Moby-Dick and the philosopher of pessimism

Pritchard, Greg 2003, Moby-Dick and the philosopher of pessimism, Australasian journal of American studies, vol. 22, no. 1, pp. 34-48.

Document type:	Journal Article
Collection:	School of Communication and Creative Arts

Attached Files (Some files may be inaccessible until you login with your Deakin Research Online credentials)
Name			Description	MIMEType		Size	Downloads

Title	Moby-Dick and the philosopher of pessimism
Author(s)	Pritchard, Greg
Journal name	Australasian journal of American studies
Volume number	22
Issue number	1
Start page	34
End page	48
Publisher	Australian and New Zealand American Studies Association
Place of publication	St Lucia, Qld.
Publication date	2003
ISSN	0705-7113
Summary	Herman Melville discovered the philosophy of Arthur Schopenhauer late in life, and must have been surprised to discover how close this writer's philosophy was to his own beliefs. Despite this late revelation, the influence on Melville's work was strong, and there are good arguments to show that Melville was inspired by his ideas in the creation of 'Bartleby , the Scrivener' and Billy Budd. Melville may well have been aware of Schopenhauer's philosophy earlier, however, regardless of his lack of proven or direct exposure to the work of the German writer at the time of its composition, Moby-Dick exhibits many affinities with Schopenhauer's thought and it is possible to examine the book through such a reading.
Language	eng
Field of Research	200506 North American Literature
HERDC Research category	C1 Refereed article in a scholarly journal
Persistent URL	http://hdl.handle.net/10536/DRO/DU:30002276

Access Statistics:	272 Abstract Views, 0 File Downloads - Detailed Statistics
Created:	Mon, 07 Jul 2008, 08:20:12 EST

Deakin Research Online