White Fire: The Influence of Emerson on Melville

White Fire: The Influence of Emerson on Melville
ISBN-10
1878981021
ISBN-13
9781878981028
Series
White Fire
Pages
208
Language
English
Published
1991
Publisher
California State University, Long Beach
Author
John B. Williams

Description

White Fire challenges the critical tradition that for nearly half a century has celebrated the power of blackness in American literature. This tradition presents Herman Melville as investigating, then rejecting the optimistic vision of Ralph Waldo Emerson because he lacked a viable sense of evil. Williams digs beneath the obvious contrasts between these two great contemporaries, asking three questions about their relationship: What was Emerson actually saying at the time Melville was serving his literary apprenticeship? How much did Melville know of Emerson's provocative thought? What use did Melville make of ideas and images that Emerson, more than any other contemporary, espoused? In his findings, Williams views Melville as far less the independent critic of Emerson that modern critics have described and far more the responsive artist and opportunist, absorbing images and ideas from the most readily available sources and transforming them into art.

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