閱讀赫爾曼·麥爾維爾 Herman Melvill在小说之家的作品!!! | |||
麥爾維爾(1819～1891)Melville.Herman，美國作傢。1819年8月19日生於紐約的一個商人家庭，1891年9月28日卒於同地。麥爾維爾的祖先是蘇格蘭的一個名門望族，早在麥爾維爾祖父那一輩，就已經來了美國，並且參加了獨立戰爭，在社會上有一定的影響。在他少年時代，父親破産，家庭一下子從富裕墮入潦倒之中。爾維爾１２歲時不幸喪父，１５歲時就結束了僅僅四年的學校生活。因傢境惡化，使他不得不走嚮社會獨自謀生。他先後做過銀行職員、農場工人、鄉村教師，備嘗了人世間的冷暖。因父親破産，未成年便離開學校，自立謀生。此後不久，他不得不從銀行職員做起，先後做過店員、農場工人和小學教師，嘗盡了生活的酸甜苦辣。
麥爾維爾作品
1837年，18歲的麥爾維爾懷着滿腔的忿懣和對社會的抵觸，逃上了一艘帆船，開始了他的航海生涯。第一次的航海衹是激起了他更強烈的願望，1839年，到一艘往返於美國紐約和英國利物浦之間的輪船上當服務員，開始了5年海上生活。其間曾在幾艘捕鯨船和郵輪上當過漁叉手和普通水手，足跡踏遍四大洋，還曾流落到塔希提島和馬剋薩斯島上，在有食人風氣的土著部落中生活過一個時期，並作為水兵在美國號戰艦上服過役。從1841年起，他開始登上捕鯨船做水手了。在隨後的3年間，麥爾維爾隨着捕鯨船到了世界上的很多地方，大大開闊了眼界。不僅如此，他還和捕鯨船上的其他夥伴一起，同捕鯨船上的專製行為做了一定的鬥爭，並且還曾因暴動等原因被監禁。後來，麥爾維爾加入了美國軍艦“美國號”，在艦上服役，直到1844年他在波士頓上岸，結束自己的航海生涯。這些經歷為日後他的創作提供了豐富的素材。
1841年到1844年的航海生涯對麥爾維爾的一生影響很大，而這其中，相當的時間是在捕鯨船上，這樣，麥爾維爾的思想基本上被奠定了。坎坷的經歷、豐富的生活和強烈的思想構成了以後麥爾維爾寫作生涯的基礎。他的作品是他生活的寫照，也是他思想的寫照。
1844年，麥爾維爾退伍回到紐約，開始創作生活。最初的長篇小說《泰比》、《奧穆》、 《馬爾迪》都是以他在南太平洋的生活為依據寫成。其中《泰比》描寫了他在馬剋薩斯島上的食人部落泰比人中的驚險經歷，揭示了資本主義文明給當地土著人的淳樸生活帶來的破壞，因此受到教會的譴責。另外兩部長篇小說《雷德本》和《白外套》也是描寫海洋生活的。這些作品給美國文學帶來了嶄新的領域和內容，在美國讀者中廣受歡迎，作者因此贏得了海洋文學家的稱譽。
圍繞着麥爾維爾，一切都是悲劇。創作悲劇作品本身並不是悲劇，衹有創作悲劇作品的人成了現實悲劇中的主人公時，真正的悲劇纔産生了。梅爾維爾最初的兩本書《泰皮》(1846)和《歐穆》 (1847)，是根據他在泰皮和塔希提的見聞經過藝術加工而寫成的遊記。1847年梅爾維爾開始創作《瑪地》，並同紐約文藝界接觸，經常為文藝刊物寫稿。1849年梅爾維爾出版《雷得本》，1850年出版《白外衣》，都寫航海生活，也都獲得好評。這年夏天他與霍桑相識，兩人成為鄰居和朋友。1866至1885年他在紐約任海關檢查員。1866年他自費印行第1部詩集《戰事集》。1876年又自費出版以宗教為題材的18000行長詩《剋拉瑞爾》，1888年和1891年自費出版詩集《約韓·瑪爾和其他水手》和詩集《梯摩裏昂》，各印25册。
梅爾維爾於1891年9月28日去世。一生潦倒不得意，他的作品在當時大多也不受歡迎，1851年，他發表了自己的代表作《白鯨》（又名《莫比•迪剋》），但沒有引起讀者和評論界的重視，這使他十分失望。《白鯨》之後，麥爾維爾後期作品中比較重要的有小說《彼埃爾》（1852年）、《伊薩雷爾•波特》（1855年）、《騙子》（1857年）、長篇小說《比利•巴德》（死後於1924年被整理發表）和短篇故事集《廣場故事》（1856年）。但是以上這些作品在當時都受到讀者的冷遇，麥爾維爾本人也幾乎被人遺忘。1891年，麥爾維爾在世人的漠不關心中逝世於紐約———他的出生地。死後3天，《紐約時報》纔在一個不起眼的位置刊登了這個不幸的消息。這些作品長期沒有得到重視。直到20世紀20年代，麥爾維爾的價值纔被美國文學界“重新發現”，確立了他在美國文學史上應有的地位。西方評論傢纔對麥爾維爾的後期作品，尤其是《白鯨》非常感興趣，贊譽它為一部美國文學經典著作。1956年06月27日，由導演約翰·休斯頓JohnHuston根據小說改編的電影《白鯨記》（又名MobyDick）在美國上映。
赫爾曼·麥爾維爾-主要著作
1851年梅爾維爾出版他最重要的作品《白鯨》，這部小說以充實的思想內容、史詩般的規模和沉鬱瑰奇的文筆，成為傑出的作品，但在當時卻沒有得到重視。梅爾維爾的小說作品還有《皮埃爾》 (1852)和《伊斯雷爾·波特》 (1855)。他的短篇小說和散文有《代筆者巴特貝》 (1853)、《迷惘的島嶼》(1854)、《班尼托·西蘭諾》 (1855)等，後來集成《廣場故事》於1856年出版。1857年出版的長篇小說《騙子的化裝表演》 。他去世前所寫的一部長篇小說是《畢利·伯德》 (1924)，在他死後30多年纔出版。梅爾維爾晚年轉而寫詩。1866年他自費印行第1部詩集《戰事集》 。1876年又自費出版以宗教為題材的18000行長詩《剋拉瑞爾》 ，1888年和1891年自費出版詩集《約韓·瑪爾和其他水手》和詩集《梯摩裏昂》 ，各印25册。
赫爾曼·麥爾維爾-時代背景
1851年，美國作傢麥爾維爾完成了他的長篇小說《白鯨》。《白鯨》出版後，麥爾維爾曾給霍桑寫過一封信。他在信中稱：“我剛剛寫了一本壞書，現在我感到自己像羔羊一樣純潔。”
麥爾維爾作品
自稱寫了一本“壞書”，卻“感到自己像羔羊一樣純潔”，這話聽起來有些玄妙，無論過去還是現在，這樣的自白都不能不給讀者帶來幾分迷惑。究竟是麥爾維爾本人對如何評價自己的作品缺乏洞見，還是有意以謙卑的姿態，取悅他所崇敬的作傢？從麥爾維爾與霍桑的個人友情看，似乎兩者兼而有之。不過，更有趣也更重要的，是作傢無意中在這一段話裏顯露出的某種微妙的心理狀態：對寫出這部大有別於普通讀者口味的《白鯨》，帶有幾分自嘲，懷着某種歉意，同時又流露出作品脫手後難以抑製的喜悅。在歉意與喜悅交錯相融的情緒之間，這明顯地暗示着什麽，似乎作傢意識到自己接近了一個宏大的目標，且有充分的把握貼近和捕捉它；並且，在追尋和捕捉這宏大目標的過程中，他的心靈得到了升華，有一種潔白如雪的愉悅感。那麽，麥爾維爾欲言又止，隱而不談的到底是什麽？
深究這個問題，1851年這個年頭决不能忽視，它是一把必不可少的入門的鑰匙。因為今天重新解讀《白鯨》，我們不能衹關心文本，不能把閱讀死死地框在文本的小牢籠裏，相反，恰恰應該在一定程度上有意識地放棄在文本的麯折小徑裏流連徘徊的“細讀”方法，讓歷史回到閱讀和批評中來，以從整體上理解麥爾維爾的寫作以及作傢所處的時代。
一旦讓歷史之門敞開，我們就不能不看到《白黥》絶不是某種象牙塔中的寫作，不能不看到這部作品與歷史之間那種麯折隱蔽的關係，並將其視為龐雜歷史係統的一部分。這段歷史就是1848～1875年前後資本主義對全球的擴張和徵服。對新興的資本主義而言，這一時段極為顯赫，藉用霍布斯鮑姆的話說：“資本主義在1848年前的60年裏已經獲得歷史性的突破，在經濟陣綫、政治—意識形態陣綫上皆取得勝利。”在其《資本的年代》一書中，霍布斯鮑姆不僅概述了資本主義工業化初期的重要事件，分析了一些事件的正負面影響，還特別強調了這一時期經濟和技術方面的成就：“全世界澆鑄了幾百萬噸的鐵，穿越各大洲的綿延鐵路，橫跨大西洋的海底電纜，蘇伊士運河的開鑿，芝加哥等美國中西部處女地上拔地而起的大城市……”等等。歷史學家認為“這是一出歐洲和北美強權主演的戲劇，世界被踩在它們足下。”
霍布斯鮑姆還將1851年前後的移民活動，稱為“歷史上最偉大的一次移民浪潮”，他註意到1846～1875年之間，約有900多萬人離開歐洲，其中大部分到了美國。剋羅斯比在《生態擴張主義》一書中，分析大約整個歐洲人口的1/5移居美洲的推動力時，認為主因是“人口爆炸及由此導致的耕地短缺，民族間的爭鬥，對少數民族的迫害。”
對比之下，霍布斯鮑姆的觀點比較溫和，他認為造成移民大潮的直接原因，涉及到當時歐洲都市化浪潮和鄉村普遍的貧睏化，還因為“有幾批移民是從較糟糕的農業環境離開，遷移到較好的農業環境定居。”在這裏，霍布斯鮑姆的筆觸已經點到了生態環境，但並未把它當成大問題認真探究。不過，這位歷史學家指出，大批歐洲移民移居美國的後果，在1867～1883年短短的十幾年間顯現出來，這就是大約1300萬印第安人慘遭屠殺（包括歐洲人帶入的天花、霍亂等疾病給原住民造成的生態災難），甚至連印第安人賴以生存的幾百萬野牛也在新移民的槍口下滅絶。值得註意的是，雖然指出資本主義在全球的擴張及其探險活動，已經將“世界地圖上的空白逐漸填滿”，但霍布斯鮑姆還是疏漏了一個廣阔的領域:海洋。
麥爾維爾作品
另一位歷史學家沃勒斯坦在對資本主義體係進行歷史性動態分析時，註意到早在17世紀初，或更早一些時間，荷蘭在世界經濟體係中取得了霸權地位之後，不僅壟斷了北海的鯡魚捕撈業，還壟斷了冰島以及斯匹茲卑爾根的鯨魚捕撈業，甚至統治了世界海運貿易。當時的荷蘭的造船業已經十分發達，在阿姆斯特丹“有一係列相互連貫的工業部門:纜繩工廠、面包房、供應船用雜貨，以及製造航海儀器和繪製海圖的部門。”
布羅代爾則在他著名的歷史著作《15至18世紀的物質文明、經濟和資本主義》中提供了另一幅圖景：“……阿姆斯特丹總是船滿為患，一名旅行者於1738年說：‘我從未見過如此驚人的奇景。如果沒有親眼目睹，不能想象有2000條船在同一港內的絶妙場面。’1701年的一本旅行指南談到，港內的8000條船，‘檣桅林立，遮天蔽日’。船衹數目到底是2000或8000,我們不必深究。可以肯定的是，從丹姆廣場放眼望去，衹見到處都是船旗。……真是讓人不能相信，更遠處是專門從事捕鯨的大船。”這是多麽龐大的船隊。據推測，當時造一艘大船需要2000棵樹齡達100年的橡樹，而生長2000棵橡樹那時需要500英畝的土地。沃勒斯坦認定，早在16世紀，由於造船等其它經濟因素“致使西歐、意大利、西班牙和地中海諸島的森林面積緩慢而穩步地減少。”
其實，徵服海洋的行動早已開始，作傢法利·莫厄特在《屠海》中對此作了詳細描述，從他掌握的資料看，1851年前後，整個資本主義世界對海洋的徵服，對海洋生物的圍剿與同一時期慘殺美洲印第安人的行動相比，同等的血腥、同等的瘋狂。按照莫厄特的考證，捕鯨人在外海捕殺抹香鯨後，新英格蘭人變成真正的捕鯨者。到1765年，有120多條新英格蘭的捕鯨船在外海捕鯨。他們捕殺抹香鯨、座頭鯨、還有黑色露脊鯨，捕殺量驚人。新英格蘭捕鯨船隊組建後，環繞了整個地球，他們在南大西洋、南北太平洋和印度洋巡獵。在1804至1807年間，共捕殺了20多萬頭鯨。黑色露脊鯨成為被獵殺的目標後，僅50多年時間裏幾乎在世界範圍滅絶。按照莫厄特的分析，歐洲人首次到達北美大陸時，僅北大西洋中有15萬頭格陵蘭鯨。莫厄特認為，巴斯剋人、英國人、蘇格蘭人、荷蘭人、德國人以及美國人，在百餘年內將格陵蘭鯨滅絶。1847年前後，美國人成了捕鯨業後來居上的霸主，它擁有3倍於歐洲的捕鯨船，數量達700艘，從事捕鯨的人過兩萬。美國的捕鯨船隊僅用50年時間，完全滅絶了太平洋中的弓頭鯨。可以想像，當非洲的黑人被作為奴隸販賣，海洋中鯨魚的腦、須、齒被視為昂貴的商品，還有什麽東西不可以成為資本和利潤所追逐的目標。新興的資本主義已如同一頭無比貪婪的大怪獸，其無休止的吞噬行徑，其盲目、瘋狂的掠攫活動，不僅到處製造災難，而且在它所徵服的一切領域留下了抹不掉的血腥印跡。正是依靠這樣一係列殘酷的對世界的發現和開發，從16世紀至18世紀的200多年間，資本主義成功地將自己的勢力擴展到地球的各個角落。1848年，馬剋思和恩格斯對此有過深刻的概括：“它按照自己的面貌為自己創造出一個世界”。
這就是麥爾維爾所生活的時代，這就是1851年前後處處彌漫着徵服和占有氣息的社會氛圍。麥爾維爾這位富有航海經歷的作傢，雖然不能說正處於新興資本主義的中心，但他卻置身於這一歷史發展最敏感的地帶，應該感受到那個時代的氣息，把握到其脈搏。在當時，資本主義雖然已經在歐洲、在北美，在東西南北不同的地理區域，“按照自己的面貌為自己創造出一個世界”，但它在如何徹底地控製大自然，如何完整地占有大自然這一事關資本主義未來的重大問題上，還沒有為自己的行動找到合情合理的解釋，並沒有為自己的殺戮和貪欲找到可供減緩心理壓力及可滋效仿的偶像。或許，麥爾維爾並未真正意識到這是新興資産階級的急迫需要，它與資本主義體係的歷史命運相聯結，是與這一體係共存亡的大主題。但他適時地行動了，並在文學寫作中最大限度地發揮了個人想象¾¾這些想象明顯植根於閱讀前人作品（培根、莎士比亞、埃斯庫羅斯、卡萊爾、《聖經》 ）獲得的靈感，植根於那一時代的整體氛圍、諸多刺激性因素和普遍性情緒之中。麥爾維爾的寫作不可能超越時代。
赫爾曼·麥爾維爾-麥爾維爾與《白鯨》簡介
《白鯨》
1851年完成的長篇小說《白鯨》(即《莫比·迪剋》 )是麥爾維爾的代表作。這是一部寓意豐富、深刻、筆觸雄渾的長篇小說。它記述在19世紀上半葉美國捕鯨業蓬勃發展的年代，從事捕鯨業40年的裴圭特號捕鯨船船長亞哈在同一條巨大兇猛的白鯨莫比·迪剋搏鬥中船破身亡的經歷，反映出作者對當時資本主義巨大發展的疑慮和惶恐心情。
書中描寫了海上航行和紛繁的捕鯨生活，被譽為"捕鯨業的百科全書"。整部作品，寓意深刻、語言流暢、感情凝重、切合主題，並用象徵性手法，揭示了資本主義的罪惡，人物刻畫栩栩如生，內心描寫委婉生動。
但是，這絶不是一部單純地敘述發生在海洋上的一個人與黥生死相博的傳奇故事;麥爾維爾對海洋和海洋生物的嚴酷態度比故事本身更讓人精心動魄。在他講述的可怕而殘忍的故事裏，作傢絶無一絲愛憐海洋生物之意，他是為那些來不及洗濯雙手的海洋徵服者擂響戰鼓，為那些以血腥方式徵服大自然鬥士們的瘋狂行動，盡最大可能進行合理性辯解。幸運的麥爾維爾成功了：追殺白鯨的血腥故事獲得了一圈彩虹的光環，成為一部不朽的著作，成為西方文學中的經典，迷倒了一代又一代讀者。《白鯨》一書是美國文學史上公認的經典文學著作，是史詩般的小說。它氣勢磅礴，場景宏大。不僅反映了美國水手嚮大自然進軍的艱辛歷程，而且也表達了人類不斷進取的堅強信心。
