Books : Mariners, Renegades and Castaways: The Story of Herman Melville and the World We Live In (Reencounters With Colonialism--New Perspectives on the Americas)
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by: C. L. R. James
List Price: $21.95Amazon.com's Price: $19.75 You Save: $2.20 (10%)Prices subject to change. Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.3
EAN: 9781584650942
ISBN: 158465094X
Label: Dartmouth
Manufacturer: Dartmouth
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 216
Publication Date: May 01, 2001
Publisher: Dartmouth
Sales Rank: 332413
Studio: Dartmouth
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Product Description:
Political theorist and cultural critic, novelist and cricket enthusiast, C. L. R. James (1901 - 1989) was a brilliant polymath who has been described by Edward Said as 'a centrally important 20th-century figure.' Through such landmark works as The Black Jacobins, Beyond a Boundary, and American Civilization, James's thought continues to influence and inspire scholars in a wide variety of fields. 'There is little doubt,' wrote novelist Caryl Phillips in The New Republic, 'that James will come to be regarded as the outstanding Caribbean mind of the twentieth century.'
In his seminal work of literary and cultural criticism, Mariners, Renegades and Castaways, James anticipated many of the concerns and ideas that have shaped the contemporary fields of American and Postcolonial Studies, yet this widely influential book has been unavailable in its complete form since its original publication in 1953. A provocative study of Moby Dick in which James challenged the prevailing Americanist interpretation that opposed a 'totalitarian' Ahab and a 'democratic, American' Ishmael, he offered instead a vision of a factory-like Pequod whose 'captain of industry' leads the 'mariners, renegades and castaways' of its crew to their doom.
In addition to demonstrating how such an interpretation supported the emerging US national security state, James also related the narrative of Moby Dick, and its resonance in American literary and political culture, to his own persecuted position at the height (or the depth) of the Truman/McCarthy era. It is precisely this personal, deeply original material that was excised from the only subsequent edition. With a new introduction by Donald E. Pease that places the work in its critical and cultural context, Mariners, Renegades and Castaways is once again available in its complete form.
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating: - Great book from a brilliant mind.
CLR James was one of the earliest left wing thinkers to break from Orthodox Marxist dogmatism, even rejecting Leninism and the notion of the 'Vanguard of the Proletariat' all the way back in the late '40's, a move that left him alienated from the mainstream Left of the time and eventually led to his deportation in the 1950s. This book was written while he was in jail in New York awaiting his immigration hearing, a fact that makes this insightful look at Melville all the more impressive.
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Rating:  - C.L.R James interpretation of Melville's works
When I first read this book by James, I was preparing to write an essay on Melville and his "isolatoes." James gives ample evidence for establishing the reasons why some of the protagonists appear elusive, enigmatic, and, of course, reclusive. I found this text quite helpful in its explanations of why Melville portrayed his male characters the way he chose; perhaps James own exile for passport violations sets up the framework for presenting his theories on the characters he analyzes. The work ... Read More
Rating: - Brilliant Analysis of Melville's Classic Text
C.L.R. James's analysis of Moby Dick brings the book to life and makes it understandable for a 21st century audience. You'll read "Mariners, Renegades, and Castaways, and want to immediately run out and read Moby Dick and Melville's other classics. James argues that Melville used the novel to explore dramatic changes in the fabric of American culture including the rise of industrial capitalism, the international working class, and the increasingly savage character of political and industrial life ... Read More
Rating: - poco Po-Co
This book is more than a little bit of early Postcolonial writing. The intoduction by Donald Pease is new, and the last chapter - an autobiographical sketch and personal appeal by James - was omitted from a previous edition. In terms of literary criticism, this is what Pease has to say about James and his writing: "He was one of the few critics who emerged from the Third World in the 1950's and traveled throughout Britain and the United States generating what are now called post-colonial readings." ... Read More
Rating: - CLR James and The World We Live In
James, writing 100 years after _Moby Dick_ was published, shows a significant understanding of Herman Melville's time and its relation to the time in which he (James) wrote--1952. James gives an insightful critique of Melville's earlier novels and shows how they chronologically lead to Melville's eventual masterpiece, _Moby Dick_. _Moby Dick_ is an allegory for modernity gone awry, with a mad captain at the helm. For James, Ahab is comparable to the USA, which is charting its own mad course with destiny. ... Read More
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