{"product_id":"melvilles-thematics-of-form","title":"Melville's Thematics of Form","description":"\u003cp\u003eOriginally published in 1968. Professor Dryden sees Melville's novels both as metaphysical processes and as technical forms. The novelist is not a reporter but a creator, and what he creates from his experience is his vision of truth. Herman Melville saw the function of the novelist in terms of his ability to expose the reader to truth while simultaneously protecting him from it or, in other words, to enable the reader to experience reality indirectly and, therefore, safely. In Melville's own writing, however, this function became more difficult as his nihilism deepened. He became increasingly sensitive to his own involvement in the world of lies, and when he could no longer protect himself from the truth, he could no longer transform it into fiction. Melville's struggle to maintain the distinction between art and truth was reflected in the changing forms of his novels.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eDryden traces Melville's evolving metaphysical views and studies their impact on the craftsmanship of this acutely self-conscious artist from his early novels—\u003ci\u003eTypee\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eRedburn\u003c\/i\u003e, and \u003ci\u003eWhite Jacket\u003c\/i\u003e—through \u003ci\u003eMoby-Dick\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003ePierre\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eIsrael Potter\u003c\/i\u003e, and \u003ci\u003eThe Confidence-Man\u003c\/i\u003e to the posthumously published\u003ci\u003e Billy Budd\u003c\/i\u003e and the closely related \u003ci\u003eBenito Cereno\u003c\/i\u003e, and he concludes that \"all of Melville's narrators are in some way portraits of the artist at work.\" Dryden's study is a unique contribution to Melville scholarship and an important journey through the world of the novelist's vision. As such, it has significant implications for the novel as a genre and for understanding its development in America.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Johns Hopkins University Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Product","offer_id":54227991495000,"sku":"9781421430393","price":47.99,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0278\/1295\/4195\/files\/9781421430393__6774d0c7904ee.jpg?v=1741134931","url":"https:\/\/agendabookshop.com\/products\/melvilles-thematics-of-form","provider":"Agenda Bookshop","version":"1.0","type":"link"}