Billy Budd and Other Stories (Penguin Classics)

Book Description

Melville's last work, Billy Budd, Sailor (written between 1888 and 1891), is considered by many to be his finest work. Also in this volume is Melville's Piazza Tales, among them "Bartleby the Scrivener," "Benito Cereno," and "The Encantadas."

Customer Reviews:

Masterpieces .......2005-10-31

There are two great masterpieces in this book, "Billy Budd" and "Bartleby, the Scrivener" ."Benito Cereno"is perhaps a third.
"Billy Budd" was Melville's last work of genius. It is a complex tale of Innocent and Evil, of the seemingly perfect and pure hero, Billy Budd, and his nemesis , the evil Claggart. In between and acting as judge but unable to prevent the tragedy is Captain Vere, the man of truth.
"Billy Budd" has always had me a certain enigmatic and troubling feeling. And despite sensing its greatness I have not identified with the work the way I always have with 'Bartleby the Scriver'.
In this tale the scribe who says "I prefer not to" and seems yet another variant of Lonely, Isolated , anomic Western Man( Dostoevsky's "The Underground Man" to Camus' "The Stranger) is at once infuriating, pathetic, and admirable. He is the American hero of Thoreau "hearing the sound of a different drummer". And yet he is the pathetic lonely figure similar to Gogol's Akaky Akakayevich in " The Overcoat".
His stubborness while driving us crazy, is somehow felt to be admirable , and a sign of his integrity. He somehow cannot be bought and co-opted.
Melville himself was too a lonely, lonely figure especially in the long years when he wrote no prose, worked in the New York harbor, and did not receive recognition for the masterpieces he had already written, including what most consider the greatest of all American Novels,"Moby Dick."

Calvinism.......2005-08-18

This collection of short stories gives a very fair view of Herman Melville's literary capacities as well as his vision of the world and humanity.

In Billy Budd (BB) the main character 'Adam before the Fall' is a victim of natural human depravity.
Bartleby's (B) perfectly harmless passivity is the personification of humanity's lost hopes.
In 'Benito Cereno' (BC) the black revolt is crushed by 'superior' whites.
'The Piazza' is a description of a fairyland inhabited only by 'like some Tahiti girl'.
In 'The Lighning-Rod Man' (LR) the author doesn't need a lightning conductor, because 'In thunder as in sunshine, I stand at ease in the hands of my God.'
In 'The Bell-Tower' (BT) the great mechanician, the unblest foundling Bannadonna, wants to become a new Prometheus, 'man, the true God'. He is killed by his own robot. The whole tower crashes in an earthquake.
'The Encantadas' are 'Apples of Sodom'.

Herman Melville's worldview is that of a true calvinist. His religion is the dominant theme in these stories: 'All is owing to Providence' (BC), also the alleged superiority of the white man. After the Fall, man became naturally depraved. More, 'civilization is auspicious to depravity, because the latter can fold itself in the mantle of respectability.' (BB)
Melville's anti-rational, anti-scientific and anti-progress stance is clearly exposed in the fate of Bannadonna and his realisations(BT).

So, why should we still read an outspoken 19th century conservative author? Because Calvinism poses the fundamental question of evil-'owing to Providence'. Melville is obsessed by evil. For him, it is an irrational 'mystery, a matter for psychologic theologians.' (BB)

Melville is a master in staging characters driven by 'pale ire, envy, despair' (BB) or 'pride' (BT). The deception in BC is formidably sketched; the indomitable reaction of the stuttering Billy Budd is a lightning blow and the suicidal behaviour of Bartleby is baffling.
These are the main reasons why some of his stories continue to be fascinating reads.

Don't listen to the first rating!!!!!.......2003-11-26

Billy Budd is NOT a story of "good versus evil"! If you read it and only get that out, you're an idiot. Furthermore, this was Melville's very last work and was not found until after his death; it is heralded as being just as well-written and compelling as "Moby Dick". The ship is a microcosm for our world, and each character represents different people/ideas. It is not a story of protagonist and antagonist. Melville was not concerned with Claggart or Budd, but rather Captain Veere. Heck, just read until the court martial scene; you'll see.

In closing: Forget the loon who told you this book was nonesense. He/she apparently has never READ the book for UNDERSTANDING.

PS: I'm a college sophomore majoring in English. I should know what I'm talking about. Toodles.

Billy's Not MY Buddy.......2003-04-05

If you are an English teacher who is looking for a good punishment for their students, I highly recommend that you assign them 'Billy Budd.'

Not only is this book extremly hard to understand, it's theme is also quite depressing... it's your basic everyday, good vs. evil, but in this book: Evil conquers all.

Save your time.. don't read this book....