《白鯨》的作者麥爾維爾麥爾維爾１２歲時不幸喪父，１５歲時就結束了僅僅四年的學校生活。因傢境惡化，使他不得不走嚮社會獨自謀生。他先後做過銀行職員、農場工人、鄉村教師，備嘗了人世間的冷暖。１８３７年，他踏上一條美國商船當服務員，開始接觸海洋生活。１８４１年又轉移到捕鯨船上當水手。
《白鯨》就取材於這一時期的海上生活。海上４年是他一生中最重要的經歷，他戲稱自己是在受"哈佛大學和耶魯大學"的教育。這段生活對他的創作起到了關鍵作用。隨後，麥爾維爾隨捕鯨船漫遊了世界許多地方，開闊了眼界，同時也為創作小說積纍了豐富的素材。１８４２年曾被南太平洋馬剋薩恩群島上泰皮爾族俘後逃脫，輾轉到一條澳大利亞商船上當水手，又因違反紀律被囚在塔命提群島。越獄後，他又重新回到捕鯨船上當投叉手，１８４３年正式投入美國軍艦"美國"號上服役，至１８４４年退役後，纔結束了自己的海上生涯。此間，對麥爾維爾的思想産生了極大的影響，坎坷的經歷、豐富的生活、強烈的願望，奠定了麥爾維爾寫作的豐厚基礎。
《白鯨》也可以說是麥爾維爾的生活寫照。小說的創作始於１８５０年２月，脫稿於１８５１年，並於同年出版。那年麥爾維爾纔３２歲。麥爾維爾晚年潛心詩歌創作，自費出版三部詩集。１８６６年～１８８６年，他在紐約海關當檢查員，但也沒有改變他的厄運，他終於在窮睏潦倒中默默無聞地死去，直到２０世紀中期，他的創作天才終於被人們發現，並被人們公認為世界級作傢，其作品也隨之奉為經典文學著作。
寫作思想
跳開1851年，站在21世紀的視點重新審讀《白鯨》，細心的讀者將會發現，《白鯨》從始到終貫穿一條主綫：人一旦置身於大自然中，惟一的選擇衹有充當徵服者，他與被徵服對象的關係必然是對立的，兩者是彼此仇視的、互不相容的。麥爾維爾對亞哈船長的塑造尤其突出了這一點，使其成為《白鯨》這部書的靈魂。在麥爾維爾筆下，虛擬的大海與真實的大海相去甚遠，麥爾維爾的大海永遠是變幻莫測、充滿險惡的，它是“冷酷惡毒的”，它有“幽靈似的白浪滔滔的洋面”，即使晴朗的天氣，“在它那一派蔚藍的、柔和的底裏，隱藏有一種邪惡的魔力。”這就是“大壽衣似的海洋”，一切邪惡皆來自它的最深處，它孕育了兇殘無比的大白鯨，還有嗜人血的抹香鯨，而大白鯨在大海中橫行無忌，簡直就像個“蠕動的海魔王”。
總之，在作者的描述和勾勒下，翻動着白色浪花的大海與幽靈般的白鯨，兩者在陰險、邪惡的軌道上融為一體。為使閱讀者真切地感受大海的險惡，作者從《白鯨》最初的章節起始，竭力渲染緊張、恐懼的氣氛，他引領讀者走進與棺材諧音的“彼得·科芬”大鯨客店，那裝飾古怪的居所處處閃露着兇兆，使人聯想到無處不在的死神。連人們尋求心靈庇護的教堂，也無法使你擺脫對死亡的恐懼，面對一座座葬身於大海的海員墓碑，讀者直接感受那索取人性命的元兇迫近的氣息。神父的布道更是異乎尋常，他“曳長而莊嚴的聲調，有如一隻陷在迷霧的海上的船衹那種不斷敲擊的鐘聲”，他的吟誦將人們的恐懼拖至深淵：“大鯨的恐怖和肋骨/睏我在陰森可怕中/神光普照的浪濤滾滾而過/把我高高舉起/重重拋進毀滅之都……”似乎這還遠遠不夠，神父反復宣講《聖經》中“耶和華安排一條大魚吞了約拿”的那一段落，將大海，及大海中的生物同基督教歷史神話連接起來，將人的恐懼、人的死亡歸罪於大海，將人與大海、與大海中那“一條大魚”的對立與衝突視為歷史的必然。甚至那艘以滅亡的印第安部落名稱命名的“裴廓德”號捕鯨船，也是隱喻“死亡與决鬥”。這艘“用它獵逐到的敵人的骸骨來打扮自己的船衹”，竟是用花白的鯨骨打造的。
麥爾維爾作品
這些描寫和敘述不僅將大自然惡魔化，而且不可緩解的仇恨壓倒了一切。仇恨的對象具體而明確，就是那頭出沒於大海中邪惡無比的白鯨，人與大海、與海中巨獸的對立和復仇情緒，已是箭在弦上不能不發。在此，人們不能不提出疑問，在真實的人類狩獵歷史活動中，某一種狩獵活動，在它的準備狀態，在其行動的前期階段，果真要在獵手的心靈中灌輸和強化對所獵取對象的恐懼情緒，直至把這種情緒引嚮仇恨嗎？這是容易被閱讀者忽略的常識性問題。答案當然是否定的。作傢在這裏明顯進行了有意的歪麯和改寫，其中隱含了作傢寫作的深層動機和目的。閱讀和瞭解人類學家所記載的狩獵部族習俗，我們將會發現，無論在印第安部落、還是在愛斯基摩人中，無論在非洲和亞洲曾以狩獵為生的原住民中間，他們與獵取對象的接觸或遭遇，更多的是欣喜，同時伴隨着久遠的敬畏（類似的場景，還能從美國電影《與狼共舞》所復原的印第安部落習俗中看到片段）。假如某個獵手對某種獵物有了怨恨，不管他是部族頭人還是首領，都不會把個人的怨恨提升為整個部族的仇恨，那將引發瘋狂的濫殺，或退而避之，全部族選擇遷徙之路。但這勢必危及群體的生存，甚至毀掉整個部族的生計。為此，我們不能不追問，麥爾維爾是否犯了常識性錯誤，將他所描述的獵手對獵物的仇恨當成人類固有的、原發的、普遍化的共通現象？這裏更可能的是，作傢並不衹是簡單地犯下常識錯誤。探究其源由，根本原因恐怕還在於麥爾維爾所處社會環境的變化，這變化是前所未有的、來勢洶洶的、難以抵擋的。1851年前後的那一時段，一隻看不見的大手將歷史折為兩截：被翻過的那一頁，無論其多麽漫長（包括所謂封建社會），從總體上說人類對大自然取一種敬畏的態度，在經濟生産和社會生活中都是維持低限度生存水準，以同大自然保持相對協調；翻過的這一頁，是以“資本和利潤”為推動力的歷史新開端，徵服和占有大自然成為它的題中應有之意。美國心理學家弗羅姆在他《占有還是生存》（1976年出版）一書中對此有過深刻的論述，他認定“十八世紀的資本主義逐步地發生了一種深刻的變化，經濟行為與倫理學和人的價值觀念分離開來。”他認為資本主義已是“一個有着自己的動力和規律的運動着的係統”。他分析了重占有和重生存這兩種不同的生存方式，追溯其歷史淵源，從中得出的結論是：“這兩種生存方式的區分以及愛活物和愛死物這兩種不同形式的愛，是人類生存的至為關鍵的問題。”毫無疑問，麥爾維爾全身心地沉浸在類似於“愛死物”的那樣一種衝動中，他竭力渲染人與大自然的對立情緒，將這一情緒引嚮仇恨。這種仇恨一旦合法化，就能為那些追逐利潤的人們，為貪婪得發瘋的資産階級，為整個資本主義體係隨之而來的在更大的海域、在更廣阔的大自然中，進行更瘋狂的屠殺，無休止的占有，找到了無所顧忌的行動口實，清除了徵服者的心理障礙。
“徵服和占有”確實是1851前後那個時代的大主題，麥爾維爾緊緊地抓住了它，又在《白黥》寫作中占有了它。
