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Understanding Melville's Short Fiction A Student Casebook to Issues, Sources, and Historical Documents
Claudia Durst Johnson
ISBN: 0-313-33129-4
ISBN-13: 978-0-313-33129-9
248 pages
Greenwood Press
Publication: 2/28/2005
List Price: $46.95 (UK Sterling Price: £32.95)
Discount Price: $23.48 Sale Price for U.S. Customers Only. Save 50%. Ends 12/31/2009.
Availability: In Stock
Media Type: Hardcover
Trim Size: 6 1/8 x 9 1/4
Subjects: Reviews:
  • [P]erfect supplemental reading for any in-depth Melville report at the high school or college levels.
    —MBR Bookwatch     6/1/2005
Description: Herman Melville is best known as the author of Moby-Dick, but most students first become acquainted with his works by reading Bartleby the Scrivener and Billy Budd. This reference locates these two works in their economic, social, and cultural contexts and relates them to contemporary issues. Through insightful literary and historical commentary and a generous selection of primary documents, this companion locates Bartleby the Scrivener and Billy Budd in their economic, social, and cultural contexts. The first part of the book discusses Bartleby, while the second examines Billy Budd. Each section includes chapters on specific issues, accompanied by a wide range of documents. These include the will of John Jacob Astor, 19th-century newspaper articles, excerpts from the works of Charles Dickens and other writers, and modern historical, psychological, and political works, including the Patriot Act. The volume relates Melville's works to contemporary social concerns, lists works for further reading, and suggests topics for papers and classroom discussions.
Table of Contents:
  • Introduction
    Bartleby the Scrivener: A Story of Wall Street
    Wall Street and the Pursuit of Wealth
    Work Without Hope: The Office Worker
    Worker Resistance
    Religious Justification of Wall Street Practices
    Homeless
    Agoraphobia
    Billy Bud: Acceptance or Resistance?
    The French Revolution
    The Clash of the Bellipotent and the Rights of Man: Mutiny at the Spithead and the Nore
    Billy Budd: The Somers Affair and the Articles of War
    The Mutiny Act and the Patriot Act
About the Author: Claudia Durst Johnson, former chairperson of English at the University of Alabama, is an independent scholar and freelance writer in Berkeley, California. Her many books include Youth Gangs in Literature (2004), Understanding The Odyssey (2003), and Daily Life in Colonial New England (2002), all available from Greenwood Press.
PDF Catalogs:
Greenwood Literature Spring 2008.pdf
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