Don't Get Lost In The Sea-Mists........2002-05-11

Though this fine collection contains the justly famous work, Billy Budd, and the amazing story of Bartleby, I would like to focus on Benito Cereno. This story is less well-known than these others, but it is equally great. And I want to focus on it also because I noticed a review here that stated that this story reveals that Melville was indifferent to the horror of slavery. It is difficult for me to read such a view without distress. This is not only not true, but nothing could be further from the truth. A more compassionate and profound commentary on slavery and on human blindness has never been written and never will be. Please consider my view of this story:
First of all consider the seeming irony of the title, Benito Cereno. In the story itself all the direct focus is on Captain Amasa Delano. He is seen here endlessly as the embodiment of large-minded nobility and generosity. He seems to be the real hero of the story, (just as Babo, the negro who master-minds the mutiny, seems to be a stereotypical villain). But the story is not called, Amasa Delano, it is called, Benito Cereno. Why? Because the ultimate subject here is what happens inside Benito Cereno. The surface focus on Delano is a distracting screen that Melville deliberately and carefully constructs. Melville allows this screen to distract us because the type of 'decency' that Delano represents in real life is exactly what allows people who consider themselves 'civilized' and basically 'good' to be blind and distracted from the real horror of slavery or any other evil. Please recall that Delano " took to negroes, not philanthropically, buy genially, just as other men to Newfoundland dogs." And consider the scene where Babo is shaving Captain Cereno. Delano thinks he is watching an agreeable but basically simple-minded negro doing a job that perfectly suits his one-dimensional, inferior being. And in reality we are watching a charade devised by Babo's brain, a "hive of subtlety" that has Delano fooled. When Delano notices that Babo has used the Spanish flag as a barber towell to cover Cereno, he comments on it in a forgiving, playful way and Babo laughs and plays the clown, but in fact it is a revelation of how painfully aware Babo really is. Delano can not quite see the truth about anything. All of his confusion and uncertainty throughout most of the story, and the vaporous mists of the sea-scape, are meant by Melville to be reflective of Delano's deeper blindness. Delano has one moment in the story where he almost sees reality and says, "Ah, this slavery breeds ugly passions in man...," but he slips back again into his smug blindness. And his certainty and cheerfulness at the end of the story are part of this blindness. No, he is not the hero of this story. The real hero is the feeling/consciousness that rises in the heart of Benito Cereno. Delano thinks, and the reader may think with him, that what afflicts and almost paralyzes Cereno through most of the story is that he is simply afraid that if he makes the wrong move then Delano will be killed. But this is only a fraction of what really afflicts Cereno. Cereno, through his experience with Babo, sees the truth about slavery and he can never be blind again. Look at the last part of the story: After the mutiny has been crushed and the negroes are brought to 'justice' and Delano is then out of danger Cereno is still buried in shadow and pain.
Why? Please read very carefully the last conversation between Delano and Cereno here. Cereno explains so movingly how Delano is blind, but Delano still does not see. Delano asks why he, Cereno, is so melancholy. Cereno answers simply,"The negro." At the trial Cereno refuses to identify Babo and faints when he is forced to look at him. Three months later Cereno dies of inner pain and darkness in a monastery. The monastery is on Mount Agonia. Agonia gives us the English word, agony, and in Greek in means a wrestling contest. Here the struggle is between tuth and falsehood. Crereno dies in the struggle, but he dies on the right side. This is why the story is called Benito Cereno.

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Educational Book
Sailors' Favorite Framed, Takes Rap
The difference between to be right and to be moral!
good and evil
Natural depravity

Billy Budd (Tor Classics)
Herman Melville
Manufacturer: Aerie
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

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ASIN: 0812504267

Book Description

Tor Classics are affordably-priced editions designed to attract the young reader. Original dynamic cover art enthusiastically represents the excitement of each story. Appropriate "reader friendly" type sizes have been chosen for each title--offering clear, accurate, and readable text. All editions are complete and unabridged, and feature Introductions and Afterwords.This edition of Billy Budd includes a Foreword, Biographical Note, and Afterword by James Gunn.Aboard the warship Bellipotent, the young orphan Billy Budd was called the handsome sailor. Billy was tall, athletic, nobel looking; he was friendly, innocent, helpful and ever-cheerful. He was a fierce fighter and a loyal friend. All the men and officers liked him....All but one: Master-at-Arms Claggart. Envious, petty Claggart plotted to make Billy's life miserable. But when a fear of mutinies swept through the fleet, Claggart realized he could do more than just torment the Handsome Sailor....He could frame Billy Budd for treason....

Customer Reviews:

Educational Book.......2007-05-13

Book took too long to arrive. Required reading for my daughter. MysticBleu

Sailors' Favorite Framed, Takes Rap.......2006-06-09

*BILLY BUDD, a classic tale by America's Herman Melville, was written 40 years after his burst of creative energy. Melville still possessed the feeling for a good story, but he wrote it in a language so ornate and (to our modern eyes) stilted, that one can hardly absorb it. Nevertheless, BILLY BUDD deals with a timeless human issue---the nature of justice. Billy, a handsome young sailor, has been impressed into the British Navy where he incurs the jealousy or instinctive dislike of an officer. Billy has done nothing to warrant his wrath and is highly popular among everyone. This officer, rather more intellectual than most, proves tenaciously vindictive. He endeavors to trap Billy in a mutinous plot, but Billy rejects the idea. At last the officer goes to the captain and accuses Billy of mutiny directly. The captain too likes Billy and cannot believe the accuser. He calls Billy, who in tense circumstances is apt to stutter or be tongue-tied. When presented with the officer's accusations, Billy cannot speak. He strikes the officer. The conclusion is swift and sad. I should not reveal the ending, but the question of "what is justice ?" lies at the center of it.

