| |
|
 Herman Melville was a big fan of Nathaniel Hawthorne, and both of them had a very strange notion of the Past. Both of them felt that history and the past were of the upmost importance, as opposed to Ralph Waldo Emerson, who attempted to eschew the past as often as he could.
Both Melville and Hawthorne thought that great literature and great understanding of the present came from careful analysis and use of the past. Melville and Hawthorne's works are usually highly dependent on a historical case or event. For example, The Scarlet Letter is famously based on a real Hester Prynne, as told in the preface, The Custom-House. In the same vein, Billy Budd may have been based on events onboard USS Somers.
While Melville may be most famous for Moby Dick, I'd rather discuss a far more interesting (and shorter) work called Billy Budd, a story superficially about an aborted mutiny and the frame-up of the beautiful and naive main character.
This work was discussed in the twelfth episode of the fourth season of The Sopranos. AJ was told that Billy Budd is a "gay" book and then the discussion begins.
Does Billy Budd have a gay subtext? Eve Sedgwick certainly thinks so.
During the novella, Billy is described in terms related to beauty and innocence, while Claggart (the villain) is described as being depraved and unnatural, as well as being a "mystery". Claggart puts Billy into an uncomfortable position; he tells the Captain that Billy is plotting a mutiny. To Billy, this is unthinkable, as he idolizes Captain Vere. During the confrontation between Vere and the (falsely) accused, Billy loses his temper and with one blow, kills Claggart. Billy is then put to trial and hung, his last words being, "God bless Captain Vere!"
The panic about the mutiny is said to be allegorical for homophobia and Claggart to be the central gay figure of the novel. The novel's subtext and the characters "are representations of male homosexual desire and the mechanisms of prohibition against this desire" (Wikipedia).
This is a very modern approach to the novel, going up against the classic intrepretation of Billy as Christ or Adam. Claggart is described more than once as a snake while Billy is desribed as being innocent, or a "child".
So let's discuss Melville, and let's discuss Billy Budd What do you think? Does this novella have a gay subtext, unconsciously or on purpose? What else have you read by Melville that you wish to discuss?
Here are some Barbelith links:
-The aim of teaching American Literature
-'Classics are books that everyone praises and noone reads'
And, because I know Moz is a fan, here are the lyrics to his 1994 song "Billy Budd"
Say, Billy Budd
So you think you should ?
Oh, everyone's laughing
Say, Billy Budd
So you think that you should ?
Everyone's laughing !
Since I took up with you
Things have been bad
Yeah, but now it's 12 years on
Now it's 12 years on
Yes, and I took up with you
I took my job application
Into town
Did you hear ? They turned me down
Yes, and it's all because of us
Oh, and what was in our eyes
Oh, what was in our eyes, yeah
I said, Billy Budd
I would happily lose
Both of my legs
I would lose both of my legs
Oh, if it meant you could be free
Oh, if it meant you could be free
(Don't leave us in the dark!) |
|
|
