An accessible and highly readable guide to the story of Melville criticism as it has developed over the past century and a half.

Acknowledgments
Preface to the Paperback Edition: Melville's Critical Reception at His Bicentennial
References to Herman Melville's Works
Introduction: Seeking Melville
Defining Melville: The Melville Revival and Biographical and Textual Criticism
Literary Aesthetics and the Visual Arts
Melville's Beard I: Religion, Ethics, and Epistemology
Melville's Beard II: Gender, Sexuality, and the Body
Aspects of America: Democracy, Nationalism, and War
"An Anacharsis Clootz Deputation": Race, Ethnicity, Empire, and Cosmopolitanism
Epilogue: Encountering Melville
Works Cited
Index

BRIAN YOTHERS is Professor and Chair of English at St. Louis University.