| Titre | Le bras du cannibale : aspects de la régression primitiviste dans Moby Dick | |
|---|---|---|
| Auteur | Michel Granger | |
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Revue | Revue française d'études américaines |
| Numéro | no 5, avril 1978 | |
| Rubrique / Thématique | II - Circles |
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| Page | 15 pages | |
| Résumé anglais |
This paper is part of a larger study devoted to Melville's apparent, interest in primitivism which can be read in Typee, Omoo and Moby Dick. Here, I have focused on some of the elements -which contribute to the intensity and originality of Melville's masterpiece and left out what concerns the conventional ideal of the Noble Savage. A close reading of the text shows that the exotic setting serves mostly as a covering which tends to distract the reader's attention from the phantasmal dimension of the book : the veiled but obsessive presence of cannibalism, the irrational fear of devouring jaws, which pervades the narrator's discourse. This cannibalism is analyzed not for its own sake, but because the regression it implies gives a clue to Ishmael's attraction to the sea and to Queequeg, and it helps account for the oppressive and disquieting coloring of the end of the story. Source : Éditeur (via Persée) |
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| Article en ligne | https://www.persee.fr/doc/rfea_0397-7870_1978_num_5_1_990 |
