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Herman Melville
1993
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Kirby avoids jargon to write an introductory study of Melville's life and work that will be useful to beginners and also to the initiated. He calls his book a biography of a career, but he briefly details Melville's life and then treats the works in turn. In addition to writing clearly, Kirby generalizes and analyzes well, seeing relationships among all of Melville's work. He relates Melville's work to the picaro tradition, finding the theme of identity throughout, recognizing the paradox in the fiction stemming from the human's need for companionship and freedom, emphasizing the individual's essential loneliness. Kirby also sees Melville writing about authorship. Though many of the readings are rewarding, especially good are the explications of "Benito Cereno" and the usually overlooked Israel Potter, which he sees as primarily fiction, and in which he finds the usual orphan wanderer and outcast. Kirby communicates well, relating the ideas in the works to the reader's life. Highly recommended for all levels. Brief selected bibliography. M. S. Stephenson; The University of Texas at Brownsville
Summary
Neither, strictly, a critical analysis nor a biography, this study can be considered a biography of a career, an examination of the external events and internal development and motivations of Melville's life and work. Annotation copyright by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR
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