《白鯨》為讀者提供了這樣一段有趣的場景：亞哈船長一隻手抓着護桅索，一隻手高舉着一枚西班牙金幣，口中高喊着：“你們隨便哪一個給我發現這條白鯨，就可以拿到這枚金幣，朋友們！”在大海中，在航船上，以西班牙金幣懸賞第一個在桅桿上發現獵物的人，這樣的情景令人眼熟，肯定在哪裏發生過。它與某一段歷史，某位聲名顯赫的徵服者有關。查一查， 《哥倫布航海日志》中就有類似的記述，那應該是1492年10月至12月的某一天，哥倫布乘“平塔”號探險船航行在大西洋上，他就是以同樣的姿態，同樣的口氣，以西班牙國王的名義宣佈：第一個在桅桿上發現陸地的人將得到賞金。這是歷史的照搬和刻意復製嗎？究竟是麥爾維爾無意中設置了這一情節，還是因為大海和航船等相似的場景，使他下意識地套用了當年殖民擴張時哥倫布的焦慮？這一時難以認定。但有一點可以肯定，兩個發生於不同時代的故事，既然使用了相同的情節，必然在某些方面有內在的聯繫：主人公（或當事人）意識到徵服和占有是他此行的惟一目的，意識到金錢所具有的無法抗拒的魔力。從這富有象徵和隱喻色彩的情節中，讀者或許應該不難找到這樣一種聯繫：在麥爾維爾的潛意識中，哥倫布，或這一類人是值得效仿的楷模：他要做一樁大事情，他要完成有一個大發現，他要徵服一個大目標。這徵服欲，也就是弗羅姆所說的“愛死物”的欲望。這一欲望通過愛爾維爾所虛構的人物和故事一點一滴地表露出來。
這裏要特別指出，在《白鯨》的整體結構中，麥爾維爾還為表述這一欲望（也是為了迎合某種社會欲望）專門設置了足夠的敘述空間。這表現於：在故事的敘述過程中，作傢再三再四地中斷敘述，造成敘述的間隔，在這些間隔中插入大量的非敘述性文字。而這一堆堆插入的文字如贅生物，明顯地使這部作品顯得臃腫而龐雜。有意思的是，《白鯨》結構上這種臃腫和雜亂，反被一些評論傢認為具有知識的含量、歷史的厚度，稱其為捕鯨方面的百科全書。然而，這樣的評價忽略了這些插入的非敘述性文字其實另具功能，另有意義。在麥爾維爾的心目中，它們與小說中的敘述性文字具有同等重要的作用，這也是顯而易見的。
麥爾維爾在“鯨類學”章節中，有意展示了他所掌握的有關鯨類的豐富知識，不僅將不同的鯨進行分類描述，還在描述其形態和習性的過程中，指出哪一種鯨的“商業價值又是最高的；因為它是人們能夠從它身上獲得貴重的東西，即鯨腦的惟一動物”；從哪一種鯨的“嘴巴裏所提煉出來的芬香可口的油是極其名貴的，是珠寶商和鐘錶匠所竭力搜求的東西。”他出示收集到的資料，還談到獨角鯨的角，聲稱在古代它是被“當做抗毒的靈劑的，因此，它的製劑售價很高。”但有關這種獨角鯨的信息少之又少，衹有在1576年的文獻中有段記載，那是英國的馬丁·弗羅比歇爵士探險歸來，將一隻獨角鯨的角獻給了伊麗莎白女王。至於鯨類的食用價值，細心的作傢並沒有忽略，他在“做菜的鯨”一章中津津有味地談到，300年前，法國就把“露脊鯨的舌頭當做一種珍餚美味，而且價格賣得非常高。”說到小抹香鯨，“把它的腦髓當成一樣上等菜。用一把斧頭，將這種精巧的腦殼敲開後，肥肥白白的兩大爿就折裂開，然後把它們和着面粉，煮成一種最惹人喜歡的食品，味道之芬芳，有點像小牛腦……”
很明顯，作傢在這裏是嚮一大批為數衆多的隱形讀者訴說。這批讀者對獵取和屠殺沒有興趣，他們不願自己的雙手染上血跡，但他們卻有很高的消費趣味，有很強的好奇心，他們的關註點集中在珍希物品上。為了滿足這些隱形讀者的特殊口味，麥爾維爾被“資本和利潤”浸透過的商品意識已溢於言表。從這一角度閱讀“割油”、“絨毯”、“海德堡大桶”、“竜涎香”、“手的揉捏”、“煉油間”等章節，從那大段大段工廠化操作的描述中，被牽着鼻子繞來繞去的讀者終會發現，原來這裏談及的，纔是遠洋捕鯨的真實目的，它與金錢和利潤直接挂鈎，它是捕鯨、獵鯨、屠鯨的原初動機，與所謂的“復仇”和“仇恨”根本就沒有什麽瓜葛。在這條軌道上還談什麽正義與邪惡！捅破這一層窗戶紙，讀者或許有上當受騙之感。特別是在“抹香鯨頭——對比圖”和“露脊鯨——對比圖”這兩個章節，麥爾維爾引領讀者以占有者的姿態把玩手中的獵物，他觸摸鯨的唇、舌、須，把玩鯨的頭顱，將鯨的“整個頭當成一隻大提琴，而那些個噴孔，就是大提琴的聲板上的壁孔。”他細細地觀賞鯨“頭頂上的奇特、隆起、雞冠形的覆蓋物——這種碧緑而纏來纏去的東西……”他翻看鯨的牙齒和嘴巴，“這衹嘴巴真是多麽漂亮雅緻呀！從地板到天花板都有鑲裏，或者不如說是用一層白色薄膜裱褙的，光輝閃爍，宛如新娘穿的緞子。”這情景恰如一隻老貓把玩爪下的小老鼠。夠了，這到底表現了一種什麽心理？與捕鯨手的心態（無論怎麽說《白鯨》還是以捕鯨為主綫）是否相符？我們不能不有所質疑。從人類學家泰勒、弗雷澤的專著中不難發現，狩獵部族獵獲之後通常是以敬畏的心情撫慰自己的獵物，安慰它，討好它，並以多種方式為自己的行為開脫、謝罪，這不衹是部族成員自覺履行的習俗，而是他們自然信仰的一部分，同他們的生存方式合為一體。這樣的習俗在亞洲、在中國的北方，在西伯利亞的密林中，一直延續到20世紀60年代。如今，在世界某些邊遠地區的部族文化中仍然存留着。美國作傢海明威在他的《老人與海》 （出版於1952年）中，就以令人信服的細節描述了老漁民與一條大魚搏鬥的經過，其虔誠、敬畏的心境和獵取大魚後的失落感，給人以刻骨銘心的記憶。顯然，麥爾維爾清楚地意識到他面對（或者說他感興趣的）的是什麽樣的讀者：這是一個新興的強力集團，是特殊群體，這一群體的行為心理特徵早與傳統相悖，特別在對待大自然、對待自己占有物的態度上，同古老的傳統有了本質別。
麥爾維爾作品
現在還是讓我們回到1851年，回到麥爾維爾和他的《白鯨》吧。雖然麥爾維爾在他的小說的非敘述性章節中，塞進了大量浸透和渲染了占有的快感，也就是“愛死物”的快感的文字，直接表述了帶有資本主義原始資本積纍時期強烈特徵的價值觀念，不過這畢竟是構成小說的次要結構因素。麥爾維爾的主要貢獻是塑造了一個經典的人物形象亞哈船長。從《白鯨》問世以來，如何看待麥爾維爾筆下的亞哈船長，一直是人們爭論不休的話題。1988年出版的《哥倫比亞美國文學史》，對亞哈船長給予很高的評價，在談到這一人物給閱讀者帶來的歷史性聯想時，認為亞哈的對手白鯨，是“一條‘約伯的鯨’，是和那些原始的傳說中的惡竜和海怪同屬一類的，是那些肆虐於創世之際的混沌的力量象徵；而亞哈則是柏修斯、聖喬治式的人物，自願擔當起救世的重任，去實現《以賽亞書》中的預言，去‘屠殺海裏的惡竜’。”在這樣一個神話的映照下，亞哈還是“一位十九世紀的思想傢。”
按照這一思路，亞哈船長儼然是為正義而行動的悲劇性英雄，他在思想與行動上與《聖經》中的英雄神話、英雄人物一脈相承。在這篇短文裏，不便討論基督教早期自然觀的利弊得失，引人註意的卻是麥爾維爾為把亞哈船長、甚至將整部《白鯨》同基督教神話傳說聯繫起來的種種努力。他在《白鯨》臃長的引文裏，例數聖典中有關“巨獸”、“大魚”、“大鯨”的記載，藉用神話寫作的方法，將亞哈船長裝扮成半人半神的形象，他的仇敵也被賦予某種超自然的力量，形成了虛擬性敘事與神話性虛擬兩種表述方式相互交融的敘述策略。這種寫作策略亦虛亦實、亦神亦鬼，容易使閱讀者産生類似服用迷幻藥那種虛實顛倒的幻覺。亞哈船長一出場，就像“一個剛從火刑柱上解下來的人，………一條細長的、青白色鞭痕似的東西，像根綫一般從他那簇灰發裏蜿蜒而出，直順着他那焦黃色的半邊臉和脖子而下，消失在衣衫裏。”作者並不點明造成這副傷殘面孔的直接原因，而是引導閱讀者按照他的暗示去想象。作者勾畫了亞哈船長半倚半站的輪廓，強調的卻是他的那條殘腿，告知讀者它是用“抹香鯨的顎骨加以磨光修整做成的”，省略了造成這位捕鯨船長傷殘事件的緣由。將一個飽受傷害的形象推到讀者面前，使讀者沒有機會思考那樁事件的原發過程：究竟是獵手攻擊獵物在先，還是傷殘了的獵物被動反撲在後？在這裏，一個前提，一個必不可少的獵取和占有的動機被悄悄地掩蓋了。那頭大鯨變成了天生的惡魔，它成了捕鯨手的“天敵”（進而也就成了人的天敵）。而這位受傷害者所有的仇恨，所有的復仇行動因此變得正當，變成情理之中的事情。作者輕鬆地滑過了對那頭大鯨，對大海，對整個大自然恐懼和仇恨起因的解釋，以純粹的復仇掩蓋了一切，掩蓋了遠比宰殺一頭惡獸更為實在的圖謀。同時，小說為亞哈的瘋狂和偏執，為那些同他的行為相類似的舉動，找了可辯解的理由：“他對於白鯨的報復心理可能會多少擴大到一切抹香鯨，……他越多殺巨獸，就越增加機會，因為這樣一條條地殺下去，最後的一條鯨就會是他所要獵擊的可恨的鯨了。”
