The Vocabulary of Moby Dick

CRITICAL appraisal of the language employed by Herman Melville in his novels and tales has varied, in the ioo years since the publication of Moby Dick, from caustic ridicule to lavish praise. Melville's contemporaries lampooned the 'extravagance' and 'eccentricity' of the author's expression, characterizing it as 'execrable' English and 'drunken' language.1 Recent critics, who have developed insights leading to a thorough reevaluation of the author's place in American letters, have almost unanimously applauded Melville's style.2 Richard Chase suggests that 'an intense verbal analysis might tell us much about Moby Dick. It might give us the word and form the New Testament of Melville criticism.'3

Art · Linguistics · Vocabulary · Literary Theory and Cultural Hermeneutics · Narrative Theory and Analysis · Shakespeare, Adaptation, and Literary Criticism · Philosophy

• American Lexicology, 1942-1973

  James B Mcmillan•American Speech•1978

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