Herman Melville: An Introduction

List of Illustrations.

Acknowledgments.

Preface.

Part I: Introduction.

1. Melville’s Life.

2. ‘Agatha’ and the Invention of Narrative.

Part II: Melville’s Early Yarns.

3. ‘Making Literary Use of the Story’: Typee and Omoo.

4. ‘A Regular Story Founded on Striking Incidents’: Mardi, Redburn, and White-Jacket.

Part III: Writing New Gospel in Moby-Dick and Pierre.

5. ‘So Much of Pathos & So Much of Depth’: Moby-Dick.

6. ‘All Tender Obligations’: Pierre.

Part IV: Turning a New Leaf: Short Fiction, Israel Potter, and The Confidence-Man.

7. ‘A Leaf from Professional Experience’: Short Fiction of the 1850s.

8. ‘Peculiarly Latitudinarian Notions’: Israel Potter and The Confidence-Man.

Part V: Melville’s Later Career.

9. ‘Fulness & Veins & Beauty’: Battle-Pieces and Clarel.

10. ‘Different Considerations’: Late Poetry.

11. ‘Instinct with Significance’: Billy Budd.

Afterword: ‘Restoring To You Your Own Property’: Owning Melville.

Appendix: The ‘Agatha’ Correspondence.

Notes.

Bibliography.

Index