Charles Olson
First published in 1947, this acknowledged classic of American literary criticism explores the influencesâ€”especially Shakespearean onesâ€”on Melville's writing of ,Moby-Dick,. One of the first Melvilleans to advance what has since become known as the "theory of the two ,Moby-Dicks,," Olson argues that there were two versions of ,Moby-Dick,, and that Melville's reading ,King Lear, for the first time in between the first and second versions of the book had a profound impact on his conception of the saga: "the first book did not contain Ahab," writes Olson, and "it may not, except incidentally, have contained Moby-Dick." If literary critics and reviewers at the time responded with varying degrees of skepticism to the "theory of the two ,Moby-Dick,s," it was the experimental style and organization of the book that generated the most controversy.
Poetry,Nonfiction,Criticism,Literary Criticism,Criticism,Literature,Writing,Essays,Literary Fiction,Literature,American,Classics
Call Me Ishmael