding 117

IV Captain Ahab's Universe

18 A Factionalized Consciousness 125

19 Savagery Beyond Savagery 135

20 Faith and the Three Mates 139

21 The Doubloon 145

22 Pip, Who Jumped from the Whale-Boat 149

23 Ahab's Awakening 155

24 Pacific 165.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9781611461565

1611461561

OCLC:

870098310