這是推出亞哈這一形象的圖謀所在，也是這一形象的功用和價值所在。無論作者怎樣遮掩，這一人物顯然是為“擴張和徵服”的目的塑造的，他具備這一目的所需要的一切特徵：他頭腦中衹有一個目標，胸中翻動的衹是一種情緒：他要徹底毀掉那頭鯨，哪怕追殺到地獄的盡頭。他成了馳騁於大海之上無所畏懼的超人，他是“船上的可汗，海中的之王，也是大海獸的太君”；他成了力量的象徵，“施行一種隨心所欲的霸權”；他是以自我意志為中心的旌旗手，不顧“裴廓德”號船員的生死，行為完全被所謂的“鬥志和意志”所支配。這位與古代君王同名的捕鯨船長，最終以三天三夜的搏鬥，完成了英雄的徵程，按照作者的設計以殉道的方式與白鯨一道沉入海底。至此，這部虛擬作品釋放了全部能量，把緊張、恐懼、仇恨、復仇的極端化情緒塞進了讀者的記憶，進而成為長期存在的公衆形象記憶的一部分。不管人們喜歡還是不喜歡，亞哈船長最終成了一尊在大自然面前不負任何責任，毫無敬畏和懺悔之心的冷面偶像。在後來相當長的一段時間裏，這一形象助長了在大自然中無所顧忌、瘋狂的行動，影響了這一行為嚮更大的範圍蔓延。這一點，人們可以從1851年之後的那一段歷史，從整個資本主義體係在陸地、在海洋，肆無忌憚的擴張中，從陸地生物和海洋生物大量滅絶的境況中有所感悟。
麥爾維爾確實捕捉到了一個大目標，他為早期資本主義對待大自然的態度，勾畫出大體輪廓，也預示了其未來。麥爾維爾在《白黥》所拓展的母題以及相關的氣氛、基調和人物，在後來的文學和藝術發展中被不斷地因襲和復製，一個多世紀以來竟然潮起潮落，從未停歇。直至20世紀中葉，美國的電影公司還推出與《白鯨》相類似的海洋恐怖故事，它就是影片《大白鯊》 。無論從什麽角度看，《大白鯊》都是《白鯨》的現代復製版。我相信，類似的敘述性作品今後還會陸續問世，衹不過它的背景很可能不再僅僅是海洋，而是漫無邊際的地球外層空間。
可以說，這就是《白鯨》寫作的謎底。對人類社會的進步而言，無論它是一本好書，還是一本“壞書”，已是歷史的一部分，成為支持資本主義體係的中心話語的重要部分，與當今人們的生活緊密相連，與人類的未來生死攸關。將1851年的麥爾維爾與資本主義體係捆綁在一起，進行批判性思考，有如翻弄一本陳年舊帳，但衹要能給眼下被生態環境問題睏擾不安的人們，帶來一些有益的啓示，就是值得的。
內涵寓意
麥爾維爾作品
主人公亞哈船長和白鯨莫比•迪剋是一對尖銳的矛盾，這個矛盾集中代表了人類與自然界的強烈的衝突。用我們關於人與自然的關係來衡量，這個衝突的發生是客觀的、必然的、不可回避的，是人與自然的關係的一個非常形象化的體現。亞哈船長是人類在自然面前的代表，是人類派來徵服自然的。他是普通的人，卻有着普通人所沒有的堅毅剛強和不為名利所動的種種美德，但同時，在他的身上我們還發現了瘋狂、自私、剛愎自用等種種劣跡，使我們對這一形象産生了全面立體的認識。從他的美德看，他近乎神明，讓人信奉和激動不已；從他的陰暗的一面看，他又越來越接近莫比•迪剋而成為了一個惡魔，讓人感到可憎又可怕。正因為如此，亞哈船長纔是一個真實而強大的人，衹有他才能完成人類所賦予的剿滅白鯨的使命。對於亞哈來講，這使命是神聖的，是歷史性的。人類徵服自然的過程是由無數個剿滅白鯨一樣的過程組成的，每一個過程都有一個亞哈作為領袖。這領袖非亞哈莫屬。因為亞哈既強大威嚴得像一個神，又確實是一個人。人類不可能依靠神力來徵服和改造自然，那衹是被稱作神話的美好願望。亞哈擔起了進擊自然的使命，它贏得了所有勇敢的人的尊敬和愛戴，他招致在自然面前縮首縮腳的懦弱的人的恐慌甚至憎恨。於是，人類自身的矛盾産生了，並且一步步加劇，僅次於人與自然的矛盾。人類在徵服自然的過程中，必須解决好內部的矛盾，必須剋服自身的種種弱點，衹有這樣，才能在與自然的較量中獲得成功。
亞哈船長剿滅白鯨的過程包括了以上種種的因素。“裴廓德號”是人類社會本身的一個高度概括，是那個年代人類狀態的一個縮影。亞哈船長剿滅白鯨的過程是人類徵服自然的過程中的一個濃縮，是無數次殊死鬥爭中的一次。白鯨莫比•迪剋是自然的代表，當然它也是自然陣營中最傑出的代表。莫比•迪剋是一種自然力量的象徵，是同樣強大的自然的一種具體體現。自然由強大的莫比•迪剋和無數個平庸的其他組成，正像人類由強大的亞哈和無數個平庸的斯達巴剋、斯塔布和弗拉斯剋組成一樣。自然是豐厚和大度的，它是人類的依靠，是人類賴以生存的寶庫，是人類的衣食父母，失去了它，人類將不復存在。自然是吝嗇的，它從來都不主動給人類什麽，人類從它身上得到的一切，都是靠着自己索取甚至掠奪而實現的。所以，人類搞不清自然究竟是人類的恩人還是仇人，還是時而是恩人時而是仇人，這一點，恐怕它自己也搞不清楚，因而纔如此的矛盾重重。但是，僅就大鯨而言，自然和人類的衝突衹可能是你死我活的，因為，人類行為方式在大鯨的身上衹體現出對自然最殘酷和最無道的一面，同樣，大鯨所回報給人類的也衹有殊死的反抗和陰險的報復。
在這樣無數的矛盾之中，無數的衝突産生了。莫比•迪剋充當着自然界的酋長，自命為自然的守護神，因而亞哈和莫比•迪剋的衝突不可避免。在自然與人類的衝突中，結局的勝負是事關重要的，它影響着世界的前途，自然也决定着人類和自然的命運。最終亞哈和莫比•迪剋同歸於盡了。人類和自然誰也徵服不了誰，他們就像是地球的兩個極一樣，互為依靠，互為補充，維持着世界的運轉。人類和自然，是做敵人還是做朋友，這個問題找不到答案。逝去了的亞哈和莫比•迪剋解决不了這個難題，現代人不知能否解决。人類如何面對自然，是人類所永久面臨的一個話題，是人類能否保持自身的一個關鍵。
《白鯨》是偉大的作品，是力量和思想的所在，是美國文學史上的史詩之作。作者從富有到貧睏的轉折决定了他坎坷而閃耀着光彩的命運，而命運的多舛和對命運的不斷抗爭，則决定了他人生的力度和作品的力度。
赫爾曼·麥爾維爾-浪漫主義文學思潮
《白鯨記》電影海報
浪漫主義文學産生於18世紀末，在19世紀上半葉達到繁榮時期，是西方近代文學最重要的思潮之一。在縱嚮上，浪漫主義文學是對文藝復興時期人本主義理念的繼承和發揚，也是對僵化的法國古典主義的有力反撥；在橫嚮上，浪漫主義文學和隨後出現的現實主義文學共同構成西方近代文學的兩大體係，造就19世紀西方文學盛極一時的繁榮局面，對後來的現代主義和後現代主義文學産生了深遠的影響。
浪漫主義文學是西方近代文學兩大主流體係之一，對整個西方文學産生的影響是勿庸置疑的。縱嚮上看，浪漫主義強調創作的絶對自由，徹底摧毀了統治歐洲文壇幾千年的古典主義的清規戒律，是西方文學在近代歷史上的又一次“文藝復興”。20世紀的現代主義文學的諸流派，都可以看作是浪漫主義文學蛻變、演進的結果。很多現代主義者自稱“新浪漫派”，可見浪漫主義文學與現代主義文學之間密切的聯繫。
