- Grapples with provocative and controversial questions of race that will refresh readers with a timely reading of a novel that has been exhaustively discussedCombines a plethora of biographical and archival research to lay out its convincing caseOffers a comprehensive account of the book's literary history but also scholarly history surrounding the topic of race
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- About this book
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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 Drawing on a rich variety of sources such as unpublished papers, letters, reviews, and family memorabilia, the chapters discuss the significance of these laws within Melville’s own life.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. - About the authors
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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.
- Table of contents (14 chapters)
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Introduction
Pages 1-4
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Melville’s Motivations
Pages 5-25
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The Ship of State
Pages 27-44
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Hemp and Calhoun’s “Cords”
Pages 45-49
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Man as Whale
Pages 51-71
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Table of contents (14 chapters)
Bibliographic Information
- Bibliographic Information
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- Book Title
- Moby-Dick and Melville’s Anti-Slavery Allegory
- Authors
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- Brian R. Pellar
- Series Title
- American Literature Readings in the 21st Century
- Copyright
- 2017
- Publisher
- Palgrave Macmillan
- Copyright Holder
- The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s)
- eBook ISBN
- 978-3-319-52267-8
- DOI
- 10.1007/978-3-319-52267-8
- Hardcover ISBN
- 978-3-319-52266-1
- Softcover ISBN
- 978-3-319-84863-1
- Series ISSN
- 2634-579X
- Edition Number
- 1
- Number of Pages
- XVII, 234
- Number of Illustrations
- 4 b/w illustrations
- Topics
