Melville

This year marks somewhat of a generational shift in Herman Melville criticism. Only one new monograph was published, a comparative study of Melville’s and Richard Henry Dana’s sea novels in the context of Justice Joseph Story’s legal opinions. Yet three significant collections of essays appear: The New Cambridge Companion to Herman Melville, ed. Robert S. Levine; A Political Companion to Herman Melville, ed. Jason Frank; and Melville as Poet, a collection initiated by Douglas Robillard and completed by Sanford Marovitz. Each of these collections features essays that introduce Melville to a new generation of readers and include theoretical and political approaches to his fiction and poetry that illuminate the continuing relevance of his art for American studies. In addition to these collections, over 20 separate articles as well as several chapters in general collections were published, not all of which will be discussed here. Considerable attention has also been given to Melville’s interest in art and his influence on other artists across a range of mediums, including a special edition of Leviathan (15, iii) titled “Artists and Adaptation.”