First published in 1947, this acknowledged classic of American literary criticism explores the influences--especially Shakespearean ones--on Herman Melville's writing of "Moby-Dick". Olson examines the influence of "King Lear" on Melville's work.

Charles Olson (1910-1970), an avant garde poet, literary critic, and literary theorist, is the author of The Maximus Poems, The Distances, The Human Universe and Other Essays, and In Cold Hell, in Thicket.