*Other Tales---these are neither very enjoyable nor easy to read except for BARTLEBY THE SCRIVENER, an amusing story that might remind readers of one episode from "Sinbad the Sailor". Bartleby, a copyist or scrivener arrives at a lawyer's office and is hired. He seems to have no past, no present. We discover that he even lives at the office, never goes out. He gradually refuses to do all work, but will not leave the premises. How to get rid of him ? I could tell you the end, but in the immortal words of Bartleby himself, "I would prefer not to." This is a minor classic.

The difference between to be right and to be moral!.......2006-02-08

Billy Budd has never known a home beside the sea. Orphaned, and apparently un-cared for, even though he has a personal innocence, and beauty about him, he is at one with the sea.

In his innocence, he is unaware that his superior, Claggert, is also his nemesis, and one can only speculate why Claggert has such antipathy towards him.

Although there is nothing Captain Vere can do to save the poor boy, after Billy Budd unexpectedly lashes out at Claggert, we are waiting for something to happen to avoid the unfair morality of the story. While Vere has right in his decision to condemn Billy Budd, it is an immoral decision. Is what is right and what is moral it always the same thing? Not in this case, and perhaps that is Melville's point. Well meaning people can do what is right, can act in a manner that is correct, but isn't there a higher consideration. Why does there have to be a conflict with morality and correctness, with humanity and duty.

This short novel provides yet another addition to the literature in which to question right and wrong, good and evil. I think that this is an unanswerable question.

While the themes within this story and universal, and well presented, the language is nineteenth century. Parts of the narrative are difficult to get through, and many of the metaphors require a nineteenth century outlook. But the issues it raises are worth thinking about, and that certainly comes through, at least to me,

good and evil.......2005-10-27

Personally, I thought this was a great book. This book follows a man named Billy Budd through the end of his life spent in the English navy. Although this book had some boring parts, it was overall a great story line. I was impressed with story more than the writing, which ran a little longer than I thought it should have in some parts. However, the main story was very clever and presented a lot of great ideas.
The story was set in 1797 during one of Britain's wars with France. Most of the story takes place on a ship called the Indomitable. There had been a lot of mutinies in the British navy, and the ship is overall a tense place. To add to it the men find the quarters too crowded. Billy Budd starts out on a boat called the Rights of Man, a merchant ship, and is put into service on the Indomitable.
The story to me is about good versus evil. The whole book seems to be a major analogy of the simplest form. Billy is good. Claggart is bad, and Vere is reason. The major plot involves Billy killing Claggart in response to evil. Billy seems to be completely unaware of badness. After being offended by Claggart, Billy punches him and accidentally kills him. Then a court is set up to determine Billy's punishment.
The characters have very obvious symbolism to the struggle of good and evil. When Billy joins the Indomitable he is about 20, handsome, kind, and basically personified innocence. Claggart is an older man who moved up in rank mainly because he could please people, but is clearly evil. I think that this is genius. Even in my life I can think of people who get ahead in life simply through attitude, which I find to be a horrible representation of a man. I believe men should be judged more on their values, or set of morals, which determine all of his endeavors. Even in schools the straight A students are not always the people who are most able to do jobs. However I use this more as an analogy than an example because this story deals mainly with good and evil. Finally, there is Captain Vere. He is an older man, who is implied to be intelligent although not directly show to be. He loves to read, and is a conserved man who is seen as fair, and well liked among the sailors. To me he doesn't represent a person. I see Vere as the challenge of judgment. He is a man given all the information, a just fairness, and intelligence. I find that even though not all people come off as having equal intelligence, it's more of a language barrier. Until you get to know someone its like looking at the surface of an ocean. When it comes to their ideas you can only see the tip of the iceberg, and it's impossible to tell for sure how deep those thoughts go, even if you think you have an idea. I think that most people have this reason and understanding, under the surface, that is represented by Vere. I must say that some people wouldn't like this book because they might find it stupid or boring, but the principles that are suggested by this book are real and true to today. So, even if you don't appreciate the style of the author, anyone who takes time to consider the idea of this story must find themselves lost in thought; riding on a train of thought that only great ideas can take you aboard, staring out the window with amazement.
The story itself beautifully illustrates this idea of the forces of good and evil in life. The men on the ship are like followers. Some of them follow Claggart, trying their best to please him, but the majority look up to Billy for his purity, and respect Vere for his fairness. The idea of mutiny is brought to Billy by one of his fellow seamen. Billy of course has no desire to partake in it, and is outraged by the idea. However, later, when the ship leaves the main fleet, Claggart tells Vere that he has heard of a mutiny developing. Vere who seems to admire Billy for his innocence and good heart, finds the claim ridiculous. It's never made clear why Claggart dislikes Billy, but I think that this is one of the key points of the book, that evil exists without instigation. Vere, determined to settle the dispute, brings both of them into his office one night, and tells them both the situation. Billy, who has no understanding of evil, is so offended by this accusation that in defense he out lashes and punches Claggart, killing him. Vere, a man of justice calls together a court for Billy's punishment. If you don't want to know the ending, skip the rest of this paragraph. In sight of fairness Billy is sentenced to a hanging. Also, later Vere dies in a fight with the ship Atheist. So, in the end evil is all that's left it seems. I don't think that this means that evil conquers goodness and fairness. I think it simply shows that goodness is rare, and fairness can be taken by evil, as with Billy's death and Vere's death. I think the reason evil is left at the end of this book is because evil will always exist.
Overall, this book was definitely a classic. I found the story interesting, and quite well written, but had it been poorly written, the concept of the book was enough to make this book well worth the reading. The book seemed boring to me at first, but the whole picture is needed to appreciate this work of art. I would recommend this book to anyone with an open mind.

