"A spiritual sphere wholly obscure": "lunacy," the Orlando Furioso, and "the incident at the mess" in Billy Budd. (Notes).(Critical Essay)

From: ANQ | Date: January 1, 2003| Author: | Copyright information

Critics have found great psychological, symbolic, and allegorical significance in "the affair of the spilled soup" in Billy Budd, Melville's often perplexing final novel (73). (1) This affair recalls a memorable glimpse of some spilled soup in the 34th canto of Ariosto's Orlando Furioso, which has never been examined as a possible direct source for that fateful confrontation between Claggart and Billy. Although there is no specific record of Melville's ever having read or owned the Furioso, the first American edition of Leigh Hunt's Stories from the Italian Poets, which contains a ...

Read all of this article with a FREE trial to HighBeam Research

Related newspaper, magazine, and trade journal articles from HighBeam Research

(Including press releases, facts, information, and biographies)

Donald Yanella, ed., New Essays on Billy Budd.(Book Review)
; Donald Yanella, ed., New Essays on Billy Budd (New York: Cambridge University Press...collection of recent interpretations of Billy Budd--one of H. Melville's most anthologized...contemporary ideas (x) of Melville's writing. Billy Budd's history of criticism, as Donald Yanella...
Bringing out the Beast in Melville's Billy Budd: The Dialogue of Darwinian and "Holy" Lexicons on Board the Bellipotent.(Herman Melville)
; ...Critics have also begun to investigate Billy Budd vis-a-vis the historical time frame of...significance of Darwinian discourse in Billy Budd--Melville's only prose work written in...argue, nevertheless, that Melville's Billy Budd--much more so than Moby-Dick or The Encantadas...
POOR PRODUCTION CAN'T SINK 'BUDD'
; BILLY BUDD -- Opera by Benjamin Britten, presented by the Metropolitan...s 10-year-old production of Benjamin Britten's "Billy Budd" is like a sixth carbon copy, faint and fuzzy. Even so, "Billy Budd" remains a stirring opera and the production gets...
HEY THERE, SAILOR
; ...SAILOR There are no words to mince with Billy Budd. There's probably some fancy name for...case of the production of Britten's * Billy Budd that just opened at the Santa Fe Opera...unfinished, posthumously published work: Billy Budd, Sailor. Oh, my. There's been so much...
CLASSICAL: Snow White meets Saint Sebastian Billy Budd/ ENO Coliseum LONDON
; ...Australia/ Welsh National Opera production of Billy Budd " very good indeed. With its luxuriant...HMS Indomitable, its giant Meccano set, Billy Budd is a boys-only opera. Whether Melville...imagined by Puccini, Strauss or Janacek. Yet Billy Budd is also one of Britten's most ...
'Billy Budd' showcases a decidedly different opera star
; ...revels in performing the title role of "Billy Budd," the operatic masterpiece by Benjamin...hunky looks have inspired fan adulation. "Billy Budd" is being presented in the spectacular...child because her mother is an actress. "Billy Budd" is a liberating piece, in her view...
Some reflections on Claggart's death and on Malcolm's suicide.(Letter to the editor)
; To the editor: Like Moby-Dick, Billy Budd is about suicide. Regarding Moby-Dick...substitute for pistol and ball. As for Billy Budd: As Gorman Beauchamp eloquently argues ( Claggart's Death in Billy Budd, Melville Society Extracts 129 [July...
A brilliant 'Budd' American baritone Nathan Gunn is the moving title character in a ship- shape production
; 'BILLY BUDD' HIGHLY RECOMMENDED WHEN: Civic Opera...CALL: (312) 332-2244 Benjamin Britten's 'Billy Budd" had its premiere in London 50 years...to grasp as symbols of larger forces. Billy Budd is both an open-hearted, lively young...
Solid ground for `Billy Budd' // Sea drama lures top hands
; ...Wednesday when PBS offers Benjamin Britten's "Billy Budd," a stirring dramatization of Herman...night. Like "Moby Dick" and "Typee," "Billy Budd, Foretopman" derived from Melville's...the Met and more than 350 worldwide. "Billy Budd" is a favorite, since he was closely...
The far-shining sail: a glimpse of salvation in Britten's Billy Budd
; ...in order to offer further comment on Billy Budd. The first comes from noting the undercurrent...has been utilised by commentators on Billy Budd comes from noting the theological language...the theme of salvation is developed in Billy Budd. This is an explicitly religious term...