Cycnos | Numéros | Volume 17.2 - Herman Melville : espaces d'écriture

Résumé :

Moby-Dick is clearly a novel which calls for a number of different readings and interpretations, among which the geographical approach is unquestionably a most interesting one. By superimposing the representations of the earthly, the celestial and the human spaces, interweaving them all and endlessly stringing them together, Melville proposes a reading of the world which reproduces the aborigenal system that struck his imagination as a young seaman and reflects at the same time the boldest scientific demonstrations of his time. This article shows that the legacy of the most ancient civilizations is to be found in Melville’s text, which also appears to be in the vanguard of nineteenth century scientific research, thus underlining Moby-Dick’s pivotal place in the world’s literature as well as in the conception of time and space.

Date de publication : 2008-07-15