在宏闊的社會歷史背景中看，人類歷史上沒有任何一個文學思潮和風雲變幻的社會變革如此密切的結合。浪漫主義文學是近代歷史上人們對科學理性、物質主義帶來的異化現象的一次徹底的檢視和清算。浪漫主義顛覆了西方資本主義舊的價值理性，以強烈的反叛精神構建了一個新的文化模式。
此外，許多浪漫主義者重視對民歌、童話等民間文學的整理和搜集，在很大程度上保存並發揚了西方文學的民間傳統。在德國和英國，浪漫主義就是從搜集民間文學開始的。浪漫派廣泛從民間傳說、神話、童話中擷取題材，極大的豐富了文學的表現手法，為現代主義文學題材的繁榮奠定了基礎。
Early life, education, and family
Herman Melville was born in New York City on August 1, 1819, the third child of Allan and Maria Gansevoort Melvill. After her husband Allan died, Maria added an "e" to the family surname. Part of a well-established and colorful Boston family, Melville's father spent a good deal of time abroad as a commission merchant and an importer of French dry goods. The author's paternal grandfather, Major Thomas Melvill, an honored survivor of the Boston Tea Party who refused to change the style of his clothing or manners to fit the times, was depicted in Oliver Wendell Holmes's poem "The Last Leaf". Herman visited him in Boston, and his father turned to him in his frequent times of financial need. The maternal side of Melville's family was Hudson Valley Dutch. His maternal grandfather was General Peter Gansevoort, a hero of the Battle of Saratoga; in his gold-laced uniform, the general sat for a portrait painted by Gilbert Stuart, which is described in Melville's 1852 novel, Pierre, for Melville wrote out of his familial as well as his nautical background. Like the titular character in Pierre, Melville found satisfaction in his "double revolutionary descent."
Allan Melvill sent his sons to the New York Male School (Columbia Preparatory School). Overextended financially and emotionally unstable, Allan tried to recover from his setbacks by moving his family to Albany in 1830 and going into the fur business. The new venture, however, was unsuccessful; the War of 1812 had ruined businesses that tried to sell overseas and he was forced to declare bankruptcy. He died soon afterward, leaving his family penniless, when Herman was 12. Although Maria had well-off kin, they were concerned with protecting their own inheritances and taking advantage of investment opportunities rather than settling their mother's estate so Maria's family would be more secure. Herman's younger brother, Thomas Melville, eventually became a governor of Sailors Snug Harbor.
Melville attended the Albany Academy from October 1830 to October 1831, and again from October 1836 to March 1837, where he studied the classics.
[edit]Early working life
Historical marker at the site of the family home in Albany, NY.
Melville's roving disposition and a desire to support himself independently of family assistance led him to seek work as a surveyor on the Erie Canal. This effort failed, and his brother helped him get a job as a cabin boy on a New York ship bound for Liverpool. He made the voyage, and returned on the same ship. Redburn: His First Voyage (1849) is partly based on his experiences of this journey.
