Melville and the Idea of Blackness: Race and Imperialism in Nineteenth-Century America

By examining the unique problems that "blackness" signifies in Moby-Dick, Pierre, "Benito Cereno, and The Encantadas, Christopher Freeburg analyzes how Herman Melville grapples with the social realities of racial difference in nineteenth-century America. Where Melville's critics typically read blackness as either a metaphor for the haunting power of slavery or an allegory of moral evil, Freeburg asserts that blackness functions as the site where Melville correlates the sociopolitical challenges of transatlantic slavery and U.S. colonial expansion with philosophical concerns about mastery. By focusing on Melville's iconic interracial encounters, Freeburg reveals the important role blackness plays in Melville's portrayal of characters' arduous attempts to seize their own destiny, amass scientific knowledge, and perfect themselves. A valuable resource for scholars and graduate students in American literature, this text will also appeal to those working in American, African American, and postcolonial studies.

Author: Christopher Freeburg
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: 01/29/2015
Pages: 214
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.70lbs
Size: 9.00h x 6.00w x 0.49d
ISBN: 9781107477834

About the Author
Freeburg, Christopher: - Christopher Freeburg is Assistant Professor of English at the University of Illinois, Urbana. He received his PhD from the University of Chicago and his Master's from Stanford University. His work has appeared in journals such as American Literature and Modern Fiction Studies.