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Premium Content Melville's Political Thought in "Moby-Dick"

By Jason Bedell - November 07, 2005

Melville's Political Thought in Moby-Dick

Herman Melville was heavily influenced by the philosophy of Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Because Rousseau died in 1778, 41 years prior to Melville's birth, Melville had access to all of Rousseau's writings. Rousseau's political philosophy evolved as he grew older and there is evidence of a tension in Moby-Dick between the earlier and the later philosophy. Rousseau's early work discusses the ideal of the noble savage, which...

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