Moby-Dick and Melville's Anti-Slavery Allegory / by Brian R. Pellar.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Pellar, Brian R., Author.

Series:

American Literature Readings in the 21st Century, 2634-5803

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Literature, Modern--19th century.

Literature, Modern.

America--Literatures.

America.

Literature--History and criticism.

Literature.

Nineteenth-Century Literature.

North American Literature.

Literary History.

Local Subjects:

Nineteenth-Century Literature.

North American Literature.

Literary History.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (XVII, 234 p. 4 illus.)

Edition:

1st ed. 2017.

Place of Publication:

Cham : Springer International Publishing : Imprint: Palgrave Macmillan, 2017.

Summary:

This book unfurls and examines the anti-slavery allegory at the subtextual core of Herman Melville's famed novel, Moby-Dick. Brian Pellar points to symbols and allusions in the novel such as the albinism of the famed whale, the "Ship of State" motif, Calhoun's "cords," the equator, Jonah, Narcissus, St. Paul, and Thomas Hobbe's Leviathan. The work contextualizes these devices within a historical discussion of the Compromise of 1850 and subsequently strengthened Fugitive Slave Laws. Drawing on a rich variety of sources such as unpublished papers, letters, reviews, and family memorabilia, the chapters discuss the significance of these laws within Melville's own life. After clarifying the hidden allegory interconnecting black slaves and black whales, this book carefully sheds the layers of a hidden meaning that will be too convincing to ignore for future readings: Moby-Dick is ultimately a novel that is intimately connected with questions of race, slavery, and the state. .

Contents:

Introduction

2 Melville's Motivations

3 The Ship of State

4 Hemp and Calhoun's "Cords"

5 Man as Whale

6. "This Afric Temple of the Whale"

7 The Equator.-8 "Who Ain't a Slave?"

9 "The Log and the Line"

10 St. Paul

11"I Do Not Baptise Thee in Name"

Moby-Dick and "Black Blood"

10 Moby Dick in Service

Epilogue.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9783319522678

3319522671