Billy Budd, sailor : (an inside narrative) / Herman Melville ; edited by Michael J. Everton.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Melville, Herman, 1819-1891, author.

Contributor:

Everton, Michael J., editor.

Series:

Broadview editions

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Executions and executioners--Fiction.

Executions and executioners.

Ship captains--Fiction.

Ship captains.

Impressment--Fiction.

Impressment.

Sailors--Fiction.

Sailors.

Genre:

Fiction.

American fiction -- 19th century.

Sea stories, American.

Novels.

Physical Description:

227 pages : illustrations ; 22 cm.

Place of Publication:

Peterborough, Ontario : Broadview Editions, [2016]

Summary:

"'Is it the intention of law-makers that good men shall be hung ever?' asked Henry David Thoreau. The question has never been academic, but in 1924, when Herman Melville's Billy Budd was published, we understood it better than ever. A dense and poetic account of the human cost of realpolitik, Billy Budd asks how far we should go to protect the status quo. In the novella, John Claggart, master-at-arms of a British warship, alleges a sailor is talking mutiny. The sailor, Billy, isn't just innocent of the charge; he's a true innocent. Yet when confronted by his accuser, Billy reacts impulsively, striking Claggart. The resulting trial shows the horrors that can arise from a civilized society following its own laws. This Broadview Edition is based on the authoritative Hayford-Sealts copy-text of Billy Budd. The introduction distils the long and complex critical conversation about the work since its publication, and the historical appendices feature materials on mutiny, capital and corporal punishment, and the rule of law."-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Appendix A The British Debate over the French Revolution 135

1 From Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in France (1790) 135

2 From Thomas Paine, Rights of Man (1791-92) 142

Appendix B The Rule of Law 147

1 From Herman Melville, White-jacket (1850) 147

2 From Ralph Waldo Emerson, "The Fugitive Slave Law" (1851) 149

3 From Henry David Thoreau, "Slavery in Massachusetts" (1854) 150

4 From Henry David Thoreau, "A Plea for Captain John Brown" (1859) 152

5 Herman Melville, "The Portent. (1859.)" (1866) 152

6 Herman Melville, "The House-top. A Night Piece. (July, 1863.)" (1866) 153

7 Sarah Piatt, "The Palace-Burner. A Picture in a Newspaper," The Independent (28 November 1872) 8 154

8 From L.H. Atwater, "The Great Railroad Strike," Presbyterian Quarterly and Princeton Review (October 1877) 157

9 From Clement, "Let Law Violated Be Vindicated," New York Evangelist (26 August 1886) 158

10 From Arthur Edwards, "Chicago's Experience with Anarchy," Chautauquan (December 1886) 159

Appendix C Naval Mutiny 161

1 The Spithead and Nore Mutinies, 1797 161

a From Robert Southey, The Life of Nelson (1813) 161

b From Douglas Jerrold, Black-Eyed Susan (1829) 162

c From Captain [Frederick] Marryat, The King's Own and the Pirate (1830) 164

2 The Somers Mutiny, 1842 165

a From [Charles Sumner,] "The Mutiny of the Somers," North American Review (July 1843) 165

b From Gail Hamilton, "The Murder of Philip Spencer," Cosmopolitan (June-August 1889) 167

Appendix D Corporal Punishment 171

1 From Captain [Frederick] Marryat, The King's Own and the Pirate (1830) 171

2 From Richard Henry Dana Jr., Two Years before the Mast (1840) 174

3 From Herman Melville, White-Jacket (1850) 177

4 From Solomon Northup, Twelve Years a Slave (1853) 180

5 From [Harriet Ann Jacobs,] Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl (1861) 183

6 From Herman Melville, "Bridegroom Dick. 1876" (1888) 183

Appendix E Capital Punishment 187

1 From The Statutes Relating to the Admiralty, Navy, Shipping, and Navigation of the United Kingdom (1749) 187

2 From Herman Melville, Typee (1846) 188

3 From Herman Melville, White-Jacket (1850) 188

4 From Arthur Schopenhauer, "On Suicide" (1851) 191

5 From E.S. Nadal, "The Rationale of the Opposition to Capital Punishment," North American Review (January 1873) 192

6 From Elbridge T. Gerry, "Capital Punishment by Electricity," North American Review (September 1889) 193

7 From Hugh O. Pentecost. "The Crime of Capital Punishment," The Arena (January 1890) 194

8 From Frederick Douglass, "Lynch Law in the South," North American Review (July 1892) 196

Appendix F Sexuality 199

1 From The Statutes Relating to the Admiralty, Navy, Shipping, and Navigation of the United Kingdom (1749) 199

2 Walt Whitman, "In Paths Untrodden" (1860) 200

3 From John Addington Symonds, A Problem in Greek Ethics (1883) 200

4 From Herman Melville, "Bridegroom Dicta 1876" (1888) 201

5 From John Addington Symonds. Walt Whitman: A Study (1893) 202

6 W.H. Auden, "Herman Melville" (1939) 204

Appendix G Pessimism 207

1 From Arthur Schopenhauer, The World as Will and Idea (1819-44) 207

2 From James Thomson, The City of Dreadful Night (1870-74) 208

3 Herman Melville, "The Berg. A Dream" (1888) 212

4 Herman Melville, "The Enthusiast" (1891) 213

5 From William James, The Varieties of Religions Experience (1902) 214.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references.

ISBN:

9781554812387

1554812380

OCLC:

953887650