* * This comprehensive resource demonstrates the relevance of Melville s works in the twenty-first century. * Presents 35 original essays by scholars from around the world, representing a range of different approaches to Melville.

List of Illustrations xi Notes on Contributors xii Acknowledgments xx Texts and Abbreviations xxi Preface xxiiiWyn Kelley Part I Travels 1 1 A Traveling Life Laurie Robertson-Lorant 3 2 Cosmopolitanism and Traveling Culture Peter Gibian 19 3 Melville’s World Readers A. Robert Lee 35 4 Global Melville Paul Lyons 52 Part II Geographies 69 5 Science and the Earth Bruce A. Harvey 71 6 Ships, Whaling, and the Sea Mary K. Bercaw Edwards 83 7 Pacific Paradises Alex Calder 98 8 Atlantic Trade Hester Blum 113 9 Ancient Lands Basem L. Ra’ad 129 Part III Nations 147 10 Democracy and its Discontents Dennis Berthold 149 11 Urbanization, Class Struggle, and Reform Carol Colatrella 165 12 Wicked Books: Melville and Religion Hilton Obenzinger 181 13 Pierre’s Bad Associations: Public Life in the Institutional Nation Christopher Castiglia 197 14 Melville, Slavery, and the American Dilemma John Stauffer 214 15 Gender and Sexuality Leland S. Person 231 Part IV Libraries 247 16 The Legacy of Britain Robin Grey 249 17 Romantic Philosophy, Transcendentalism, and Nature Rachela Permenter 266 18 Literature of Exploration and the Sea R. D. Madison 282 19 Death and Literature: Melville and the Epitaph Edgar A. Dryden 299 20 The Company of Women Authors Charlene Avallone 313 21 Hawthorne and Race Ellen Weinauer 327 22 “Unlike Things Must Meet and Mate”: Melville and the Visual Arts Robert K. Wallace 342 Part V Texts 363 23 The Motive for Metaphor: Typee, Omoo, and Mardi Geoffrey Sanborn 365 24 Artist at Work: Redburn, White-Jacket, Moby-Dick, and Pierre Cindy Weinstein 378 25 The Language of Moby-Dick: “Read It If You Can” Maurice S. Lee 393 26 Threading the Labyrinth: Moby-Dick as Hybrid Epic Christopher Sten 408 27 The Female Subject in Pierre and The Piazza Tales Caroline Levander 423 28 Narrative Shock in “Bartleby, the Scrivener,” “The Paradise of Bachelors and the Tartarus of Maids,” and “Benito Cereno” Marvin Fisher 435 29 Fluid Identity in Israel Potter and The Confidence-Man Gale Temple 451 30 How Clarel Works Samuel Otter 467 31 Melville the Realist Poet Elizabeth Renker 482 32 Melville’s Transhistorical Voice: Billy Budd, Sailor and the Fragmentation of Forms John Wenke 497 Part VI Meanings 513 33 The Melville Revival Sanford E. Marovitz 515 34 Creating Icons: Melville in Visual Media and Popular Culture Elizabeth Schultz 532 35 The Melville Text John Bryant 553 Index 567

A Companion to Herman Melville is the ideal resource for twenty-first century readers of Melville. In 35 original essays by scholars from around the world, it demonstrates the relevance of Melville to life today, not only as an American or Western writer, , but also as an author who bridges racial, cultural, national and geographic divides to imagine a universe that is as rich and capacious as his worldwide readership. This is the first companion to consider Melville in a global context, and to look at the impact of global economies and technologies on the ways people read his works. In addition, it locates Melville in his cultural milieu – revising previous romantic views of his politics on race, gender, and democracy. Seen in this light, Melville is also revealed as a more contemporary writer than his readers have sometimes assumed.

"This book does not focus on one particular Melville book, short story, or poem but instead offers a new examination of the latest in Melville criticism...These fine essays advance Melville scholarship for the 21st century."—Choice “A beautifully produced substantial volume.”—Reference Reviews