Melville .:. Representative Selections

Melville, Herman,
Representative Selections. New York et al.: American Book Company, 1938. clxi, 437 Seiten mit einer Abbildung als Frontispiz. Leinen mit transparentem Schutzumschlag. Kleinoktav.

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* American Writers Series. - Introduction, Bibliography and Notes by Willard Thorp
Bestell-Nr.157825

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Melville | Englische Literatur

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PREFACE
The time has not yet arrived when a biographer can write definitively about Herman Melville. The grip of the academic tradition of American criticism has only just released him. His reputation still suffers both from neglect and from the extravagancies of his new worshippers. The facts of his life history are not and probably never will be so numerous as those of the other great figures in our literature, but important information about him turns up constantly in the journals. If, then, the Introduction and Notes to this volume in the American Writers Series contain more bald biographical material and indulge in more controversy than is the custom in the other books of the series, this will be excused, I hope, because Melville was born late to fame. It is the good fortune, however, of one who undertakes to study Melville at this juncture to come upon hitherto unpublished writing of his and new records of episodes in his life. In the following pages will be found, specifically, new biographical material from the Duyckinck Collection of the New York Public Library, an unknown review by Melville, an unpublished poem of considerable personal interest, five unpublished letters, three letters from which only fragments have previously been quoted and nine which have not before been given in a correct and complete text. It is a pleasant duty to acknowledge the assistance which I have had from various people. Mr. H. H. Clark, the General Editor of the American Writers Series, has been most generous with his counsel at every point in the undertaking. To Mr. F. J. Mather, Jr., first of the modern critics of Melville, I am indebted for information and the loan of first editions. Mrs. Eleanor Melville Metcalf, Melville's granddaughter, has been, as she is when any student seeks her aid, eager to assist in the presentation of a frank and true picture of her grandfather's career. To Mr. Lewis Mumford, a pioneer in Melville biography, I am under obligation, and also to Mr. Carl Stroven of the University of Hawaii. Mr. Malcolm Young, Reference Librarian of Princeton University, has procured many rare books for my use. I have been the recipient of courtesies from Mr. V. H. Paltsits, Curator of Manuscripts at the New York Public Library, and his staff; the librarians of the New York Historical Society; the curators of the Treasure Room of the Harvard College Library; and the library staff of the Berkshire Athenaeum.
W. T.
CONTENTS
HERMAN MELVILLE INTRODUCTION
I. Formative Influences, xi
II. Melville as Artist, xl
111. The Trilogy: Mardi, Moby-Dick, Pierre, lxv
I V. Melville's Poetry, lxxxiv
V. Melville's Social Ideas, xcvii
VI. Melville's Reputation, cxix
CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE, CXXX
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
I. Bibliography, cxxxiii
II. Text, cxxxiii
Ill. Biography, cxxxvi
I V. Contemporary Reviews and Criticism, cxli
V. Criticism and Scholarship, cxlvii
SELECTIONS
From Typee
Chapter X: The Head of the Valley, 3
Chapter XVII: Improvement in Health and Spirits, 14
Chapter XX: History of a Day as Usually Spent in the
Typee Valley, 23
Chapter XXII: Preparations for a Grand Festival in the
valley, 28
Chapter XXIII: The Feast of Calabashes, 34
Chapter xxvll: The Social Condition and General
Character of the Typees, 40
Chapter XXX: A Professor of the Fine Arts, 47
Chapter xxxrv: The Escape, 56
From Omoo
Chapter II: Some Account of the Ship, 67
Chapter XXVII: A Glance at Papeetee, 71
Chapter XXX: They Take Us Ashore, 75
Chapter XXXI: The Calabooza Beretanee, 79
Chapter XXXIII: we Receive Calls at the Hotel de Cala-
booza, 85
Chapter XXXIV: Life at the Calabooza, 89
Chapter XXX V: Visit from an Old Acquaintance, 91
Chapter XXX VI: We Are Carried before the Consul and
Captain, 95
Chapter xxxvll: The French Priests Pay Their Re-
spects, 98
Chapter XXXVIII: Little Jule Sails without Us, 102
Chapter XLVIII: Tahiti as It Is, 107
Chapter LXII: Tamai, 112
Chapter LXIII: A Dance in the Valley, 115
Chapter LXXII: A Dealer in the Contraband, 117
Chapter LXXX: Queen Pomaree, 122
Chapter LXXXI: We Visit the Court, 127
Chapter LXXXII: Which Ends the Book, 131
From Mardi
Chapter CXLV: Chiefly' of King Bello, 137
Chapter CXLVI: Dominora and Vivenza, 143
Chapter CXLVII: They Land at Dominora, 146
Chapter CXLVIII: Through Dominora, They Wander
after Yillah, 149
Chapter CLVIII: They Visit the Great Central Temple
of Vivenza, 151
Chapter CLXI: They Hearken unto a Voice from the
Gods, 156
Chapter CLXII: They Visit the Extreme South of Vi-
venza, 165
From White-Jacket
Chapter I V: Jack Chase, 171
Chapter V: Jack Chase on a Spanish Quarter-Deck, 175
Chapter XXXIII: A Flogging, 178
ChapterXXXIV: Effects of Flogging, 183
Chapter LXI: The Surgeon of the Fleet, 187
Chapter LXII: A Consultation of Man-of-War Sur-
geons,• 192
Chapter LXIII: The Operation, 195
Chapter LXVII: White-Jacket Arraigned at the Mast, 206
Chapter XCII: The Last of the Jacket, 212
From Moby-Dick
Chapter XXVI: Knights and Squires, 217
Chapter XXVII: Knights and Squires, 220
Chapter xxvlll: Ahab, 224
Chapter XXX VI: The Quarter-Deck, 228
Chapter XLI: Moby Dick, 236
Chapter XLII: The Whiteness of the Whale, 246
Chapter LXVII: Cutting In, 254
Chapter LXVIII: The Blanket, 256
Chapter LXIX: The Funeral, 259
Chapter LXXXVII: The Grand Armada, 260
Chapter CXIX: The Candles, 273
Chapter CXXVIII: The Pequod Meets the Rachel, 280
Chapter CXXXII: The Symphony, 283
Chapter CXXXIII: The Chase First Day, 288
Chapter CXXXIV: The Chase — Second Day, 297
Chapter CXXXV: The Chase Third Day, 306
Epilogue, 318
Criticism
Browne's Etchings of a Whaling Cruise and Rin«bolt's
Sailor's Life and Sailor's Yarns, 320
'fHawthorne and His Mosses," 327
Poems
To Daniel Shepherd, 346
From Battle-Pieces
The Portent, 348
Lyon, 348
A Utilitarian View of the Monitor's Fight, 351
Malvern Hill, 352
Sheridan at Cedar Creek, 353
On the Grave of a young Cavalry
A Requiem, 354
A Meditation, 35 5
From John Marr and Other Sailors
John Marr, 357
Far Off-shore, 359
The Enviable Isles, 360
From Timoleon
After the Pleasure Partv. 360
Lone Founts, 365
Art, 365
The Age of the Antonines, 366
The Great Pyramid, 366
Letters, 368
NOTES, 405

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