White-Jacket, or The World in a Man-of-War, usually referred to as White-Jacket, is an 1850 novel by Herman Melville first published in England on January 23 by Richard Bentley and in the U.S. on March 21 by Harper & Brothers.[1]
Overview
Based on Melville's experiences as a common seaman aboard the frigate USS United States from 1843 to 1844 and stories that other sailors told him, the novel is severely critical of virtually every aspect of American naval life and thus qualifies as Melville's most politically strident work.citation needed At the time, though, the one thing that journalists and politicians focused on in the novel was its graphic descriptions of flogging and the horrors caused by its arbitrary use; in fact, because Harper & Bros. made sure the book got into the hands of every member of Congress, White-Jacket was instrumental in abolishing flogging in the U.S. Navy forever. Melville scholars also acknowledge the huge number of parallels between White-Jacket and Billy Budd and view the former as a rich source for possible interpretations of the latter.[2]
The mixture of journalism, history, and fiction; the presentation of a sequence of striking characters; the metaphor of a sailing ship as the world in miniature—all of these prefigure his next novel, Moby-Dick.
Characters
(This list is not exhaustive. More characters and descriptions will be added as time allows.)
- White-Jacket, the main character and narrator, so nicknamed because his coat is the only white one on board; a novice sailor (at least on a naval ship), his jacket often gets him into trouble, mostly because of its whiteness
- Jack Chase, a sailor of British origin who is universally regarded by his fellow seamen and even by the officers as the epitome of a true and good sailor; he shows contempt for any man who has shipped out on a whaler
- Captain Claret, a captain of usually severe tendencies, his name reflects the fact that he is also an alcoholic
- Commodore
- Selvagee, a lieutenant whose leadership style is tyrannical
- Mad Jack, a lieutenant whose leadership style is collegial
- Lemsford, a sailor who aspires to be a poet
- Quoin, a sailor "indefatigable in attending to his duties, which consisted in taking care of one division of the guns"[3]
- Nord, a sailor of surly look and melancholy disposition; when White-Jacket first encounters him, the only friend Nord has on board is Lemsford
- Williams
- Wooloo, the commodore's Polynesian servant
- Old Revolver
- Old Combustibles
- Chaplain
- Shakings
- Bland, the ship's master-at-arms
- Emperor Don Pedro II
Publication history
White-Jacket was published in the United States in March 1850. Melville referred to it and his previous book Redburn as "two jobs which I have done for money—being forced to it as other men are to sawing wood".[4]
References
- ^ Hayford, Harrison, "Chronology", which is included at the back of all three volumes of the Library of America edition of Melville's writings.
- ^ Hayford, Harrison and Sealts, Jr., Merton, eds. Billy Budd, Sailor (An Inside Narrative), "Editors' Introduction", p. 31. ISBN 0-226-32132-0.
- ^ White-Jacket, Quality Paperback Book Club edition (reprint), p. 51. 1996. No ISBN found.
- ^ Delbanco, Andrew: Melville, His World and Work. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2005: 111. ISBN 0-375-40314-0
External links
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Works by Herman Melville |
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| Novels: |
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| Short story collections: |
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| Short stories: |
"The Piazza" · " Bartleby, the Scrivener" · " Benito Cereno" · "The Lightning-Rod Man" · " The Encantadas, or Enchanted Isles" · "The Bell-Tower" (all 1856)
Uncollected : "Cock-A-Doodle-Doo!" (1853) · "Poor Man's Pudding and Rich Man's Crumbs" (1854) · "The Happy Failure" (1854) · "The Fiddler" (1854) · "The Paradise of Bachelors and the Tartarus of Maids" (1855) · "Jimmy Rose" (1855) · "The 'Gees" (1856) · "I and My Chimney" (1856) · "The Apple-Tree Table" (1856)
Unpublished in Melville's lifetime : "The Two Temples" · "Daniel Orme" |
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| Poetry: |
Battle Pieces and Aspects of the War (1866) · Clarel: A Poem and Pilgrimage in the Holy Land (1876) · John Marr and Other Sailors (1888) · Timoleon (1891) · Weeds and Wildings, and a Rose or Two (1924)
Uncollected/unpublished poems: "Epistle to Daniel Shepherd" · "Inscription for the Slain at Fredericksburgh" · "The Admiral of the White" · "To Tom" · "Suggested by the Ruins of a Mountain-temple in Arcadia" · "Puzzlement" · "The Continents" · "The Dust-Layers" · "A Rail Road Cutting near Alexandria in 1855" · "A Reasonable Constitution" · "Rammon" · "A Ditty of Aristippus" · "In a Nutshell" · "Adieu"
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