Point ONE: Billy Budd: Critic Eugene Goodheart is the Edythe Macy Professor of Humanities Emeritus at Brandeis University. He writes that while critics are generally divided between those who see Captain Vere as "an unwitting collaborator" with Cla Continue Reading...
Frequent interception of American ships to impress American citizens was a major cause of the War of 1812. ("Impressments." The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia. 10 Aug. 2005, (http://www.factmonster.com/ce6/history/A0825052.html)
The enforced and Continue Reading...
Thus, Melville clearly portrays Billy as the greatest of innocents, infused with godlike looks and a pure heart. As this type of a character is realistically unlikely, many readers can quickly interpret Billy to be, therefore, a symbol of innocence. Continue Reading...
Frankenstein -- Billy Budd
BILLY BUDD & VICTOR FRANKENSTEIN:
TWO TRAGIC FIGURES
After a close reading of Mary W. Shelley's Frankenstein; Or, the Modern Prometheus, first published in 1818, and Herman Melville's novella Billy Budd, published ar Continue Reading...
Myths - "The Other Side of Wonder"
Like the empty sky it has no boundaries, yet it is right in this place, ever profound and clear.2
So run the lines from Cheng Tao, describing signifying, identifying myths - always there explaining existence and e Continue Reading...
Melville and Clarel
Introduction
Herman Melville is typically mostly known for his novel Moby-Dick, but the prose writer turned to poetry in his later years after his novels (following Moby-Dick) failed to be best-sellers. Poetry, it was thought, wou Continue Reading...