Melville, Shame, and the Evil Eye: A Psychoanalytic Reading

By Joseph Adamson

Offers a complex analysis of the psychodynamic role of shame in Melville's work, with detailed readings of Moby-Dick, Pierre, and "Billy Budd."

This study offers a complex analysis of the psychodynamic role of shame in Melville's work, with detailed readings of Moby-Dick, Pierre, and "Billy Budd." Its concrete application of the rich analytic framework supplied by the work of such theorists as Heinz Kohut, L on Wurmser, Silvan Tomkins, and Donald Nathanson implicitly challenges the contemporary reliance on an often abstract poststructuralist model of psychoanalysis. As a paradigmatic, coherent reading of the work of a single author, the book will appeal both to the many scholars interested in Melville's work and to anyone interested in psychoanalytic or psychological approaches to literature.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0791432807
• ISBN13: 9780791432808
• Release Date: November 1996
• Publisher: State University of New York Press
• Length: 348 Pages
• Weight: 1.10 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.9" x 8.9"
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher