Moby-Dick and Melville's Anti-Slavery Allegory

Softcover Nachdruck of the original 1. Auflage 2017
ISBN: 978-3-319-84863-1
Verlag: Springer International Publishing

Buch, Englisch, 234 Seiten, Previously published in hardcover, Format (B × H): 148 mm x 210 mm, Gewicht: 331 g

Reihe: American Literature Readings in the 21st Century

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 Drawing on a rich variety of sources such as unpublished papers, letters, reviews, and family memorabilia, the chapters discuss the significance of these laws within Melville’s own life.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. 

Zielgruppe

Research

Autoren/Hrsg.

Pellar, Brian R.

Weitere Mitwirkende

Miller, J. Hillis

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Literaturwissenschaft Literaturgeschichte und Literaturkritik
• Geisteswissenschaften Literaturwissenschaft Englische Literatur Amerikanische Literatur
• Geisteswissenschaften Literaturwissenschaft Literarische Stoffe, Motive und Themen

Inhaltsverzeichnis

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.

Über Autor(innen)

Brian Pellar has authored four papers in Sino-Platonic Papers, a scholarly monographic series. After serving four years in the US Navy, he studied art, biology, and psychology, and ultimately English. He currently lives in Boston, MA.