Natural depravity.......2005-08-17

The inmates of the 'Indomitable', the name of the ship, which is the centre stage of the evolving drama, have indomitable reactions.
Innocence as well as antipathies are 'spontaneous and profound'. Man is irrational. He is governed by the heart, not the brain, but the heart can be innocent or evil:
'though the man's even temper and discreet bearing seem to intimate a mind peculiarly subject to the law of reason, not the less in his heart he would seem to riot in complete exemption from the law, having apparently little to do with reason further than to employ it as an ambidexter implement for effecting the irrational. These men are true madmen.'
More, civilization is auspicious to natural depravity. It folds itself in the mantle of respectability.

The innocent Billy Budd (Adam before the Fall) is a victim of profound iniquity (pale ire, envy, despair) and his reaction is indomitable.
Starry Vere (fron the Latin 'Verus'), the captain of the ship, agrees that iniquity is a mystery, a matter for psychologic theologians, but for a military court only the prisoner's deed must be taken into account.

Herman Melville, as a true calvinist, is obsessed by the existence of evil. He wrote a profound and dramatic masterpiece.

Herman Melville : Pierre, Israel Potter, The Piazza Tales, The Confidence-Man, Tales, Billy Budd (Library of America)

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It ain't all Moby Dick
The Lonesome Latter Years

Herman Melville : Pierre, Israel Potter, The Piazza Tales, The Confidence-Man, Tales, Billy Budd (Library of America)
Herman Melville
Manufacturer: Library of America
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0940450240

Book Description

Herman Melville's dark and brilliant late works contain some of his most powerful writing. After "Moby-Dick" he turned from the high seas to record his keen, bleak vision of life at home in America. "Pierre," "Israel Potter," and "The Confidence-Man," satirical dissections of moral breakdown and social hypocrisy, anticipate modernist fiction with their black humor and formal experimentation. With them here are "The Piazza Tales"--including "Bartelby the Scrivener," "The Encantadas," and "Benito Cereno"--and the haunting, posthumously published masterpiece, "Billy Budd, Sailor." Rounding out this third volume of Melville's complete prose in the Library of America are many pieces rarely collected, including magazine stories, comic sketches, and reviews of Nathaniel Hawthorne, Francis Parkman, and James Fenimore Cooper.

Customer Reviews:

It ain't all Moby Dick.......2002-03-16

If you think that you can't read classic American Literature because it's all so big and intimidating (i.e., Moby Dick) think again. Some of the short stories in this collection of Melville's "other" work are incredibly well-written insights into human nature. (As is Moby Dick, but I digress).

Billy Budd's encounter with "justice," Bartleby's statement that he would "prefer not", Benito Cerino's exploration of slavery-- these tales are not to be missed. You should read this book as a starter, then move on to the BIG OLD white whale.

The Lonesome Latter Years.......2001-05-12

Darkly humorous, cynical, horrific and melancholy, Melville's later works are the capstone to the author's deepening discontent with his America. The vision here can be frustrating: Melville conjures up the most painful, soul-searching mysteries, and then refuses to knot them up with tidy solutions. Instead, Melville deepens the moral ambiguity that seeped through the skin of the transitional Moby Dick in full-length works like Pierre and Billy Budd, Sailor. And the shorter works--among them The Piazza Tales, Benito Cereno, and Bartleby the Scrivener--are imbued with such a longing for any kind of graspable meaning, that their readers, like their characters, find themselves in a ponderous state of shock. The human condition, Melville seems to say, is one of isolation, cast adrift, searching alone for a truth that is, and always will be, inscrutable.

Billy Budd, Sailor (An Inside Narrative Reading Text and Genetic Text)

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Melville's common man against Burke's paternal authority
Time and Growth
Elisabeth, Billy Budd
Elisabeth, Billy Budd
Last Testament.

Billy Budd, Sailor (An Inside Narrative Reading Text and Genetic Text)
Herman Melville
Manufacturer: University Of Chicago Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0226321320

Book Description

Hayford and Sealts's text was the first accurate version of Melville's final novel. Based on a close analysis of the manuscript, thoroughly annotated, and packaged with a history of the text and perspectives for its criticism, this edition will remain the definitive version of a profoundly suggestive story.

"The texts are impeccably accurate. . . . The collection is accompanied by an unobtrusive but expert annotation. . . . Probably Melville's finest short work, the incomplete 'Billy Budd,' [is] a striking reworking of the crucifixion set in the English maritime service of the Revolutionary period."—John Sutherland, The Los Angeles Times

Customer Reviews:

Melville's common man against Burke's paternal authority.......2007-09-29

Stored away in a tin box and unpublished until 1924, "Billy Budd" has since been released in a number of forms. The confused state of the various drafts and manuscripts and the resulting (significant) disparities among the work's many editions have only increased the multiplicity of interpretations of what is already an extraordinarily complex (but not all that difficult) work. Readers' understanding or pleasure of this deeply textured novella may well depend on the text they select; the version widely considered the standard is Hayford and Sealts's "reading text," which is reprinted in any number of editions, including those available from the University of Chicago Press, Penguin, and The Library of America.

