BASC80120 - Melville’s Billy Budd and Other Stories

Course Description

In this collection, we will expend much time on Herman Melville’s novella Billy Budd, Sailor (An Inside Narrative), found unfinished after his 1891 death, and first published in 1924. Set on the British line-of-battleship Bellipotent during the Napoleonic war’s turmoils, it pitches the insinuating master-at-arms John Claggart in attack against the Adam-like Billy Budd. The attempt to adjudicate by the worthy and measured Captain Vere is catastrophic, and unnervingly human, full of consequence. Billy Budd is a gorgeous, haunting and troubling tale - exploring psychology, leadership, hate and attraction, mysteries of goodness and malignity, of innocence, beauty, identity, responsibility, intention –both for the “narrator,” as Melville creates that voice, and for us. It does not leave the imagination. The loaded accompanying stories and meditations – of “The Piazza Tales” – “Bartleby the Scrivener,” “Benito Sereno,” and “The Encantadas, or Enchanted Isles” notable among them – will engross and challenge in their individuated ways. (Note: I strongly recommend using the Penguin edition of this collection on the syllabus which uses the carefully edited Harrison Hayford and Merton Sealts version of Billy Budd.)