Herman Melville's Centennial Poem Clarel (1876) and Walter J. Ong's Thought

Abstract

In my 5,400-word review essay "Herman Melville's Centennial Poem Clarel (1876) and Walter J. Ong's Thought," I compare and contrast the competing views of Melville's Clarel: A Poem and Pilgrimage in the Holy Land, and of Melville, set forth by Walter E. Bezanson (1912-2011; Ph.D. in English, Yale University, 1943) in his 1960 critical edition of the 18,000-line poem and by the American Jesuit Joseph G. Knapp (1924-1987; Ph.D. in English, University of Minnesota, 1962) in his 1971 book Tortured Synthesis: The Meaning of Melville's Clarel. To help further elucidate Melville's life and work, I interject relevant points from the thought of the American Jesuit Renaissance specialist and cultural historian Walter J. Ong (1912-2003; Ph.D. in English, Harvard University, 1955) and from other authors.