"Billy Budd" is often labeled an "unfinished" work--but I think that this intimidating tag does the story an injustice, leading readers to believe that the tale will end mid-sentence, with Billy dangling from the plank of a ship. But this is no "Mystery of Edwin Drood" or "The Castle"; Melville's novel is complete. Instead, one might say it is "unpolished"--although the work's ostensible inconsistencies and errors may have been part and parcel of Melville's clearly unreliable narrator--an aspect common to many of his late works, particularly "Pierre" and "The Confidence-Man."

So what's it about? And, more perplexingly, what does it mean? This tale of the sea relates the adulation and eventual persecution of the ever-trusting Billy Budd, the "Handsome Sailor" on a British merchant ship who, at the book's opening, is forcibly impressed by the warship "Bellipotent." In his new post, the innocent naif is worshipped by the rest of the crew, which arouses the dangerous jealousy of the master-at-arms, John Claggart, the protective watchfulness of the old salt Dansker, and the conflicted paternal instincts of the ship's captain, Edward Vere. The dynamics of the tensions among these four shipmates lead to a horrible accident which tests the principles of each of the survivors.

At its most basic, Melville is a retelling of the biblical tale of Abraham and Isaac (a parallel made explicitly in the text), but in this story God remains aloof: Captain Vere must decide on his own whether Billy is to be sacrificed on the rock of military discipline. And, even more obviously, Billy is the ship's Christ figure.

But, biblical allusions aside, Billy can also be seen as the common man controlled by the paternalism of nobility. The ship from which Billy is kidnapped is the "Rights-of-Man," and "the dry and bookish" Vere (who shares his name with one of the more famous Earls of Oxford) is unsubtly modeled after that idol of conservatism Edmund Burke ("his settled convictions were as a dike against those invading waters of novel opinion social, political, and otherwise"). Billy's eventual transformation as a symbol of the strong arm of the law disguises what's really at stake: is it the preservation of aristocratic power--or the prevention of anarchy? (Melville's own sympathies were equally ambiguous.) More subtle still is the issue of Billy's race, mentioned in passing on the first page of the book: "so intensely black that he must needs have been a native African." Through the compulsory act of impressment, he literally becomes a black slave under the arbitrary white rule of the ship.

The book's finale and its understated aftermath never fail to amaze and sadden me. My amazement results from Melville's ability to turn what could be a treacly ending into a statement on democracy and humankind (much like he did in the less successful "Israel Potter"); the sadness stems from the obvious truth in the author's views on power and subservience. In spite of its being a slim and "unfinished" novella, "Billy Budd" remains one of the most multifaceted classics of American literature.

Time and Growth.......2004-09-03

The first time I encountered Billy Budd, I was merely 16 years old and incredibly disappointed with Melville's classic. It was unlike anything I had previously encountered, much to my relief. I was turned off by, in my estimation, its excessive length and wordy sentence structure. I was so turned off, in fact, that I left a less than stellar review of the novella on Amazon. An avid and appreciative reader of classics, I preferred more straightforward reads such as Mark Twain's Huck Finn or Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre.

The second time I approached Billy Budd, it was six years later and in an upper level American Literature course. Though I had read it before, I gave it a second try because I had recently read and thoroughly enjoyed Melville's short stories The Paradise of Bachelors and the Tartarus of Maids and Bartleby. I was astounded at my changed perspective. No longer was the story cumbersome and confusing; I found that it was a beautifully written, intricately symbolic masterpiece. The story had meaning and each page felt significant, which had gone unnoticed and unappreciated with my first reading.

Though I can't find my old review, I wanted to update my remarks, if not alter them completely. Time and growth allowed me to understand and appreciate this classic. Life is all about timing. If you didn't enjoy this the first time around, perhaps you should give it another try, too.

Elisabeth, Billy Budd.......2003-12-10

Melville's short novel, Billy Budd, relates the late eighteenth century story of a naive, innocent, young sailor, who is hated by John Claggart, the ship's master-at-arms. Good versus evil, the individual versus society, absolute law versus mercy are all themes in the novel. Billy Budd contains many Christian allusions, and some commentators have suggested the novel is a Christian allegory that depicts the sacrifice of an innocent man. The narrator repeatedly draws comparisons between Billy Budd and Christ and Claggart and Satan. Although the reader must be willing to wade through many unfamiliar allusions and difficult vocabulary, the novel has a simple, but gripping plot line with universal themes.

Elisabeth, Billy Budd.......2003-12-10

Melville's short novel, Billy Budd, relates the story of a naive, innocent, young sailor hated by John Claggart, the ship's master-at-arms. The reason for Claggart's hatred is unknown; he is simply the representative of evil. In the presence of the ship's captain, Claggart falsely accuses Billy of mutiny. In response, Billy strikes Claggart with such force that Claggart falls dead. Concerned with the possibility of mutiny, Captain Vere convenes a court which follows Vere's directions, convicts Billy, and sentences him to death by hanging. The sentence is carried out.

