Description, Calendar and Assignments
Herman Melville: a voyage into the human condition
The seminar will focus on the development of Melville’s artistry from the literary use of the autobiographical experience in Redburn to the formal and thematic complexity of Moby-Dick, the daring treatment of race in “Benito Cereno” and sexuality in Billy Budd.
Particular attention will be devoted to the following topics:
1. Narrative voice 2. Setting 3. Character portrayal 4. Treatment of national identity, ethnicity and race 5. Treatment of gender and sexuality
PRIMARY SOURCES
Redburn: His First Voyage
Moby-Dick; or, The Whale
Pierre; or, The Ambiguities
“The Paradise of Bachelors and the Tartarus of Maids”
“Benito Cereno”
Billy Budd
All primary sources are available on Moodle and/or in the library.
This course will be seminar-based. To ensure its success, students are expected to participate actively in class discussions and to fulfill the weekly reading assignments. All participants in the seminar are expected to deliver one class presentation on a chosen topic.
Each participant in the seminar will be expected to demonstrate his or her completion of the weekly reading assignment through active participation in group discussion and by reading, and commenting on, two passages of his or her choice which he or she will have previously made known to the instructor by email (no later than 5:00 pm on the day before the session). In addition, each participant will be required to give a 15-20 minute oral presentation on a specific aspect (for example: characterization, setting, gender, style, etc) of one of the texts on the reading list. Finally, each participant will be required to write a 2000-word research paper which must include a list of primary and secondary sources (no more than two of the latter can be websites). Papers must be typed and should follow the MLA Style Sheet. Students must turn in their papers at least two weeks before the date on which they intend to take the exam. Seminar assessment: participation and oral presentation 40%; research paper 60% N. B. Students who are unable to attend the seminar will be required to write a 3000-word research paper on a topic that will be assigned by the seminar instructor, and to take an oral exam.