Zen and the White Whale: A Buddhist Rendering of Moby-Dick - Hardcover

Herman, Daniel

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1611461561 ISBN 13: 9781611461565

Publisher: Lehigh University Press, 2014

Synopsis

In Moby-Dick’s wide philosophical musings and central narrative arch, Daniel Herman finds a philosophy very closely aligned specifically with the original teachings of Zen Buddhism. In exploring the likelihood of this hitherto undiscovered influence, Herman looks at works Melville is either known to have read or that there is a strong likelihood of his having come across, as well as offering a more expansive consideration of Moby-Dick from a Zen Buddhist perspective, as it is expressed in both ancient and modern teachings. But not only does the book delve deeply into one of the few aspects of Moby-Dick’s construction left unexplored by scholars, it also conceives of an entirely new way of reading the greatest of American books―offering critical re-considerations of many of its most crucial and contentious issues, while focusing on what Melville has to teach us about coping with adversity, respecting ideological diversity, and living skillfully in a fickle, slippery world.

About this title

About the Author

Daniel Herman teaches American literature at San Francisco State University and the University of San Francisco.

Edition details

• Publisher: Lehigh University Press
• Publication date: 2014
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1611461561
• ISBN 13: 9781611461565
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 234