Doomed Voyage: America's Evolving Relationship with Moby-Dick
In the years following Melville’s induction into the literary canon during the mid-twentieth century, scholars have dubbed Moby-Dick the “Great American novel” because of the endurance and malleability of Melville’s themes, especially those that praise or critique the core values of American democra...
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2022
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ftcdlib:oai:escholarship.org:ark:/13030/qt4rt3t02n 2024-09-15T18:40:43+00:00 Doomed Voyage: America's Evolving Relationship with Moby-Dick Payton, Dodd Blake, Allmendinger 2022-03-18 application/pdf https://escholarship.org/uc/item/4rt3t02n https://escholarship.org/content/qt4rt3t02n/qt4rt3t02n.pdf unknown eScholarship, University of California qt4rt3t02n https://escholarship.org/uc/item/4rt3t02n https://escholarship.org/content/qt4rt3t02n/qt4rt3t02n.pdf public article 2022 ftcdlib 2024-06-28T06:28:22Z In the years following Melville’s induction into the literary canon during the mid-twentieth century, scholars have dubbed Moby-Dick the “Great American novel” because of the endurance and malleability of Melville’s themes, especially those that praise or critique the core values of American democracy. Since World War II, rhetoricians have been resurrecting Melvillean political symbols—particularly the Pequod and the White Whale—to comment on the ideals and trajectory of the nation during nearly every national crisis that has arisen since the 1940s. Yet, in order for a nineteenth century text to evolve with America herself, either Melville’s abstract prose must lend itself towards perpetual modernization, or readers are subconsciously editing the text by extracting its timeless bits while ignoring its archaisms. To prevent the cultural revision of Moby-Dick, we must interpret Melville’s American allegory holistically, rather than isolating its situationally relevant aspects. By comparing interpretations of this thread of uniquely American symbols and themes found in over six decades of scholarship, this paper contemplates the benefits and dangers of forging a perpetually relevant text, as well as identifies a lack of scholarship that discusses the thematically integral ending of the novel, where the Pequod (America) falls to ruin. What core truths about American politics does Melville capture within the text? Why is it so easy to read ourselves and our modern world into the story, 170 years later? And, most importantly, what essential parts of the text are irrevocably lost when we do? Article in Journal/Newspaper White whale University of California: eScholarship |
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In the years following Melville’s induction into the literary canon during the mid-twentieth century, scholars have dubbed Moby-Dick the “Great American novel” because of the endurance and malleability of Melville’s themes, especially those that praise or critique the core values of American democracy. Since World War II, rhetoricians have been resurrecting Melvillean political symbols—particularly the Pequod and the White Whale—to comment on the ideals and trajectory of the nation during nearly every national crisis that has arisen since the 1940s. Yet, in order for a nineteenth century text to evolve with America herself, either Melville’s abstract prose must lend itself towards perpetual modernization, or readers are subconsciously editing the text by extracting its timeless bits while ignoring its archaisms. To prevent the cultural revision of Moby-Dick, we must interpret Melville’s American allegory holistically, rather than isolating its situationally relevant aspects. By comparing interpretations of this thread of uniquely American symbols and themes found in over six decades of scholarship, this paper contemplates the benefits and dangers of forging a perpetually relevant text, as well as identifies a lack of scholarship that discusses the thematically integral ending of the novel, where the Pequod (America) falls to ruin. What core truths about American politics does Melville capture within the text? Why is it so easy to read ourselves and our modern world into the story, 170 years later? And, most importantly, what essential parts of the text are irrevocably lost when we do? |
author2 |
Blake, Allmendinger |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Payton, Dodd |
spellingShingle |
Payton, Dodd Doomed Voyage: America's Evolving Relationship with Moby-Dick |
author_facet |
Payton, Dodd |
author_sort |
Payton, Dodd |
title |
Doomed Voyage: America's Evolving Relationship with Moby-Dick |
title_short |
Doomed Voyage: America's Evolving Relationship with Moby-Dick |
title_full |
Doomed Voyage: America's Evolving Relationship with Moby-Dick |
title_fullStr |
Doomed Voyage: America's Evolving Relationship with Moby-Dick |
title_full_unstemmed |
Doomed Voyage: America's Evolving Relationship with Moby-Dick |
title_sort |
doomed voyage: america's evolving relationship with moby-dick |
publisher |
eScholarship, University of California |
publishDate |
2022 |
url |
https://escholarship.org/uc/item/4rt3t02n https://escholarship.org/content/qt4rt3t02n/qt4rt3t02n.pdf |
genre |
White whale |
genre_facet |
White whale |
op_relation |
qt4rt3t02n https://escholarship.org/uc/item/4rt3t02n https://escholarship.org/content/qt4rt3t02n/qt4rt3t02n.pdf |
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public |
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1810485119242207232 |