Dr. Freeburg’s remarks included concepts from:
Melville and the Idea of Blackness: Race and Imperialism in Nineteenth Century America. New York: Cambridge, 2012. (Available in the library at 813.3 FRE.)
"Pip and the Sounds of Blackness." New Melville Studies. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2019.
My lecture notes are below. Please comment and add your thoughts!
How to put together the moments of racial conflict and angst with the philosophical issues
There are people who don’t see the racial aspects as important - Dr. Freeburg disagrees
Ideas of power: nature and the dark side of romantic reverie come to mind
Scholars of African American history overlook the workings of black experience
Presence of African art forms in Moby Dick - documenting Melville’s exposure to black art forms
What is the relationship between black expressive culture and Melville’s boldest expressive strokes
He wants to conduct an Inquiry into neglected aspects of Melville’s tour de force
Pip is a symbol of blackness himself Pip’s improvisational skats, tambourine playing, connect him to black culture
Tension between individual and communal interests
Pip and Ahab revolve around moral challenges springing from the violent pangs of isolation
Pip - the most abased of the crew will be elevated
Pip as a figure of black culture - does not fulfill any of these tropes - inarticulate impossibility - Pip physically and metaphorically points to black culture’s centrality in Moby Dick
Toni Morrison and Ralph Ellison - share a fascination with Melville
Discussion of Moby Dick Chapter 40: Midnight, Forecastle: Ring shout movement - Pip’s contribution - readers see the stakes of maintaining a diverse collection of people in the face of violence
In New York, Melville had access to black culture, also via the newspapers
Black people are described as festive and celebratory in Moby Dick
A distinctive view of moral value in Pip Ring shout picture - (Chapter 40: Midnight, Forecastle) - Pip enters the scene at the call of the French sailor - Pip’s tambourine is the foundational beat to the dance - most influential slave dance in 19th century America
The Ring Shout appealed to the ancestors or the gods - reverence for the divine - consecrated social space through ritualistic movement - committing to a life of living for God and for others
Collectivity over individual alienation
A moral affirmation - when the ring is broken and the group falls into a violent disarray - Pip is at the center of the moral affirmation
Melville suggests the need for intimate collaboration
Anxiety of impending doom - Pip helps him affirm that there is a right side of the fence
Castaway - Pip verifies why black cultural expression matters
If Pip is truly a coward, why doesn’t he fear Stubb enough to fall in line - we are all in the hands of the gods - Pip is an emblazoning diamond - the artist takes care to make him shine - Pip embodies heaven’s sense - and the tragic destruction of social bonds
Pip’s descent into divine madness - related to the immorality of Stubb’s choice to chase the whale instead of Pip
What about the price for the crew - they must live with the price that Pip has paid
Whiteness appears as evil in the novel, generally - but in this area it’s a comfort, beneficence - let us squeeze hands all around strong communal bonds are forged through shared affliction
Queequeg and his coffin - Pip sits there - the coffin turns into a life buoy for Ishmael - Pip will beat Queequeg’s dying march - his music makes the moment sacred
Link between Pip and Ahab - they are bonded in their madness - Ahab sucks wondrous philosophies from Pip
Development of Ahab’s madness is bound up in his relationship with Pip - the fate of the Pequod is sealed when Ahab pulls away from Pip
Pip is opposite of Frederick Douglass ...His absence of voice
Pip is Melville’s object - we only know his beautiful interiority - it is available through impressions -
Melville was shaped by black culture - black culture animates the novel’s entire moral center - he provides a forceful way to envision what it means to be black - he asks what type of life is worth living and dying for
Group Questions
Is there evidence that Melville knew a real young black person who influenced him? Ahab and Ishmael show who they are in the unfolding of their relationships with the pairs Queequeg and Pip
Queequeg is the catalyst for Ishmael’s world coming apart - as he communicates with Queequeg
You won’t get the interiority of The Bluest Eye in Moby Dick
Ishamel = what he learns is how to deal with not being able to answer the questions
Queequeg points out that the social bonds are right here - why does Ishmael want to be focused ‘out there’ - come in here, to the pairing
The black and brown characters give you the final meaning of the novel Moby Dick - Ishmael floating on Queequeg’s coffin
Whaling was a great way to evade slave catching - frequently this tactic was used
How much of what Pip represents is a criticism of middle class American life? Deep criticism of the marketplace - of capital, gain, but Melville also felt that they over- romanticized nature - Pip is the opposite of the Emerson eyeball - I can see everything but I can’t say anything
The strongest voice in Moby Dick is about people coming together
Find your own monomania - what keeps you away from other people? - that’s your Ahab
What about the dedication - to Nathaniel Hawthorne - Hawthorne and his mosses - grappling with the existential limits of thought
Melville and the Idea of Blackness: Race and Imperialism in Nineteenth Century America. New York: Cambridge, 2012. (Available in the library at 813.3 FRE.)
