| Title | : | Mariners, Renegades and Castaways: The Story of Herman Melville and the World We Live In |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | - |
| Format Type | : | Kindle , Hardcover , Paperback , Audiobook & More |
| Number of Pages | : | - |
| Publication | : | First published January 1, 1953 |
In his seminal work of literary and cultural criticism, Mariners, Renegades and Castaways, James anticipated many of the concerns and ideas that have shaped the contemporary fields of American and Postcolonial Studies, yet this widely influential book has been unavailable in its complete form since its original publication in 1953. A provocative study of Moby Dick in which James challenged the prevailing Americanist interpretation that opposed a totalitarian Ahab and a democratic, American Ishmael, he offered instead a vision of a factory-like Pequod whose captain of industry leads the mariners, renegades and castaways of its crew to their doom.
In addition to demonstrating how such an interpretation supported the emerging US national security state, James also related the narrative of Moby Dick, and its resonance in American literary and political culture, to his own persecuted position at the height (or the depth) of the Truman/McCarthy era. It is precisely this personal, deeply original material that was excised from the only subsequent edition. With a new introduction by Donald E. Pease that places the work in its critical and cultural context, Mariners, Renegades and Castaways is once again available in its complete form.
Mariners, Renegades and Castaways: The Story of Herman Melville and the World We Live In Reviews
-
Although I'm not unfamiliar with James, I've never read a book quite like this one. The essential arguments:
1.) Melville, in Ahab, created a mode of human that had never existed before, as Shakespeare had done with Hamlet (bear in mind this is before Harold Bloom overstated his case with "The Invention of the Human" - James is infinitely more deft while being infinitely more forceful)
2.) In doing so, Melville was a augur of 20th century totalitarianism
3.) In being so, Melville was a writer of such originality and vision that no other American author comes close, and nobody since Shakespeare worldwide
These are delivered with such declarative confidence that their force is undeniable. Sentence by sentence, paragraph by paragraph, James builds a perfect critical work. To quote from it would be like removing a foundation stone from an architectural masterwork.
James is the best West Indian author of all, better even than Naipaul. He's also the best Marxist critic. Where a lesser, more dogmatic writer would cast Moby Dick as a tale of American commerce gone mad, or the relationship between Ahab and crew as exploiter/exploited, James shows how Melville's insights stab right into the psychological and symbolic heart of what it means to *work*, and how it stands universes apart from the "work" Bartleby would rather not do. He even upbraids the latter Melville for referring to "the masses" and telling simple tales of oppressor vs oppressed, the very thing more superficial comrades would doubtless be elated to discover in the oeuvre of a 19th century darling of bourgeois culture.
A wonderful book. -
hop-on 1 of n to re-reading MOBY-DICK
this feels like, and probably works better as, a lecture on Melville than a work of like dispositive criticism. It's a bit dated, although the reading of Ahab as totalitarian stands up well enough. James does a fast tour of the other Melville ocean books that I found really useful -- not least because he says "these books are kind of bad, you don't need to read them, let me give you the highlights." I wish there was more about THE CONFIDENCE MAN, which I have been trying to read for 20 years (one of these days). His breakdown of PIERRE is extra worthwhile, in direct and violent contrast to the actual reading of PIERRE. Tempting to push some of the ideas about Ahab --> tyrant toward Ahab --> bureaucrat/pocket tyrant.
you don't necessarily need to read or have read MOBY-DICK to get brain proteins from this
>we can see in his full stature Ahab, embodiment of the totalitarian type. With his purpose clear before him, he is now concerned with two things only: (1) science, the management of things; and (2) politics, the management of men."
fire emoji x 3
anyway this book is un poco absurd and a little dusty but CLR James wrote it while he was more or less a captive of bureaucracy / hoteled at Ellis Island semi-voluntarily / having a super bad ulcer (there's a very detailed, very unnecessary fifth act of him complaining about hospital food) -
What an important book of American history - a critique of capitalism in the eras of Melville and post-WWII when the book was written. Fascinating to read CLR James' interpretation of Moby Dick and its characters, esp. given that he wrote this book while interred with communist cell-mates awaiting deportation. Now must read his masterpiece, The Black Jacobins, which labor-historian sister has long urged me to pick up. He writes well, conveying deep ideas with ease and eloquence.
Not even necessary to read Moby Dick to enjoy and learn from this volume! -
Immensely entertaining but fairly ridiculous.
-
I don't often find myself studying much literary criticism, but found I found James' work to helpfully expand upon my thoughts from Melville. That's just to say that if you've read Moby Dick, then this is worth reading.
James poses a heterodox interpretation of Moby Dick that reads a great conflict between the crew and Ahab. Throughout the book, James reads Ahab as the quintiessential modern-man valued by regimes such as the USA and the Soviet Union. Indeed, James argues that Melville's Ahab is an original character that each of his previous novels had only in part portrayed. In a similar fashion to Shakespeare's Hamlet, Melville's Ahab is, for James, the first character to epitomize 'the world we live in.' Given James see such ingenuity and originality in Ahab, he reveres Melville as the greatest of American literature (a reverence I now share).
Interestingly enough, I was surprised to find how 'Cold War' James was in this text. His reading of the Ahab and the crew are very much situated within the context of him being held on Ellis Island during the early '50s and being stuck between two totalitarian regimes. I hadn't read a Cold War book in over a year, so it was exciting to come back to that era from a very different genre and set of questions.
Anyways, Mariners wasn't a mind-blowing or paradigm shifting read, but it gave my reading of Moby Dick a more robust background and analysis, which was wonderful. I highly recommend to those interested in Melville, James, Cold War literature, and/or mid-century decolonial thought. -
An interesting read. Mid-20th century scholarship is always so sure of itself. That's fascinating enough as it is. Thoughtful interpretation of Ahab. The last chapter about the author's time amongst the Communists all held for deportation on Ellis Island is narcissistic garbage. Skip it.
-
A solid early start, tying Ahab's totalitarianism to American capitalism and the neurotic disassociation it produces in the intellectual class and middle management. As it spins out to broader Melville background and comparative lit, I cared less.
-
A fine look at the rise of mono-maniacal fascism through the lens of Ahab and the Pequod. Also takes in Melville's other writing as lead up and release from Moby Dick. Very smart. Written in the 1950's when James was being held before deportation as some kind of subversive.
-
The story of Melville and the world we live in.
-
A superb reading of Melville, surprisingly accessible, that provides a profound psychological and economic critique of materialist societies (capitalist and communist) and probes the origins of totalitarianism.