The three years after Albany Academy (1837 to 1840) were mostly occupied with teaching school, except for the voyage to Liverpool in 1839. Near the end of 1840 he once again decided to sign ship's articles. On January 3, 1841, he sailed from New Bedford, Massachusetts on the whaler Acushnet, which was bound for the Pacific Ocean. He was later to comment that his life began that day. The vessel sailed around Cape Horn and traveled to the South Pacific. Melville left little direct information about the events of this 18-month cruise, although his whaling romance, Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, probably gives many pictures of life on board the Acushnet. Melville deserted the Acushnet in the Marquesas Islands in July 1842. For three weeks he lived among the Typee natives, who were called cannibals by the two other tribal groups on the island—though they treated Melville very well. Typee, Melville's first novel, describes a brief love affair with a beautiful native girl, Fayaway, who generally "wore the garb of Eden" and came to epitomize the guileless noble savage in the popular imagination.
Melville, always a reluctant subject, sat for this portrait in 1846/47.
Melville did not seem to be concerned about repercussions from his desertion from the Acushnet. He boarded another whaler bound for Hawaii and left that ship in Honolulu. While in Honolulu, he became a controversial figure for his vehement opposition to the activities of Christian missionaries seeking to convert the native population. After working as a clerk for four months, he joined the crew of the frigate USS United States, which reached Boston in October 1844. These experiences were described in Typee, Omoo, and White-Jacket, which were published as novels mainly because few believed their veracity.
Melville completed Typee in the summer of 1845, though he had difficulty getting it published. It was eventually published in 1846 in London, where it became an overnight bestseller. The Boston publisher subsequently accepted Omoo sight unseen. Typee and Omoo gave Melville overnight notoriety as a writer and adventurer, and he often entertained by telling stories to his admirers. As writer and editor Nathaniel Parker Willis wrote, "With his cigar and his Spanish eyes, he talks Typee and Omoo, just as you find the flow of his delightful mind on paper". The novels, however, did not generate enough royalties for him to live on. Omoo was not as colorful as Typee, and readers began to realize Melville was not just producing adventure stories. Redburn and White-Jacket had no problem finding publishers. Mardi was a disappointment for readers who wanted another rollicking and exotic sea yarn.
[edit]Marriage and later working life
Elizabeth Shaw Melville
Melville married Elizabeth Shaw, daughter of chief justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Lemuel Shaw, on August 4, 1847; the couple honeymooned in Canada. They had four children: two sons and two daughters. In 1850 they purchased Arrowhead, a farm house in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, now a museum. Here Melville lived for 13 years, occupied with his writing and managing his farm. While living at Arrowhead, he befriended the author, Nathaniel Hawthorne, who lived in nearby Lenox. Melville, an intellectual loner for most of his life, was tremendously inspired and encouraged by his new relationship with Hawthorne during the period that he was writing Moby-Dick (dedicating it to Hawthorne), though their friendship was on the wane only a short time later, when he wrote Pierre there.
Arrowhead, home of Melville, Pittsfield, Massachusetts
However, these works did not achieve the popular and critical success of his earlier books. Indeed, The New York Day Book on September 8, 1852, published a venomous attack on Melville and his writings headlined HERMAN MELVILLE CRAZY. The item, offered as a news story, reported, "A critical friend, who read Melville's last book, 'Ambiguities," between two steamboat accidents, told us that it appeared to be composed of the ravings and reveries of a madman. We were somewhat startled at the remark, but still more at learning, a few days after, that Melville was really supposed to be deranged, and that his friends were taking measures to place him under treatment. We hope one of the earliest precautions will be to keep him stringently secluded from pen and ink." Following this and other scathing reviews of Pierre by critics, publishers became wary of Melville's work. His publisher, Harper & Brothers, rejected his next manuscript, Isle of the Cross which has been lost. On April 1, 1857, Melville published his last full-length novel, The Confidence-Man. This novel, subtitled "His Masquerade", has won general acclaim in modern times as a complex and mysterious exploration of issues of fraud and honesty, identity and masquerade, but when it was published, it received reviews ranging from the bewildered to the denunciatory.
Melville in 1885, age 66.
To repair his faltering finances, Melville listened to the advice of friends and decided to enter what was for others the lucrative field of lecturing. From 1857 to 1860, he spoke at lyceums, chiefly on the South Seas. Turning to poetry, he gathered a collection of verse that failed to interest a publisher. In 1863, he and his wife resettled, with their four children, in New York City. After the end of the American Civil War, he published Battle Pieces and Aspects of the War, (1866) a collection of over 70 poems that generally was ignored by the critics, though a few gave him patronizingly favorable reviews. In 1866, Melville's wife and her relatives used their influence to obtain a position for him as customs inspector for the City of New York (a humble but adequately paying appointment), and he held the post for 19 years. In a notoriously corrupt institution, Melville soon won the reputation of being the only honest employee of the customs house. (The customs house was coincidentally on Gansevoort St., named after his mother's prosperous family.) But from 1866, his professional writing career can be said to have come to an end.
Melville spent years writing a 16,000-line epic poem, Clarel, inspired by his earlier trip to the Holy Land. His uncle, Peter Gansevoort, by a bequest, paid for the publication of the massive epic in 1876. But the publication failed miserably, and the unsold copies were burned when Melville was unable to afford to buy them at cost.
Plaque outside 104 East 26th street, New York
As his professional fortunes waned, Melville's marriage was unhappy. Elizabeth's relatives repeatedly urged her to leave him, and offered to have him committed as insane, but she refused. In 1867, his oldest son, Malcolm, shot himself, perhaps accidentally. While Melville worked, his wife managed to wean him off alcohol, and he no longer showed signs of agitation or insanity. But recurring depression was added to by the death of his second son, Stanwix, in San Francisco early in 1886. Melville retired in 1886, after several of his wife's relatives died and left the couple legacies that Mrs. Melville administered with skill and good fortune.
As English readers, pursuing the vogue for sea stories represented by such writers as G. A. Henty, rediscovered Melville's novels, he experienced a modest revival of popularity in England, though not in the United States. Once more he took up his pen, writing a series of poems with prose head notes inspired by his early experiences at sea. He published them in two collections, each issued in a tiny edition of 25 copies for his relatives and friends: John Marr (1888) and Timoleon (1891).
One of these poems further intrigued him, and he began to rework the headnote to turn it into first a short story and then a novella. He worked on it on and off for several years, but when he died in September 1891, he left the piece unfinished, and not until the literary scholar Raymond Weaver published it in 1924 did the book – which is now known as Billy Budd, Sailor – come to light.
The grave of Herman Melville and his wife
Melville died at his home in New York City early on the morning of September 28, 1891, age 72. The doctor listed "cardiac dilation" on the death certificate. He was interred in the Woodlawn Cemetery in The Bronx, New York. A common story says that his New York Times obituary called him "Henry Melville", implying that he was unknown and unappreciated at his time of death, but the story is not true.
From about age 33, Melville ceased to be popular with a broad audience because of his increasingly philosophical, political, and experimental tendencies. His novella Billy Budd, Sailor, unpublished at the time of his death, was published in 1924. Later it was turned into an opera by Benjamin Britten, a play, and a film by Peter Ustinov.
In Herman Melville's Religious Journey, Walter Donald Kring detailed his discovery of letters indicating that Melville had been a member of the Unitarian Church of All Souls in New York City. Until this revelation, little had been known of his religious affiliation. Hershel Parker in the second volume of his biography makes it clear that Melville became a nominal member only to placate his wife. Melville despised Unitarianism and its associated "ism", Utilitarianism. (The great English Unitarians were Utilitarians.) See the 2006 Norton Critical Edition of The Confidence-Man for more detail on Melville and religion than in Parker's 2002 volume.
[edit]Publications and contemporary reactions
Title page of the first U.S. edition of Moby-Dick, 1851.
Most of Melville's novels were published first in the United Kingdom and then in the U.S. Sometimes the editions contain substantial differences; at other times different printings were either bowdlerized or restored to their pre-bowdlerized state. (For specifics on different publication dates, editions, printings, etc., please see entries for individual novels.)
