The Cambridge introduction to Herman Melville / Kevin J. Hayes.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Hayes, Kevin J., author.

Series:

Cambridge introductions to literature.

Cambridge introductions to literature

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Melville, Herman, 1819-1891--Handbooks, manuals, etc.

Melville, Herman.

Authors, American--19th century--Biography--Handbooks, manuals, etc.

Authors, American.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xi, 140 pages) : digital, PDF file(s).

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 2007.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Despite its indifferent reception when it was first published in 1851, Moby Dick is now a central work in the American literary canon. This introduction offers readings of Melville's masterpiece, but it also sets out the key themes, contexts, and critical reception of his entire oeuvre. The first chapters cover Melville's life and the historical and cultural contexts. Melville's individual works each receive full attention in the third chapter, including Typee, Moby Dick, Billy Budd and the short stories. Elsewhere in the chapter different themes in Melville are explained with reference to several works: Melville's writing process, Melville as letter writer, Melville and the past, Melville and modernity, Melville's late writings. The final chapter analyses Melville scholarship from his day to ours. Kevin J. Hayes provides comprehensive information about Melville's life and works in an accessible and engaging book that will be essential for students beginning to read this important author.

Contents:

1. Life

2. Contexts

The existential context

The historical context

The urban context

The visual context

The psychological context

The American context

The context of labor

The context of slavery

The world context

The imaginative context

3. Writings

The faces of Typee

Omoo : the rover as flaneur

Becoming a great writer : Mardi, Redburn, White-Jacket

Confronting Moby-Dick

Pierre : the making of a tragic hero

Private letters

Rewriting history : Israel Potter and "Benito Cereno"

Modern man : "The lightning-rod man," The confidence-man, "Bartleby, the scrivener"

Battle-pieces : the voices of war

Clarel, and American epic

The return to prose : Burgundy Club sketches, John Marr

Billy Budd : visions and revisions

4. Reception.

Notes:

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 05 Oct 2015).

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

1-107-16587-3

1-280-81553-1

0-511-61100-5

0-511-27462-9

0-511-27532-3

0-511-27306-1

0-511-56850-9

0-511-27385-1

OCLC:

780848387