English 190

Book List

Berthoff, Warner: Great Short Works of Herman Melville; Bryant, John: Herman Melville: Tales, Poems, and Other Writings; Melville, Herman: Battle-Pieces and Aspects of the War; Melville, Herman: Billy Budd; Melville, Herman: Israel Potter: His Fifty Years of Exile; Melville, Herman: Typee: A Peep at Polynesian Life; Melville , Herman: Redburn: His First Voyage

Description

We will read widely across Herman Melville’s literary career, exclusive of Moby-Dick: South Sea romance (Typee), transatlantic novel (Redburn), short fiction (“Bartleby,” “Benito Cereno,” and more), Revolutionary War narrative (Israel Potter), Civil War poetry (Battle-Pieces), and nautical tragedy (Billy Budd). We also will consider Melville’s journals, letters, manuscripts, and sources, as well as relevant literary criticism, digital resources, and nineteenth-century fiction and poetry. We will look at film versions of Billy Budd by Peter Ustinov and by Claire Denis. Course requirements include oral presentations and a substantial research paper (20 pages), written in stages across the semester on a topic that you will determine and develop.