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BL
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| Record Number
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846983
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| Main Entry
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Spanos, William V.
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| Title & Author
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The errant art of Moby-Dick : : the canon, the Cold War, and the struggle for American studies /\ William V. Spanos.
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| Publication Statement
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Durham, N.C. :: Duke University Press,, 1995.
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| Series Statement
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New Americanists
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| Page. NO
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xiv, 374 pages ;; 23 cm.
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| ISBN
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082231584X
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: 0822315998
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: 9780822315841
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: 9780822315995
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| Bibliographies/Indexes
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Includes bibliographical references (pages 353-363) and index.
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| Contents
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Moby-Dick and the American Canon -- Metaphysics and spatial form: Melville's critique of speculative philosophy and fiction -- The errant art of Moby-Dick -- Moby-Dick and the contemporary American occasion.
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| Abstract
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"In The Errant Art of Moby-Dick, one of America's most distinguished critics reexamines Melville's monumental novel and turns the occasion into a meditation on the history and implications of canon formation. In Moby-Dick--a work virtually ignored and discredited at the time of its publication--William V. Spanos uncovers a text remarkably suited as a foundation for a "New Americanist" critique of the ideology based on Puritan origins that was codified in the canon established by "Old Americanist" critics from F. O. Matthiessen to Lionel Trilling. But Spanos also shows, with the novel still as his focus, the limitations of this "New Americanist" discourse and its failure to escape the totalizing imperial perspective it finds in its predecessor.Combining Heideggerian ontology with a sociopolitical perspective derived primarily from Foucault, the reading of Moby-Dick that forms the center of this book demonstrates that the traditional identification of Melville's novel as a "romance" renders it complicitous in the discourse of the Cold War. At the same time, Spanos shows how New Americanist criticism overlooks the degree to which Moby-Dick anticipates not only America's self-representation as the savior of the world against communism, but also the emergent postmodern and anti-imperial discourse deployed against such an image. Spanos's critique reveals the extraordinary relevance of Melville's novel as a post-Cold War text, foreshadowing not only the self-destructive end of the historical formation of the American cultural identity in the genocidal assault on Vietnam, but also the reactionary labeling of the current era as "the end of history.""--Back cover.
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| Subject
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Melville, Herman,1819-1891-- Influence.
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Melville, Herman,1819-1891., Moby Dick.
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Melville, Herman,1819-1891-- Influence.
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Melville, Herman,1819-1891-- Influence.
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Melville, Herman,1819-1891., Moby Dick.
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Melville, Herman,1819-1891-- Influence.
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Melville, Herman,1819-1891., Moby Dick.
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Melville, Herman,1819-1891.
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Melville, Herman.
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| Subject
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American literature-- History and criticism-- Theory, etc.
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Canon (Literature)
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Cold War.
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Criticism-- United States-- History-- 20th century.
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Literature and society-- United States-- History-- 20th century.
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Politics and literature-- United States-- History-- 20th century.
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Sea stories, American-- History and criticism-- Theory, etc.
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Chefs-d'œuvre (Littérature)
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Critique-- États-Unis-- Histoire-- 20e siècle.
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Guerre froide.
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Littérature américaine-- Histoire et critique-- Théorie, etc.
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Littérature et société-- États-Unis-- Histoire-- 20e siècle.
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Mer-- Récits américains-- Histoire et critique-- Théorie, etc.
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Politique et littérature-- États-Unis-- Histoire-- 20e siècle.
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Canon (Literature)
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Criticism.
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Influence (Literary, artistic, etc.)
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Literatur
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Literature and society.
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Politics and literature.
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Moby Dick, or The Whale (Melville)
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Moby Dick (Melville, Herman)
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United States.
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USA.
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| Dewey Classification
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813/.3
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| LC Classification
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PS2384.M62S59 1995
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| NLM classification
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18.06bcl
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