Date of Graduation
5-2012
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy in English (PhD)
Degree Level
Graduate
Department
English
Advisor/Mentor
Charles Adams
Committee Member
Robert Cochran
Second Committee Member
Sidney Burris
Keywords
Philosophy, Religion and theology, Abject lineage, Biblical typology, Calvinism, Christianity, Early American literature, Herman Melville
Abstract
This study looks at how the abject lineage--consisting of Cain, Ishmael and Esau--has played an influential role in the works of Herman Melville. While many critics have exploredthe relationship between Melville and these characters in the past, my study proposes that the author was intimately aware of the differences between these characters and their relationship to God and used these differences to compose his works. Ultimately, Melville struggled with the need for an abject lineage, and this struggle manifests itself most prominently in the evolving silence of Christ from Mardi to "Bartleby."
Citation
Meyer, J. M. (2012). The Children of Cain: Melville's Use of the Abject Lineage from the Bible. Graduate Theses and Dissertations Retrieved from https://scholarworks.uark.edu/etd/312
Included in
American Literature Commons, Biblical Studies Commons, Religious Thought, Theology and Philosophy of Religion Commons