Stock Photo: Cover May Be Different
White Lies: Melville's Narratives of Facts
by John Samson
- New
- Condition
- New
- ISBN 10
- 0801422809
- ISBN 13
- 9780801422805
- Seller
-
Southport, Merseyside, United Kingdom
10 Copies Available from This Seller
(You can add more at checkout.)
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
New. The narrative of facts-probably best exemplified in the literature of exploration-was an immensely popular genre in mid-nineteenth-century America. In White Lies, John Samson offers full contextual readings of Melville's five major narratives of facts-Typee, Omoo, Redburn, White-Jacket, and Israel Potter. Samson demonstrates that in these novels Melville critically rewrote the sources on which he drew, in effect making the genre itself a subject of his writing. In his introduction, Samson discusses Melville's knowledge of the genre and its ideology. He then reads each novel in terms of Melville's confrontation with its sources. In each, Samson says, an unreliable narrator represents particular ideological tendencies in Melville's sources. Melville heightens and extends these tendencies, exposes the contradictions and biases within them, and ends by showing the narrator evading or denying experiences that conflict with his ideology. According to Samson, Melville sees the concept of historical progress as the basis of these biases and evasions. In these five novels, Melville reveals the conflict between democratic, humanitarian, and individualistic principles, on the one hand, and the forces of racial superiority, religious bigotry, economic determinism, and political conservatism, on the other. Taken together, Samson asserts, these novels deconstruct the intellectual foundations of the form of historical narration endorsed by white patriarchal culture. Scholars and students of nineteenth-century American literature, specialists in the novel, and other readers of Melville will welcome Samson's provocative reinterpretation of these key works in American culture.
Reviews
(Log in or Create an Account first!)
Details
- Bookseller
- The Saint Bookstore (GB)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- B9780801422805
- Title
- White Lies: Melville's Narratives of Facts
- Author
- John Samson
- Book Condition
- New New
- Quantity Available
- 10
- Binding
- Hardcover
- ISBN 10
- 0801422809
- ISBN 13
- 9780801422805
- Publisher
- Cornell University Press
- Place of Publication
- Ithaca, New York
- This edition first published
- 1989-07
Terms of Sale
The Saint Bookstore
Refunds or Returns: A full refund of the price paid will be given if returned within 30 days in undamaged condition. If the product is faulty, we may send a replacement.
About the Seller
The Saint Bookstore
Biblio member since 2018
Southport, Merseyside
About The Saint Bookstore
The Saint Bookstore specialises in hard to find titles & also offers delivery worldwide for reasonable rates.