A Companion to Herman Melville

In a series of 35 original essays, this Companion demonstrates the relevance of Melville's works in the twenty-first century. Presents 35 original essays by scholars from around the world, representing a range of different approaches to Melville. Considers Melville in a global context, and looks at the impact of global economies and technologies on the way people read Melville. Takes account of the latest and most sophisticated scholarship, including postcolonial and feminist perspectives. Locates Melville in his cultural milieu, revising our views of his politics on race, gender and democracy. Reveals Melville as a more contemporarywriter than his critics have sometimes assumed.

Wyn Kelley is Senior Lecturer in the Literature Faculty at MIT. The author of Melville’s City: Literary and Urban Form in Nineteenth-Century New York (1996) and A Short Guide to Herman Melville (Blackwell Publishing, forthcoming), she is also Associate Editor of the Melville Society journal Leviathan.