The novel contains many Christian allusions, and some commentators have suggested Billy Budd is an allegory of Christ and the sacrifice of an innocent man. The narrator repeatedly draws comparisons between Billy and Christ and Claggart and Satan.

The most difficult parts of Billy Budd were Chapters 3 and 4, which seemed unconnnected with plot at that point in the novel. Later, the reader understands the connection between the descriptions of two mutinies on other ships and Billy Budd. However, I am not sure the reader is ever entirely clearly ion the relevance of Admiral Nelson in Chapter 4.

Although the reader has to be willing to wade through many allusions and difficult vocabulary, the novel has a great plot and universal themes. The innocent victim, the evil heart, the individual versus society theme, the letter of the law versus mercy theme, the internal conflicts in Captain Vere, the Christ imagery all make for a classic novel. I recommend Billy Budd.

Last Testament........2002-05-10

Whether its considered a novella, a short novel, or whatever else, no matter, Billy Budd is the greatest work of its kind ever written and one of the great works of world literature. Whether it fits neatly into any traditional literary category is of no importance. "Truth uncompromisingly told will always have its ragged edges."
Such rare substance and depth condensed into a mere 90 pages creates intense heat and blinding light, an incandescence, that only genius could then fashion into the long, smooth, jewel-like chains of the poetic prose sentences that make up this book. Melville forges them in the white-hot smithy of his soul then links them together, beginning to end, giving us the revelation story of Billy Budd. "Welkin-eyed" Billy Budd is a young British merchant sailor, the "Handsome Sailor", the embodiment of spontaneous, good-natured vitality and innocence, naturally loved by his fellow sailors, an "Angel of God." But he is also the "fated boy" with a seemingly minor weakness of stuttering when he is upset, a weakness that proves tragic in a world of darkness. Billy is forcibly enlisted onto a war ship to serve the British king in his struggle against the post-revolutionary France of Napoleon. On ship Billy meets the very intelligent, proper, conservative, highly regarded Master-at-Arms, Claggart. Behind his facade, Claggart's soul is as weak and depraved as Billy's is good and strong. The proud Claggart secretly admires Billy beyond endurance and grows to loathe and detest him because of this. Claggart goes to Captain Vere and falsely accuses Billy of mutiny. Billy is brought in and accused to his face. The shocked Billy is inwardly paralyzed, reduced to "a strange dumb gesturing and gurgling", by the mystery of such maliciousness and evil. He can't comprehend it and doesn't know how to defend himself. Like an innocent tormented animal he strikes out and Claggart falls silent, permanently silent. Then the real horror at the heart of this story is revealed. Captain Vere, the embodiment of all conventional nobility, courage and wisdom, deceives himself with his lofty rationality and with much sentimentality, but no more real feeling than a puppet, he follows protocol and, though he knows Billy is innocent, condemns him to be hanged and given over to the sea. Cuffed with darbies (manacles or irons) and bound in hammock the "Angel of God" is dropped into the darkness.

Fathoms down, fathoms down, how I'll dream fast asleep.
I feel it stealing now. Sentry, are you there?
Just ease this darbies at the wrist, and roll me over fair,
I am sleepy and the oozy weeds about me twist.

Book Description

Largely neglected in his own lifetime, Herman Melville mastered not only the great American novel but also the short story and novella forms. In Billy Budd and The Piazza Tales, Melville reveals an uncanny awareness of the inscrutable nature of reality.

Published posthumously in 1924, Billy Budd is a masterpiece second only to Melville’s Moby-Dick. This complex short novel tells the story of “the handsome sailor” Billy who, provoked by a false charge, accidentally kills the satanic master-at-arms. Unable to defend himself due to a stammer, he is hanged, going willingly to his fate. Although typically ambiguous, Billy Budd is seen by many as a testament to Melville’s ultimate reconciliation with the incongruities and injustices of life.

The Piazza Tales (1856) comprises six short stories, including the perpetually popular “Benito Cereno” and “Bartleby,” a tale of a scrivener who repeatedly distills his mordant criticism of the workplace into the deceptively simple phrase “I would prefer not to.”

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The "Problem" with Conceptual Schemes, New and Old
Deep wading
...Theory should always be so good
Seminal work in a fledgling field of academic research.
Tout livre qui ne s'adresse pas à la majorité est sot.

Epistemology of the Closet
Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick
Manufacturer: University of California Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Nonfiction | Gay & Lesbian | Subjects | Books

ASIN: 0520070429

Amazon.com

Since the late 1980s, queer studies and theory have become vital to the intellectual life of the U.S. This has been, to no small degree, due to the popularity of Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick's critically acclaimed Epistemology of the Closet. Working from classic texts of European and American writers--including Herman Melville, Henry James, Marcel Proust, and Oscar Wilde--Sedgwick delineates a historical moment in which sexual identity became as important a demarcation of personhood as gender had been for centuries.

