'The ghost in the machine': images of blackness in the fiction of Herman Melville

Abstract

This thesis examines a selection of fictional works by the classic American writer, Herman Melville. Particular emphasis is given to a study of his literary treatment of blacks and "blackness", especially as it relates to the silenced and suppressed black slave population of late ante-bellum America. While Melville's works are notable for both the number and variety of their black characters, the deeper significance of their representation usually remains unexplored in most traditional criticism. Recognising the conventional marginalisation of the black presence, this thesis attempts to reposition "blackness" as central to, and inseparable from, the main concerns of Melville's fiction. Consequently, it is argued that, as a profound moral thinker writing in a society highly aware of racial issues, Melville's artistic encounter with "blackness" is inextricably related to his exploration of the major philosophical and political concerns of his age. A re-evaluation of the selected fiction demonstrates the fundamental role played by blacks and "blackness" in the formation of white American identity - both individually and nationally. It also argues that the implications of the black presence are central to the author's indisputable commitment to the democratic ideals of nineteenth-century America. The psychological component of Melville's literary representation of blacks is also identified and foregrounded. In this respect, it is asserted that the fabrication of a black presence becomes a reflexive act, enabling an artistic meditation on the nature of the conscious and unconscious self - its sexuality, hidden desires, terrors and fears. Accordingly, an analysis is made of both the connotative and denotative aspects of "blackness" and the means by which those symbolic figurations of darkness influence and inform the language, imagery, narrative structure and artistic resolution of the works in question. By re-reading the texts in this way, it can be seen that Melville's treatment of "blackness" destabilises, subverts, informs and enriches the literature in which it plays so integral a part.