Moby-Dick; or, The Whale has become Melville's most famous work and is often considered one of the greatest literary works of all time. It was dedicated to Melville's friend Nathaniel Hawthorne. It did not, however, make Melville rich. The book never sold its initial printing of 3,000 copies in his lifetime, and total earnings from the American edition amounted to just $556.37 from his publisher, Harper & Brothers. Melville also wrote Billy Budd, White-Jacket, Israel Potter, Redburn, Typee, Omoo, Pierre, The Confidence-Man and many short stories, including "Bartleby, the Scrivener: A Story of Wall Street" and "Benito Cereno," and works of various genres.
Melville is less well known as a poet and did not publish poetry until later in life. After the Civil War, he published Battle Pieces and Aspects of the War, which did not sell well; of the Harper & Bros. printing of 1200 copies, only 525 had been sold ten years later. Again tending to outrun the tastes of his readers, Melville's epic length verse-narrative Clarel, about a student's pilgrimage to the Holy Land, was also quite obscure, even in his own time. Among the longest single poems in American literature, Clarel, published in 1876, had an initial printing of only 350 copies. The critic Lewis Mumford found a copy of the poem in the New York Public Library in 1925 "with its pages uncut"—in other words, it had sat there unread for 50 years.
His poetry is not as highly critically esteemed as his fiction, although some critics place him as the first modernist poet in the United States; others would assert that his work more strongly suggest what today would be a postmodern view. A leading champion of Melville's claims as a great American poet was the poet and novelist Robert Penn Warren, who issued a selection of Melville's poetry prefaced by an admiring and acute critical essay.
[edit]Critical response
[edit]Contemporary criticism
Melville was not financially successful as a writer, having earned just over $10,000 for his writing during his lifetime. After the success of travelogues based on voyages to the South Seas and stories based on misadventures in the merchant marine and navy, Melville's popularity declined dramatically. By 1876, all of his books were out of print. In the later years of his life and during the years after his death he was recognized, if at all, as only a minor figure in American literature.
[edit]Melville revival
A confluence of publishing events in the 1920s brought about a reassessment now commonly called "the Melville Revival". The two books generally considered most important to the Revival were Raymond Weaver's 1921 biography Herman Melville: Man, Mariner and Mystic and his 1924 edition of Melville's last great but never quite finished manuscript, Billy Budd, which Melville's granddaughter gave to Weaver when he visited her for research on the biography. The other works that helped fan the Revival flames were Carl Van Doren's The American Novel (1921), D. H. Lawrence's Studies in Classic American Literature (1923), and Lewis Mumford's biography, Herman Melville: A Study of His Life and Vision (1929). In 1945, the Melville Society was formed as a nonprofit organization dedicated to celebrating Melville’s literary legacy. Jay Leyda, better known for his work in film, spent more than a decade gathering documents and records for the day by day Melville Log (1951). In the same year Newton Arvin published the critical biography Herman Melville, which won the nonfiction National Book Award.
In the 1960s, Northwestern University Press, in alliance with the Newberry Library and the Modern Language Association, established ongoing publication runs of Melville's various titles. This alliance sought to create a "definitive" edition of Melville's works. Titles republished under the Northwestern-Newberry Library include Typee, Piazza Tales and Other Prose Pieces, Omoo, Israel Potter, Pierre or the Ambiguities, Confidence-Man, White Jacket or the World in a Man-of-War, Moby Dick, Mardi and a Voyage Thither, Redburn, Clarel , as well as several volumes of Melville's poems, journals, and correspondence.
[edit]Themes of gender and sexuality
Although not the primary focus of Melville scholarship, there has been an emerging interest in the role of gender and sexuality in some of Melville's writings. Some critics, particularly those interested in gender studies, have explored the existence of male-dominant social structures in Melville's fiction. For example, Alvin Sandberg claimed that "The Paradise of Bachelors and the Tartarus of Maids" offers "an exploration of impotency, a portrayal of a man retreating to an all-male childhood to avoid confrontation with sexual manhood" from which the narrator engages in "congenial" digressions in heterogeneity. In line with this view Warren Rosenberg argues the homosocial "Paradise of Bachelors" is shown to be "superficial and sterile." David Harley Serlin observes in the second half of Melville's diptych, "The Tartarus of Maids," the narrator gives voice to the oppressed women he observes: "As other scholars have noted, the "slave" image here has two clear connotations. One describes the exploitation of the women's physical labor, and the other describes the exploitation of the women's reproductive organs. Of course, as models of women's oppression, the two are clearly intertwined." In the end the narrator is never fully able to come to terms with the contrasting masculine and feminine modalities. Issues of sexuality have been observed in other works as well. Rosenberg notes Taji, in "Mardi", and the protagonist in "Pierre" "think they are saving young "maidens in distress" (Yillah and Isabel) out of the purest of reasons but both are also conscious of a lurking sexual motive." When Taji kills the old priest holding Yillah captive, he states "remorse smote me hard; and like lightning I asked myself whether the death deed I had done was sprung of virtuous motive, the rescuing of a captive from thrall, or whether beneath the pretense I had engaged in this fatal affray for some other selfish purpose, the companionship of a beautiful maid." In "Pierre" the motive for his self-sacrifice for Isabel is admitted: "womanly beauty and not womanly ugliness invited him to champion the right." Rosenberg argues "This awareness of a double motive haunts both books and ultimately destroys their protagonists who would not fully acknowledge the dark underside of their idealism. The epistemological quest and the transcendental quest for love and belief are consequently sullied by the erotic."
Melville fully explores the theme of sexuality in his major poetical work "Clarel." When the narrator is separated from Ruth, with whom he has fallen in love, he is free to explore other sexual (and religious) possibilities before deciding at the end of the poem to participate in the ritualistic order marriage represents. In the course of the poem "he considers every form of sexual orientation - celibacy, homosexuality, hedonism, and heterosexuality - raising the same kinds of questions as when he considers Islam or Democracy."
Some passages and sections of Melville's works demonstrate his willingness to address all forms of sexuality, including the homoerotic, in his works. Commonly given examples from Moby Dick are the interpretation of male bonding from what is termed the "marriage bed" episode involving Ishmael and Queequeg, and the "Squeeze of the Hand" chapter describing the camaraderie of sailors extracting spermaceti from a dead whale. Billy Budd's physical attractiveness is described in quasi-feminine terms: "As the Handsome Sailor, Billy Budd's position aboard the seventy-four was something analogous to that of a rustic beauty transplanted from the provinces and brought into competition with the highborn dames of the court." Some critics argue that "Ahab's pursuit of the whale, which can be associated with the feminine in its shape, mystery, and in its naturalness, represents the ultimate fusion of the epistemological and sexual quest."
[edit]Law and literature
In recent years, Billy Budd has become a central text in the field of legal scholarship known as law and literature. In the novel, Billy, a handsome and popular young sailor impressed from the merchant vessel Rights of Man to serve aboard H.M.S. Indomitable in the late 1790s, during the war between Revolutionary France and Great Britain and her monarchic allies, excites the enmity and hatred of the ship's master-at-arms, John Claggart. Claggart devises phony charges of mutiny and other crimes to level against Billy, and Captain the Honorable Edward Fairfax Vere institutes an informal inquiry, at which Billy convulsively strikes Claggart because his stammer prevents him from speaking. Vere immediately convenes a drumhead court-martial, at which, after serving as sole witness and as Billy's de facto counsel, Vere then urges the court to convict and sentence Billy to death. The trial is recounted in chapter 21, the longest chapter in the book, and that trial has become the focus of scholarly controversy: was Captain Vere a good man trapped by bad law, or did he deliberately distort and misrepresent the applicable law to condemn Billy to death?
[edit]Legacy
In 2010 it was announced that a new species of extinct giant sperm whale, Livyatan melvillei was named in honor of Melville. The paleontologists who discovered the fossil are all fans of Moby-Dick and wanted to dedicate their discovery to Melville.