Sedgwick's literary analysis, while provocative and often startling (you will never read Billy Budd or The Picture of Dorian Gray the same way again), is simply the basis for a larger project of examining and analyzing how the categories of "homosexual" and "heterosexual" continue to shape almost all aspects of contemporary thought. Epistemology of the Closet is a sometimes-dense work, but one filled with wit and empathy. Sedgwick writes with great intelligence and an eye for irony, but always makes clear that her theories and critical acumen are in the service of a politic that seeks to make the world a better and more humane place for everyone. An extraordinary book that reshapes how we think about literature, sexuality, and everyday life. --Michael Bronski

Customer Reviews:

The "Problem" with Conceptual Schemes, New and Old.......2006-07-20

The August 11, 1999 "a reader" comments about Sedgwick's prose is especially valuable. The tendency to "abuse" language, in J. L. Austin's famous phrase, seems pronounced in Francophile and postmodernist writings, as if obscuritanism is a measure of profundity rather than a measure of obscuritanism. Several critics have justly claimed that unintelligibile writing and ideation only expose unintelligibility.

What could have been a provocative inquiry into the uniqueness of each human being (a novel, but now confirmed, fact, originating in Darwinian theory), once again reverts to a series of ideological templates to overlay the diversity of being and experience to "fit" a new paradigm. The dominant template here is the binary homosexual/heterosexual dichotomy, which Sedgwick insists is the prism by which we come to have knowledge of our world (I hope my effort at intelligibility does not misrepresent her views.)

Of course, the use of ideological templates laid over an inquiry is nothing new. Critical theory, Marxist theory, Freudian theory, and now Queer theory are variants of the same methodology. If one accepts the ideological template, then the subsequent examination under that template achieves a knowledge (i.e., epistemology) within the limits of that template, but generates a new conceptual scheme. Ironically, the ostensible purpose of the ideological template is to liberate thought from the status quo by forcing thought through an alternative sieve. The "insight" derived from this process becomes subversive of the status quo, but only to impose an different status quo that is putatively superior to the existent one.

According to psychology and anthropology, humans "by nature" impose categorical thinking on experience in order to "frame the reference" and "give order" to chaotic particularism of individual experience. This notion is no longer controversial, indeed, it is "obvious," with aetiology as far back to Hebraism and Hellenism, differing only in the templates used. So, instead of breaking the mold, the new theorists create new ones. Akin to Kuhn's paradigm shift applied outside science, we are prodded to look anew at the old phenomena.

But one of Darwin's keenest insights is the uniqueness of all living things, despite similarities. Instead of the essentialist thinking we inherited from Greek metaphysics and epistemology, we're told by Darwinians that we must use "population thinking," where "grouping" of things is by common descent, not our morphological, behavioral, or ideological similarities. I suggest this same motif applies to sexual populations, sexual expressions, and sexual orientation. Kinsey and others who have insisted on a continuum of orientation differences along a line between the polarities of opposites is truer to the truth than a "homosexual essence" or "heterosexual essence." The appellation of "gay" and "straight" are nominalist, not essentialist, groupings, where each appellation picks out a wide variety of differences by our conceptual schemes of categorization and understanding of populations, not by any essence. If true, and I believe it is, why revert to binary templates of essences to lay over the variety of differences as if one aspect, however shared, must then define many others as well?

Same-sex and opposite-sex relations are not as "neat and tidy" as theorists want us to believe, nor do they exist only in polarity, but rather along a continuum with yet another point between any other two points. Within different populations one finds vast varieties of sexual orientation and expression, not to mention vast differences in other facets of the human being, that homo- and hetero-sexual appellations conflate. To then use these conflated nominalisms as departure points (i.e., templates) for further inquiry only boxes in the subject further, thus undermining difference itself. Instead of nominalist pluralism one becomes both a reductionist and an essentialist to further categorize what is already tenuous at best. This paradigm shift in turn becomes its own raison d'etre further undermining uniqueness so that a new consensus of a new conceptual scheme can be forged.

Consequently, these projects have their own slippery slopes I'd prefer not to slide into. They all strike me as yet another "ideology" in the service of liberation, subverting one status quo for another, categorizing more categories, until we fit the new paradigm. I think we have had enough experience with this methodology to stop it before it starts.

Indeed, the courage to be authentic suggests the enterprise is not only subversive of the status quo, but subversive of our authenticity as well. Being unique, and therefore different, is both a starting and ending point, not a place to begin new essentialist programs to "fit" yet another putatively "new" conceptual scheme.

Deep wading.......2006-05-10

Ugh, a tough, tough book to read. I found myself really bogged down by this book and looked more forward just to getting through it than actually getting anything out of it. Sedgewick's style is definately not for me, but if you can get past the thick writing style you may be able to glean some interesting points from it.

...Theory should always be so good.......2003-05-12

According to the writer Avital Ronell, in his youth Kant wanted to be a poet. Fortunately for us, perhaps, he turned to philosophy instead. Through this turn Kant ended up setting the standard towards which most academics currently strive: a zero-degree style (which Lyotard both attempts to mime and identifies as naive in the preface to The Differend). What this does, essentially, is provide the rather stupid (and perpetually misrecognized) effect that an author is objective, sound, and important. Most of the time, authors are none of these.

People may disagree with me, but I find Sedgwick's style gorgeous and memorable. This may make the book difficult to read, but it also can make it quite a pleasure, and what else could one want from a well-informed, well-argued, politically necessary academic intervention?

For people deterred by Sedgwick's prose, I suggest you go pick up something more simple-minded. Whoever thought that reading a book shouldn't be a challenge? Who actually believes that one shouldn't struggle with difficult and new ideas?

