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

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Stored away in a tin box and unpublished until 1924, "Billy Budd" has since been released in a number of forms.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

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.

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.

Average customer rating:

A compelling and vivacious rendition

Billy Budd, Sailor (Classic Fiction)
Herman Melville
Manufacturer: Naxos Audiobooks
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Audio CD

Classics | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Literary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

General | Short Stories | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

General | Classics | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

General | Books on CD | Audiobooks | Formats | Books

General | Poetry, Spoken Word & Interviews | Miscellaneous | Styles | Music
Similar Items:

ASIN: 9626343001
Release Date: 2003-08-19

Customer Reviews:

A compelling and vivacious rendition.......2003-11-17

Read and performed by veteran actor William Roberts, Billy Budd, Sailor is the unabridged audiobook presentation of Herman Melvilles maritme classic of a sailor "pressed" into service on the HMS Indomitable during the Napoleonic Wars. Despite his popularity among the crew, Billy experiences ruthless treatment from the ship's master-at-arms, and so follows horrible tragedy. A compelling and vivacious rendition, Billy Bud, Sailor is a recommended addition to personal and community library audiobook collections. 3 CDs, 3 hours and 35 minutes.

Billy Budd, Sailor and Selected Tales (Oxford World Classics)

Average customer rating:

Billy Budd, Sailor and Selected Tales (Oxford World Classics)
Herman Melville
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | World | History | Subjects | Books

Classics | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Literary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

United States | Short Stories | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

General | Short Stories | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

All 4-for-3 Deals | 4-for-3 Books Store | Stores | Books
Similar Items:

ASIN: 0192839039

Book Description

`Truth uncompromisingly told will always have its ragged edges.' So wrote Melville of Billy Budd, Sailor, among the greatest of his works and, in its richness and ambiguity, among the most problematic. As the critic E. L. Grant Watson writes, `In this short history of the impressment and hanging of a handsome sailor-boy are to be discovered problems as profound as those which puzzle us in the pages of the Gospels.' Outwardly a compelling narrative of events aboard a British man-of-war during the turmoil of the Napoleonic Wars, Billy Budd, Sailor is a nautical recasting of the Fall, a parable of good and evil, a meditation on justice and political governance, and a searching portrait of three extraordinary men. The passion it has aroused in its readers over the years is a measure of how deeply it addresses some of the fundamental questions of experience that every age must reexamine for itself. The selection in this volume represents the best of Melville's shorter fiction, and uses the most authoritative texts. The eight shorter tales included here were composed during Melville's years as a magazine writer in the mid 1850's and establish him, along with Hawthorne and Poe, as the greatest American story writer of his age. Several of the tales - Bartleby the Scrivener, Benito Cereno, The Encantadas, The Paradise of Bachelors and the Tartarus of Maids - are acknowledged masterpieces of their genres. All show Melville a master of irony, point-of-view, and tone whose fables ripple out in nearly endless circles of meaning.

Benito Cereno, Billy Budd, Marinero / Benito Cereno, Billy Budd, Sailor (Bolsillo Z)

Average customer rating:

Benito Cereno, Billy Budd, Marinero / Benito Cereno, Billy Budd, Sailor (Bolsillo Z)
Herman Melville
Manufacturer: Juventud
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Short Story Collections | Literature | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

Classics | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Spanish | Foreign Language Fiction | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Historical Fiction | History & Historical Fiction | Teens | Subjects | Books

Classics | Literature & Fiction | Teens | Subjects | Books

General | Infantil y juvenil | Libros en español | Formats | Books

Billy Budd (Fl), Sailor and the Piazza Tales

Average customer rating:

Billy Budd (Fl), Sailor and the Piazza Tales
Herman Melville; Illustrator Alan Price
Manufacturer: FRANKLIN LIBRARY
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000OK5H90

Average customer rating:

say it, don't spray it
A Masterpiece of Adaptation
This book was a mistake!

Billy Budd (Mermaid Dramabook Series)
Robert Chapman , and Lo Lus O. Coxe
Manufacturer: Hill & Wang
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Men's Adventure | Genre Fiction | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

General | Poetry | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0809012049

Customer Reviews:

say it, don't spray it.......2000-03-18

Show, don't tell. That's what I learned in my undergraduate fiction writing class. And I'm sure that Melville learned it, too. Coxe and Chapman weren't as attentive, I'm afraid.

The play spells out the "clunky"--read: metaphysical--conflicts in the plot, and even dramatizes secret meeting between Billy and Vere. The main thrust of the story is that we don't get to see that! The only thing it moved was my bowels. I wonder why it hasn't been performed in 30 years...

For and excellent dramatic adaptation, see Britten's opera. It at least preserves the mystery and the psychology of Melville's masterpiece.

A Masterpiece of Adaptation.......1998-03-18

Rarely does the world of fiction translate to theatre as cleanly and powerfully as this. Poet Louis Coxe and Robert Chapman have done a masterful job of bringing Herman Melville's somewhat clunky morality tale to life in this play. A must read for anyone who enjoys Melville or good, moving theatre.

This book was a mistake!.......1997-10-26

I read this book as a summer assignment for my English Honors class. I could not believe how terrible it was! I could not even follow it when I read it out loud. The only thing that got me through it was Cliffs Notes. Sure this book has a lot of good morals (that I only discovered through Cliffs Notes) but overall, it was wretched!

Billy Budd and Other Stories: Bartleby;the Piazza;the Encantadas;the Bell-Tower;Benito Cereno;the Paradise of Bachelors & the Tartarus of Maids; Billy Budd,Sailor

Average customer rating:

Billy Budd and Other Stories: Bartleby;the Piazza;the Encantadas;the Bell-Tower;Benito Cereno;the Paradise of Bachelors & the Tartarus of Maids; Billy Budd,Sailor
Herman; Busch, Frederick Melville
Manufacturer: Penguin Books Ltd
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

ASIN: 0333914414

Download Description

IN THE year 1799, Captain Amasa Delano, of Duxbury, in Massachusetts, commanding a large sealer and general trader, lay at anchor, with a valuable cargo, in the harbour of St. Maria- a small, desert, uninhabited island towards the southern extremity of the long coast of Chili. There he had touched for water... Please Note: This book is easy to read in true text, not scanned images that can sometimes be difficult to decipher. The Microsoft eBook has a contents page linked to the chapter headings for easy navigation. The Adobe eBook has bookmarks at chapter headings and is printable up to two full copies per year. Both versions are text searchable.

Average customer rating:

Billy Budd Sailor & Other Stories
Herman Melville
Manufacturer: PENGUIN PUTNAM * TRADE
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Books:

Books Index

Books Home

Recommended Books