Billy Budd: An Inside Narrative

The manuscript of Billy Budd was left incomplete when Melville died in 1891, lending prescience to Ishmael's declaration that "if, at my death, my executors, or more properly my creditors, find any precious MSS. in my desk, then here I prospectively ascribe all the honor and the glory to whaling; for a whale-ship was my Yale College and my Harvard." (Moby-Dick, 25)

In addition to Melville's own experiences at sea, Billy Budd draws upon eighteenth-century British naval law and the Somers mutiny of 1842. The novella's subtitle--"an inside narrative"--links it to Melville's cousin Gansevoort, who had been aboard the U.S. Brig Somers when the mutiny occurred. (The subtitle may also be suggestive of Lemuel Shaw's role in enforcing the Fugitive Slave Act.)

The manuscript was not published until 1924 (during the "Melville revival") and the desk is now on display at Arrowhead. But it is the world that owes a debt to Melville.

In the words of Robert L. Gale: "The rich, imagistic, and allusive style of Billy Budd has intrigued readers, but it is the psychological nature of the three principle characters that has challenged the critics. In what ways is Billy Budd a Christ figure? What does his stammer symbolize? To what degree is Captain Vere an admirable naval officer and father figure? What is his motivation? Is Claggart an unmitigated Satan? Is Billy Budd to be read as Melville's testament of faith or as an ironic document concerning fallen humanity?"

Billy Budd:

• Archive
• Hypertext version
• Amazon
• Librivox

Supplemental:

• "Billy Budd" (1955 adaptation starring William Shatner)
• "The Curse of the Somers" documentary
• "The Spithead and Nore Mutiny 1797" documentary
• "Noetic" podcast
• "(Sub)text" podcast
• "Billy Budd" (1951 opera by Benjamin Britten)
• Gil Bailie lecture (paid)

This meetup is part of a series on Japan Unbolted.