The Confidence-man: His MasqueradeNorthwestern University Press, 1988 - 518 sider Long considered Melville's strangest novel, The Confidence-Man is a comic allegory aimed at the optimism and materialism of mid-nineteenth century America. A shape-shifting Confidence-Man approaches passengers on a Mississippi River steamboat and, winning over his not-quite-innocent victims with his charms, urges each to trust in the cosmos, in nature, and even in human nature--with predictable results. In Melville's time the book was such a failure he abandoned fiction writing for twenty years; only in the twentieth century did critics celebrate its technical virtuosity, wit, comprehensive social vision, and wry skepticism. This scholarly edition includes a Historical Note offering a detailed account of the novel's composition, publication, reception, and subsequent critical history. In addition the editors present the twenty-six surviving manuscript leaves and scraps with full transcriptions and analytical commentary. This scholarly edition aims to present a text as close to the author's intention as surviving evidence permits. Based on collations of both editions publishing during Melville's lifetime, it incorporates 138 emendations made by the present editors. It is an Approved Text of the Center for Editions of American Authors (Modern Language Association of America). |
Indhold
A mute goes aboard a boat on the Mississippi | 3 |
Showing that many men have many minds | 7 |
In which a variety of characters appear | 10 |
Renewal of old acquaintance | 18 |
The man with the weed makes it an even question whether he be a | 24 |
At the outset of which certain passengers prove deaf to the call of | 28 |
A gentleman with gold sleevebuttons | 35 |
A charitable lady | 43 |
Containing the metaphysics of Indianhating according to the | 144 |
Some account of a man of questionable morality but who never | 152 |
Moot points touching the late Colonel John Moredock | 156 |
The boon companions | 160 |
Opening with a poetical eulogy of the Press and continuing with | 167 |
A metamorphosis more surprising than any in Ovid | 179 |
Showing that the age of magic and magicians is not yet over | 180 |
Which may pass for whatever it may prove to be worth | 182 |
Two business men transact a little business | 46 |
In the cabin | 52 |
Only a page or so | 58 |
The story of the unfortunate man from which may be gathered | 60 |
The man with the travelingcap evinces much humanity and in a | 64 |
Worth the consideration of those to whom it may prove worth | 69 |
An old miser upon suitable representations is prevailed upon to | 72 |
A sick man after some impatience is induced to become a patient | 77 |
Towards the end of which the HerbDoctor proves himself a | 84 |
Inquest into the true character of the HerbDoctor | 89 |
A soldier of fortune | 93 |
Reappearance of one who may be remembered ΙΟΙ | 101 |
A hard case | 106 |
In the polite spirit of the Tusculan disputations | 114 |
In which the powerful effect of natural scenery is evinced in the case | 129 |
A philanthropist undertakes to convert a misanthrope but does not | 131 |
The Cosmopolitan makes an acquaintance | 139 |
In which the Cosmopolitan tells the story of the gentlemanmadman | 184 |
In which the Cosmopolitan strikingly evinces the artlessness of his | 187 |
In which the Cosmopolitan is accosted by a mystic whereupon | 189 |
The mystical master introduces the practical disciple | 197 |
Chapter 38 The disciple unbends and consents to act a social part | 200 |
The hypothetical friends | 202 |
In which the story of China Aster is at secondhand told by one | 208 |
Chapter 41 Ending with a rupture of the hypothesis | 221 |
Chapter 42 Upon the heel of the last scene the Cosmopolitan enters the barbers | 225 |
Very charming | 231 |
In which the last three words of the last chapter are made the text of | 238 |
The Cosmopolitan increases in seriousness | 240 |
HISTORICAL NOTE By Watson Branch | 253 |
TEXTUAL RECORD By the Editors | 359 |
RELATED DOCUMENTS By Harrison Hayford | 401 |
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add in margin appear Autolycus Banvard barber book's called character charity Charlie China Aster confidence Confidence-Man copy-text cosmopolitan critics dear Devil distrust draft Duyckinck emendations English edition fair copy Fanny Kemble fiction final reading Foster fragment Frank genetic transcription genial gentleman George William Curtis guideline to caret hand Hawthorne heart Hendricks House herb-doctor Herman Melville Hershel Parker human nature inconsistent Indian Indian-hater Indian-hating Israel Potter kind Lemuel Shaw less letter literary look manuscript Melville's mind misanthrope Mississippi Moby-Dick Moredock never Northwestern-Newberry novel novelists Omoo Orchis original confidence passage pencil perhaps philosopher phrase PIAZZA TALES Pierre Pray present published readers respected sir reviewers revisions River satire seemed sentence sort story stranger Tacitus talk tell thing thought tion true trust truth Version White-Jacket words writing York