"Pip and the Sounds of Blackness." New Melville Studies. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2019.
My lecture notes are below. Please comment and add your thoughts!
How to put together the moments of racial conflict and angst with the philosophical issues
There are people who don’t see the racial aspects as important - Dr. Freeburg disagrees
Ideas of power: nature and the dark side of romantic reverie come to mind
Scholars of African American history overlook the workings of black experience
Presence of African art forms in Moby Dick - documenting Melville’s exposure to black art forms
What is the relationship between black expressive culture and Melville’s boldest expressive strokes
He wants to conduct an Inquiry into neglected aspects of Melville’s tour de force
Pip is a symbol of blackness himself Pip’s improvisational skats, tambourine playing, connect him to black culture
Tension between individual and communal interests
Pip and Ahab revolve around moral challenges springing from the violent pangs of isolation
Pip - the most abased of the crew will be elevated
Pip as a figure of black culture - does not fulfill any of these tropes - inarticulate impossibility - Pip physically and metaphorically points to black culture’s centrality in Moby Dick
Toni Morrison and Ralph Ellison - share a fascination with Melville
Discussion of Moby Dick Chapter 40: Midnight, Forecastle: Ring shout movement - Pip’s contribution - readers see the stakes of maintaining a diverse collection of people in the face of violence
In New York, Melville had access to black culture, also via the newspapers
Black people are described as festive and celebratory in Moby Dick
A distinctive view of moral value in Pip Ring shout picture - (Chapter 40: Midnight, Forecastle) - Pip enters the scene at the call of the French sailor - Pip’s tambourine is the foundational beat to the dance - most influential slave dance in 19th century America
The Ring Shout appealed to the ancestors or the gods - reverence for the divine - consecrated social space through ritualistic movement - committing to a life of living for God and for others
Collectivity over individual alienation
A moral affirmation - when the ring is broken and the group falls into a violent disarray - Pip is at the center of the moral affirmation
Melville suggests the need for intimate collaboration
Anxiety of impending doom - Pip helps him affirm that there is a right side of the fence
Castaway - Pip verifies why black cultural expression matters
If Pip is truly a coward, why doesn’t he fear Stubb enough to fall in line - we are all in the hands of the gods - Pip is an emblazoning diamond - the artist takes care to make him shine - Pip embodies heaven’s sense - and the tragic destruction of social bonds
Pip’s descent into divine madness - related to the immorality of Stubb’s choice to chase the whale instead of Pip
What about the price for the crew - they must live with the price that Pip has paid
Whiteness appears as evil in the novel, generally - but in this area it’s a comfort, beneficence - let us squeeze hands all around strong communal bonds are forged through shared affliction
Queequeg and his coffin - Pip sits there - the coffin turns into a life buoy for Ishmael - Pip will beat Queequeg’s dying march - his music makes the moment sacred
Link between Pip and Ahab - they are bonded in their madness - Ahab sucks wondrous philosophies from Pip
Development of Ahab’s madness is bound up in his relationship with Pip - the fate of the Pequod is sealed when Ahab pulls away from Pip
Pip is opposite of Frederick Douglass ...His absence of voice
Pip is Melville’s object - we only know his beautiful interiority - it is available through impressions -
Melville was shaped by black culture - black culture animates the novel’s entire moral center - he provides a forceful way to envision what it means to be black - he asks what type of life is worth living and dying for
Group Questions
Is there evidence that Melville knew a real young black person who influenced him? Ahab and Ishmael show who they are in the unfolding of their relationships with the pairs Queequeg and Pip
Queequeg is the catalyst for Ishmael’s world coming apart - as he communicates with Queequeg
You won’t get the interiority of The Bluest Eye in Moby Dick
Ishamel = what he learns is how to deal with not being able to answer the questions
Queequeg points out that the social bonds are right here - why does Ishmael want to be focused ‘out there’ - come in here, to the pairing
The black and brown characters give you the final meaning of the novel Moby Dick - Ishmael floating on Queequeg’s coffin
Whaling was a great way to evade slave catching - frequently this tactic was used
How much of what Pip represents is a criticism of middle class American life? Deep criticism of the marketplace - of capital, gain, but Melville also felt that they over- romanticized nature - Pip is the opposite of the Emerson eyeball - I can see everything but I can’t say anything
The strongest voice in Moby Dick is about people coming together
Find your own monomania - what keeps you away from other people? - that’s your Ahab
What about the dedication - to Nathaniel Hawthorne - Hawthorne and his mosses - grappling with the existential limits of thought
No comments:
Post a Comment