Clarel: A Poem and Pilgrimage in the Holy Land [Paperback]

Herman Melville (Author), Hershel Parker (Editor), Harrison Hayford (Editor), G. Thomas Tanselle (Editor), Alma MacDougall Reising (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 20, 2008

Melville’s long poem Clarel: A Poem and Pilgrimage in the Holy Land (1876) was the last full-length book he published. Until the mid-twentieth century even the most partisan of Melville’s advocates hesitated to endure a four-part poem of 150 cantos and almost 18,000 lines about a naive American named Clarel, on pilgrimage through the Palestinian ruins with a provocative cluster of companions.

            But modern critics have found Clarel a much better poem than was ever realized. Robert Penn Warren called it a precursor of The Waste Land. It abounds with revelations of Melville’s inner life. Most strikingly, it is argued that the character Vine is a portrait of Melville’s friend Nathaniel Hawthorne. Clarel is one of the most complex theological explorations of faith and doubt in all of American literature, and this edition brings Melville’s poem to new life.

Editorial Reviews

Book Description

Melville’s long poem Clarel: A Poem and Pilgrimage in the Holy Land (1876) was the last full-length book he published. Until the mid-twentieth century even the most partisan of Melville’s advocates hesitated to endure a four-part poem of 150 cantos and almost 18,000 lines, about a naive American named Clarel, on pilgrimage through the Palestinian ruins with a provocative cluster of companions.

            But modern critics have found Clarel a much better poem than was ever realized. Robert Penn Warren called it a precursor of The Waste Land. It abounds with revelations of Melville’s inner life. Most strikingly, it is argued that the character Vine is a portrait of Melville’s friend Nathaniel Hawthorne. Clarel is one of the most complex theological explorations of faith and doubt in all of American literature, and this edition brings Melville’s poem to new life.

About the Author

Herman Melville (1819–91) was an American novelist, short-story writer, poet, and essayist. Melville toiled at various times as a sailor, banker, teacher and finally as a customs inspector. His novels include Typee, Omoo, and White Jacket, all published in authoritative editions by Northwestern University Press. He died in relative obscurity at the age of 72.

 

Hershel Parker, H. Fletcher Brown Professor Emeritus at the University of Delaware, General Editor of the Northwestern-Newberry Edition of the writings of Herman Melville. His publications include Flawed Texts and Verbal Icons, Reading "Billy Budd,” and the 1995 edition of Melville's Pierre, or, The Ambiguities, illustrated by Maurice Sendak. He is also the author of Herman Melville: A Biography, 1819–1851 and Herman Melville: A Biography, 1851–1891, the first volume a Pulitzer finalist and each the winner of the highest award from the Association of American Publishers' Professional/Scholarly Publishing Division.

Product Details

• Paperback: 499 pages
• Publisher: Northwestern University Press; 1 edition (August 20, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0810125404
• ISBN-13: 978-0810125407
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.4 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #760,773 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great poem but only for the hardy, November 28, 2005

By 

D. Fineman "[e-mail]" (L. A., CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Clarel : A Poem and Pilgrimage in the Holy Land (The Writings of Herman Melville, Vol. 12) (Paperback)

Melville is known universally for his single decade of prose, not his three and a half decades dedicated to poetry. In part, this suggests his relative achievement in the two genres. In part, our ignorance stems from the general fate of poetry as it has been almost totally displaced by the novel over the last 200 years. In the case of Clarel, the situation is even more trying: 500 pages (one of the longest poems in any language) of iambic tetrameter are not calculated for popular sale. Indeed, Melville had a growing tendency to push the average reader away especially as his works sold in inverse proportion to his growing skill. Still, this is an epic that informs us about Melville's relation with God and America's relations with religion and the old world. So if you care deeply about him or the ideas which haunt our country, you should read this best edition of the poem.

18 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Problematic But Great Classic, March 15, 2001

By 

Jeffrey H Wang - See all my reviews

This review is from: Clarel : A Poem and Pilgrimage in the Holy Land (The Writings of Herman Melville, Vol. 12) (Paperback)

Since no one else has written about Clarel, I thought I'd be nice to Melville and congratulate him on his epic poem. Although the poetry itself isn't always brilliant, I felt that the general tone of melancholic spirituality was powerful. Essentially, to me, Clarel was about a young man questioning his world, and searching for meaning in a seemingly meaningless existence. The book parallels Melville's own travels in Jeruseleum, and with this work, we get a glimpse into Melville's interpretation of spirituality. Highly recommended, considering that it is overshadowed by that other Melville work (Moby Dick, of course!).

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Herman Melville's Clarel - a 19th C pilgrims' progress?, August 24, 2011

By 

J. Gellman - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Clarel: A Poem and Pilgrimage in the Holy Land (Paperback)

This is a welcome affordable version of the Northwestern U./Newberry edition of Herman Melville's one epic poem. The poem is a useful window on the views of mid-19th century American Protestants who were neither orthodox nor liberal. Science (including Darwin)(and materialism (or "Mammon")) vs. Faith and the continuing presence in Palestine of Jews, Moslems, Catholics and Greek Orthodox, and tourists (sometimes viewed almost as another sect) are among the subjects of attention for Melville's Euro-American group of pilgrims.

Negatives: 1) the story-line itself is less than gripping and is largely a device to enable the characters to conduct a series of debates.
2) this edition, if my copy is any indication, is poorly bound: five segments of about 20 pages each fell out of the binding. (Despite this fallout, the spine of the book remained uncreased.) Only the first three segments of the book (about 150 of the 530 or so pages) remained intact.