The Epistemology of the Closet is a necessary book. Sedgwick's thoughts on ignorance and power (in response to Foucault's coupling of knowledge/power) are incredible. Her readings of Bowers v. Hardwick, the homosexual panic defense, and figurations of homosexuality are more than insightful: they are powerful critiques and exposes of the way that homophobia operates and is legitimated in contemporary American culture. Please please read this book. Read it twice or three times. Try it again and again. Each time you return, I promise you, you'll be startled by the ideas that come out, and hopefully, they'll mobilize you to do something more with them.

Take it to the next level and keep reading.

Seminal work in a fledgling field of academic research........2000-12-11

This scholarly text is the second academic publication by Sedgwick, who has made a name for herself by becoming one of the prominent researchers of 'queer theory'. Sedgwick is a professor of English at Duke University. In this book, she elaborates her focus on the study of male homosexuality in Western texts, and so reads between the lines, as it were, of mainly canonical works by authors such as Melville, Wilde, James and Proust for signs of obscure queer themes and subtexts.

Sedgwick's main argument is as follows: she believes that homosexuality - male and lesbian - tends to be represented in both society and in literature as though it were an unstable, even deviant or perverse alternative to the fixed norm of heterosexuality. Homosexuality is all too often a thing of 'the closet'; it is a secret waiting to come out; it is the 'love that dare not speak its name'. In Sedgwick's preface to this book, she introduces a note of urgent contemporaneity to her writing that continually resurfaces later on. Clearly, Sedgwick perceives an urgent topicality in her subject matter.

This argument is sound. The execution is mostly fine. Occasionally Sedgwick seems to truncate her examination of works as soon as she has provided us with the bare outlines of their queer subtexts. For instance, she tells us that Claggart in Melville's 'Billy Budd' is gay, and that his testimony against the short story's title character contains an array of important, yet pervasively subtle, sexual connotations. Sometimes this approach borders dangerously on dispensing cheap thrills as Sedgwick proceeds to list terms that constitute sexual innuendo. Having done this, she does not try to link other themes in 'Billy Budd' - issues of legality, of social hierarchies and of mutiny - with the theme of homosexuality. Thus she doesn't always carry her analysis far enough. Why is Claggart gay, but not Billy Budd himself, or any of the other sailors aboard the Bellipotent for that matter? Why does Sedgwick make this seemingly petty distinction when the text itself is, as she rightly argues, deliberately secretive to the extent that it is refuses to make such details explicit? Still, this is an admirable and well-intentioned effort to create a foundation for further studies of queer theory. At the same time Sedgwick tries to emphasize the broader social relevance of her concerns. But here's the final catch: her style of writing is so densely compacted, so obfuscatory, so Jamesian in its complex morass of never-ending clauses that it's bound to marginalize a potentially much larger audience than the one it has now. And so this text, which is relevant in one sense, is esoteric in another. Moreover, Sedgwick likes to combine eloquence with banal profanities as freely as she mixes readings of Proust with Willie Nelson. For those who are phased by such language games, this set of reviews is where your intimacy with Sedgwick ends. For those remaining, Sedgwick's writing is a rare treat.

Tout livre qui ne s'adresse pas à la majorité est sot........2000-07-27

Long long ago, when I was a young faglet wandering the halls of my college pursuing truth, beauty, and a lang & lit degree, I ended up in a class with Professor Peters, my favourite teacher in history and a fabulous gay guy. It came time for us to write an essay - I forget whether it was the one about Blanche duBois as a drag portrayal of the author in "A Streetcar Named Desire" or the one about Hyde being the queer half of Jekyll, but at any rate I asked Prof. Peters for help and he directed me to this book. Trusting his judgment, I sat down to read.

Well. I'm sure this book contains many fascinating and provocative things to say, but unfortunately they are buried under prose so thick that one has the sensation of wading through molasses. Note to Dr. Sedgwick: ideas do nobody any good if they are expressed so poorly that nobody can understand them.

Book Description

A handsome young sailor is unjustly accused of plotting mutiny in this timeless tale of the sea.

This Enriched Classic Edition includes:

A concise introduction that gives readers important background information

A chronology of the author's life and work

A timeline of significant events that provides the book's historical context

An outline of key themes and plot points to help readers form their own interpretations

Detailed explanatory notes

Critical analysis, including contemporary and modern perspectives on the work

Discussion questions to promote lively classroom and book group interaction

A list of recommended related books and films to broaden the reader's experience

Enriched Classics offer readers affordable editions of great works of literature enhanced by helpful notes and insightful commentary. The scholarship provided in Enriched Classics enables readers to appreciate, understand, and enjoy the world's finest books to their full potential.

Product Description

Melville's short stories are masterpieces. The best are to be appreciated on more than one level and those presented here are rich with symbolism and spiritual depth. Set in 1797, Billy Budd, Foretopman exploits the tension of this period during the war between England and France to create a tale of satanic treachery, tragedy and great pathos that explores human relationships and the inherently ambiguous nature of man-made justice. Tales such as Bartleby, Benito Cereno, The Lightning Rod Man, The Tartarus of Maids or I and My Chimney, show the timeless poetic power of Melville's writing as he consciously uses the disguise of allegory in various ways and to various ends.

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