Myth, Melville, and Modernity

Robert D. Richardson, Jr. Myth and Literature in the American Renaissance. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1978. 309 + ix pp. Edward H. Rosenberry. Melville. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1979. 170 + xii pp. Thomas J. Scorza. In the Time Before Steamships: "Billy Budd," the Limits of Politics, and Modernity. DeKalb: Northern Illinois University Press, 1979. 210 + xli pp. It is peculiarly appropriate that Herman Melville, perhaps the exemplary figure in American literature, should concern himself with the nature of the exemplary (or phenomenal) character in his final work of fiction, Billy Budd. Hence, it may be assumed, the parallel titles of Warner Bertofff's 1960 article, " 'Certain Phenomenal Men': The Example of Billy Budd," and of the fine book which subsequently included that article, The Example of Melville (1962)

American literature · Art · Art history · Character (mathematics · Literature · Modernity · Mythology · Political science · Politics · The Renaissance · Classics · Folklore, Mythology, and Literature Studies · Gothic Literature and Media Analysis · History · Law · Philosophy · Themes in Literature Analysis