Abstract:This essay uses interpretive techniques and conclusions from rabbinic midrash and John Calvin’s biblical commentaries to fathom and follow the course of biblical allusions in Father Mapple’s sermon and its chapel setting in Moby-Dick and through Pierre, The Confidence-Man, Clarel , and the poem “Art.” In midrash, both plain meaning and intuitive readings are used to bridge textual gaps and contextual differences and to project authorial purpose. Melville’s layered imagery is susceptible to such midrashic inter… Show more
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