Visionary of the word : Melville and religion / edited by Jonathan A. Cook and Brian Yothers.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Cook, Jonathan A. (Jonathan Alexander), 1953- editor.

Yothers, Brian, 1975- editor.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Melville, Herman, 1819-1891--Criticism and interpretation.

Melville, Herman.

Melville, Herman, 1819-1891--Religion.

Melville, Herman, 1819-1891.

Religion in literature.

Religion.

Criticism and interpretation.

Genre:

Criticism, interpretation, etc.

Physical Description:

vii, 296 pages ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Evanston, Illinois : Northwestern University Press, 2017.

Summary:

Visionary of the Word brings together the latest scholarship on Herman Melville's treatment of religion across his long career as a writer of fiction and poetry. The volume suggests the broad range of Melville's religious concerns, including his engagement with the denominational divisions of American Christianity his dialogue with transatlantic currents in nineteenth-century religious thought, his consideration of theological and philosophical questions related to the problem of evil and determination versus free will, and his representation of the global contact among differing faiths and cultures. These essays constitute a capacious response to the many avenues through which Melville interacted with religious faith, doubt, and secularization throughout his career, advancing our understanding of Melville as a visionary interpreter of religious experience who remains resonant in our own religiously complex era. Book jacket.

Contents:

Introduction / Jonathan A. Cook and Brian Yothers

Clarel and the Victorian crisis of faith / Jonathan A. Cook

"Change irreverent" : evolution and faith in "The Encantadas" and Clarel / Eileen McGinnis

Faith among the weeds : Melville's religious wildings beyond these deserts / Martin Kevorkian

Melville and the Unitarian conscience / Dawn Coleman

Melville and the Mormons / Zachary McLeod Hutchins

Melville's Asia, Melville's missionaries / Brian Yothers

Melville among the heathens : religion, race, and representation in the South Seas / Richard A. Garner

Coleridge, Edwards, and the peculiar progress of Melville's free will problem / Brad Bannon

"The apocalypse of pain" : suffering, theodicy, and religious identity in Moby-Dick / Haein Park.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780810134256

081013425X

9780810134263

0810134268

OCLC:

948340277

Publisher Number:

99971067635