This Sunday finds me closing in on the end of the Melville project—well, sort of. It feels like it at least. Well under way with Clarel, I have only that and Billy Budd before the end. To repeat my previous list:
- 1846:
Typee - 1847:
Omoo - 1849:
Mardi;Redburn - 1850:
White-Jacket - 1851:
Moby-Dick - 1852:
Pierre - 1855:
Israel Potter - 1856:
The Piazza Tales - 1857:
The Confidence-Man - 1876: Clarel
- 1886 (begun): Billy Budd
Of course, I still have to write about The Confidence-Man, and that’s not exactly going to be easy. That’s what’s coming at you this week, with perhaps a bit of Battle Pieces and Aspects of the War thrown in for good measure on the way to Clarel.
But what’s making this final stretch a bit stressful is that I’ll be on vacation in a bit, so I’ll be trying to take care of everything before I head off. We’ll see if that works out. Otherwise, you’ll have to wait until September for my bit of the unstructured read—horrors, I know!
The Confidence-Man is a new favorite for me, by the way, and one I’ll have to read again, for sure. Hershel Parker’s essay in the Norton Critical Edition riffs off a famous London review of Moby-Dick to define the “Melvillean”:
The true Melvillean loves metaphysical mulligatawny. He, or she, likes satirical curry hot in the mouth, savors the ginger of blasphemy in diabolical ragouts, relishes punning with ideas perhaps more than punning with words. The Melvillean validates Saint Paul’s “mystery of inquity” in freaks of intimation and makes a well-thumbed textbook of Saint Augustine on Original Sin, the firmest article of faith being that human nature, like the divine nature, is “past finding out.” In un-epic moods, the Melvillean likes The Confidence-Man almost as much as Moby-Dick.
Well, color me Melvillean, folks, although I guess I have to brush up on my Augustine. Or not. (The number of books that come up reading about Melville is enough to keep me going through about a dozen other projects.)
In other news, I’ve done a(nother) blog redesign. I quite like it myself but do let me know if anything behaves strangely.
Looking forward to your comments on The Confidence Man. A friend recently read it and gave it one of his highest recommendations so I’m hoping to get to it soon.
I really like this kind of project, although I think my reading is too scattered to attempt something similar myself. But it’s fun to read the fruits of other people doing it.
Dwight—It will certainly get one of my highest recommendations as well. In my top three novel-length Melville selections. (That sounds ridiculous, but at this point I’ve read a bunch of Melville after all.)
Dorothy—It can be pretty intense. This year I “wanted,” in some sense of the word, to do an author-project like this with three different writers. I don’t think it’s really feasible with more than one. But I am looking forward to next year’s next installment—I’m thinking Nabokov. So intimidating though!
I love the description of the Melvillean. Could I have something of one deep down in me? I suppose some day I’ll find out. PS: I really like the blog’s new layout.
Oooh, Nabokov! That would be fun! I think … :)
Nabokov singles out The Confidence-Man somewhere. No idea where. Or why (other than that it’s a great work of literary art).
hmmm…am still considering doing a Nabokov read as well this year. Kind of nervous about the idea, but really excited! Also am going to have to read The Confidence Man – thanks!
AR—Erm, thanks for the tip? Slash scavenger hunt. Well, if I’m going to read him all next year, I guess I’ll find out.
verbivore—I really feel like after Melville I shouldn’t be so easily intimidated. But then again, it’s Nabokov!
All right, the reference to The Confidence-Man is not in any book with an index. So it’s either in Strong Opinions, in Appel’s notes to The Annotated Lolita, or I made it up.
But! Chapter 12 of Bend Sinister! Tune in tomorrow to Wuthering Expectations for more exciting Melville-Nabokov connections!