Alcohol in the Writings of Herman Melville

Corey Evan Thompson has taught at the University of Windsor, St. Clair College, and Canadore College. His scholarly articles can be found in journals including Papers on Language and Literature and American Transcendental Quarterly. He lives in Cornwall, Ontario.

• Table of ContentsAcknowledgmentsPreface Introduction 1. Melville’s Temperance Fiction2. The Prodromal Phase of Alcoholism3. Melville’s Supposedly Social Drinkers4. Unscrupulous Sippers, Smugglers and Servers5. Alcohol, Deception and Melville’s Confidence Men6. Loss of Rank, Loss of Reputation7. Alcohol, Ill Health and Penury8. Of Grog and Monsters: Melville’s Addiction Narratives9. Melville’s Dark TemperanceConclusionAfterword: Melville and the BottleAppendix: A Concordance of Melville’s Characters and AlcoholChapter Notes Bibliography Index

“Thompson’s Alcohol in the Writings of Herman Melville stands as a fascinating and thorough treatment of one of the most neglected subjects in Melville criticism. Thompson makes a powerful case for the ubiquity of alcohol in Melville’s writing and life. With indefatigable research and a sharp critical eye, Thompson has tracked down seemingly every reference and innuendo to alcohol and its social, cultural, and literary effects in Melville. Particularly impressive is his wise approach to “The Melville Question”...whether or not Melville was an alcoholic...by way of focusing on the function of alcohol and alcoholics within his writings, a far more interesting endeavor than engaging it directly and venturing forth a tentative answer. Instead Thompson immerses us in the materials readily available and abundant, yet surprisingly under discussed, of Melville’s own texts. Herein, we discover a richly nuanced study that refuses easy answers to the complex place of alcohol within his writings.”—David Dowling, University of Iowa.