The Confidence-Man: His Masquerade
Book Description
Herman Melville is an author whosewritingstyle was profoundlyinfluenced bythetime he spent aboard thewhalingship Acushnet.Even The Confidence Man: His Masquerade-whichisone of Melfille'smost unconventional,aswellas hislastnovels-isaclear example of hisdeepunderstanding of lifeasdepicted in maritimeadventures.With theentireaction takingplace onasteamboat,one mightexpectadventure and actio...
MoreHerman Melville is an author whosewritingstyle was profoundlyinfluenced bythetime he spent aboard thewhalingship Acushnet.Even The Confidence Man: His Masquerade-whichisone of Melfille'smost unconventional,aswellas hislastnovels-isaclear example of hisdeepunderstanding of lifeasdepicted in maritimeadventures.With theentireaction takingplace onasteamboat,one mightexpectadventure and action-packedplottwists to bequitecommon. Instead,Melvillecomesup withanintriguing setof45 conversations between thevariouspeople present ontheship.From theillusivegentleman who is "Stared at, but unsaluted" tobeggars,shysters and strangelydressedfrontiersmen,you'll find many of thediversetales presented inthenovel tobewidely diverse andquiteuncommon.Sincethestory doesn't have anactualplot or conclusion,anditis arranged in an extremelyunconventionalmanner whencompared with manyotherworks-evenMelville's ownwell-received and nowfamousnovel,Moby Dick-today itisviewed as a boldandingenious attempt at a shiftinstyle that wouldnotbe commonlyrecognizedfor morethananother century.Melville'ssurprisinglyearly postmodernnovel takes us throughavariety of interlinkedstories,whilebeautifullydepicting theMississippi riveraswell.Thebook ismainlywritten as aculturalsatire,and includes awidevariety offascinatingthemes,exploringthem in a uniqueway.Itpresentssituations dealingwiththemes such as sincerity,morality,economicmaterialism,cynicism and spirituality.Theclearestindication of itssatiricalnature issymbolizedthrough Melville's placement oftheaction on AprilFool'sDay,reflecting theauthor'sviews in presenting theworld'sproblems in a joking,humorous fashion.Sadly,The Confidence-Man,like much of Melville'swork,hasbeendisregarded by much of the literary world duringhislifetime.Seen as a flawednovel inthelate 1800s,itisnow considered to be oneofthe mostfascinatingbooks in 19thcentury literature,having even been turned intoanopera in 1982 by GeorgeRochberg.
| Publisher | IDB Productions |
| Binding | MP3 CD (61 editions) |
| Reading Level | Uncategorized
|
| # of Pages | N/A |
| ISBN-10 | 1775427196 |
| ISBN-13 | 978-1775427193 |
| Publication Date | /2016 |
You must be a member of JacketFlap to add a video to this page. Please
Log In or
Register.
View Herman Melville's profile