{"product_id":"after-the-whale-melville-in-the-wake-of-moby-dick-paperback-softback-9780817360719","title":"After the Whale; Melville in the Wake of Moby-Dick (Paperback \/ softback) 9780817360719","description":"\u003cfont face=\"Georgia\"\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"6\"\u003eAfter the Whale\u003c\/font\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\r\n\u003cfont size=\"5\"\u003eMelville in the Wake of Moby-Dick\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"4\"\u003eClark Davis (Author)\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e9780817360719\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003ePaperback \/ softback, published 23 February 2021\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e248 pages\u003cbr\u003e22.6 x 15.2 x 2 cm, 0.383 kg\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003cp align=\"justify\"\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003eAn important, well-executed study. With intelligence, conviction, assiduity, skill, and considerable economy, Davis has drawn a convincing line of connection through Herman Melville's later works. This book will be widely read and appreciated, taking its place among the more important studies of Melville.\" - Stanton B. Garner, Professor Emeritus of English The University of Texas at Arlington\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Davis has written an excellent and thorough study of the dualism in Melville's later works, ending with \u003ci\u003eBilly Budd\u003c\/i\u003e, in which Billy represents the body and Claggart the mind. David has emphasized Melville's work as a search for meaning and answers, which he convinces us is one of the best ways to approach so complex a writer.\" - \u003ci\u003eStudies in Short Fiction\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp align=\"justify\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e\u003cb\u003eContextualizes Herman Melville's short fiction and poetry by studying it in the company of the more familiar fiction of the 1850s era\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e The study focuses on Melville's vision of the purpose and function of language from \u003ci\u003eMoby-Dick\u003c\/i\u003e through \u003ci\u003eBilly Budd\u003c\/i\u003e with a special emphasis on how language-in function and form-follows and depends on the function and form of the body, how Melville's attitude toward words echoes his attitude toward fish. Davis begins by locating and describing the fundamental dialectic formulated in \u003ci\u003eMoby-Dick\u003c\/i\u003e in the characters of Ahab and Ishmael. This dialectic produces two visions of bodily reality and two corresponding visions of language: Ahab's, in which language is both weapon and substitute body, and Ishmael's, in which language is an extension of the body-a medium of explanation, conversation, and play. These two forms of language provide a key to understanding the difficult relationships and formal changes in Melville's writings after \u003ci\u003eMoby-Dick\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e By following each work's attitude toward the dialectic, we can see the contours of the later career more clearly and so begin a movement away from weakly contextualized readings of individual novels and short stories to a more complete consideration of Melville's career. Since the rediscovery of Herman Melville in the early decades of this century, criticism has been limited to the prose in general and to a few major works in particular.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Those who have given significant attention to the short fiction and poetry have done so frequently out of context, that is, in multi-author works devoted exclusively to these genres. The result has been a criticism with large gaps, most especially for works from Melville's later career. The relative lack of interest in the poetry has left us with little understanding of how Melville's later voices developed, of how the novels evolved into tales, the tales into poetry, and the poetry back into prose. In short, the development of Melville's art during the final three decades of his life remains a subject of which we have been afforded only glimpses, rarely a continuous attention. \u003ci\u003eAfter the Whale\u003c\/i\u003e provides a new, more comprehensive understanding of Melville's growth as a writer.\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003ePreface\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eAcknowledgments\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003ePart I. \u003ci\u003eMoby-Dick\u003c\/i\u003e and After\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eChapter 1. \u003ci\u003eMoby-Dick\u003c\/i\u003e and the Divided Body\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eChapter 2. Language and the Ascetic Body in \u003ci\u003ePierre\u003c\/i\u003e and '\u003cbr\u003eBartleby'\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eChapter 3. \u003ci\u003eIsrael Potter\u003c\/i\u003e and the Search for the Hearth\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003ePart II. The Limits of Form\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eChapter 4. Toward Deception: The Short Fiction and the Failing Body\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eChapter 5. Inverted Worlds: '\u003cbr\u003eBenito Cereno'\u003cbr\u003e and \u003ci\u003eThe Confidence-Man\u003c\/i\u003e\n\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003ePart III. Reshaping the Lost Debate\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eChapter 6. The Fissure in the Hearth: \u003ci\u003eBattle Pieces\u003c\/i\u003e\n\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eChapter 7. \u003ci\u003eClarel\u003c\/i\u003e and the Search for the Divine Body\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eChapter 8. A Question of Distance: The Late Poetry\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003ePart IV. An Open Ending\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eChapter 9. \u003ci\u003eBilly Budd\u003c\/i\u003e and the Touch of a God\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eEpilogue\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eNotes\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eBibliography\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eIndex\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003c\/font\u003e","brand":"The University of Alabama Press","offers":[{"title":"Brand New","offer_id":52574420271384,"sku":"9780817360719","price":21.56,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"url":"https:\/\/freshlyprintedbooks.co.uk\/products\/after-the-whale-melville-in-the-wake-of-moby-dick-paperback-softback-9780817360719","provider":"Freshly Printed Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}