That Lonely Game: Melville, Mardi and the Almanac
by Moore, Maxine ; Henning Cohen
- Used
- Fine
- Hardcover
- first
- Condition
- Fine/Very Good
- ISBN 10
- 082620175X
- ISBN 13
- 9780826201751
- Seller
-
Seattle, Washington, United States
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
University of Missouri Press, 1975. First Edition. Hard Cover. Fine/Very Good. Book is in excellent condition, in green cloth covers, large graphic in black on front cover, gilt lettering at spine. Many b&w illustrations on heavy cream colored paper, top page ends colored. Binding is solid and square, covers have sharp corners, exterior shows no blemishes, text/interior is clean and free of marking of any kind. Dust jacket shows the slightest signs of shelf wear only, is price clipped, no tears. Previous owner's name or sticker in front section of the book. From the flyleaf ""Irked by the derogatory reaction of British critics who doubted that such books as Typee and Omoo could have been written by a common American sailor, Melville created Mardi -- on the surface, the record of an odyssey through imagined South Sea world. For the first time, Moore unravels the puzzle Melville created in Mardi, designed to dupe his elitist British readers, by exploring Melville's knowledge of astronomy, nautical navigation, astrology, and game theories. Hennig Cohen's foreword defends the traditional approach to reading Mardi and argues that Moore's heretical interpretation is interesting but narrow in scope. Moore then invites the reader to 'play Mardi'--to engage in games of wit, elaborate metaphor, and arcane learning-- to reveal the full meaning of the novel. The game may be plated most successfully by using the astronomy and astrology of Melville's time, but a knowledge of the Tarot and Ganjifa cards and of the usual Western decks of playing cards will add depth to your understanding. Mardi fulfills Melville's calim to originality and stands unique as a masterpiece of synthesis. Moore demonstrates a circular pattern in which metaphors intertwine and shows how Melville's use of The American Alamanac and his metaphor of time provides unity. She theorizes that Melville was a highly concious artist, capable of manipulating intricate strands of imagery, metaphor, and symbol through a detailed and precise method. Moreover, an elaborate system of puns gives his work an unsuspected economy even where it seems excessively and unnecessarily wordy. Though Mardi fails, perhaps from tediousness and overmanipulation, Melville followed through with the artistic implications in his later and greater books. Moore feels he had a highly developed concept of the errant or deceitful narrator and hoped to force his readers into an intense riddle-solving approach to Mardi.""
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Details
- Bookseller
- Pistil Books Online (US)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- 152834
- Title
- That Lonely Game: Melville, Mardi and the Almanac
- Author
- Moore, Maxine ; Henning Cohen
- Format/Binding
- Hard Cover
- Book Condition
- Used - Fine
- Jacket Condition
- Very Good
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Edition
- First Edition
- Binding
- Hardcover
- ISBN 10
- 082620175X
- ISBN 13
- 9780826201751
- Publisher
- University of Missouri Press
- Place of Publication
- Columbia, Missouri
- Date Published
- 1975
- Keywords
- Mardi, British Readers, Astronomy , Melville's Knowledge, Nautical Navigation, Astrology, Game Theory, Literary Criticism, History, Herman Melville, Biography, Understanding, Sailor, Tarot, Ganjifa Cards, Imagery, Metaphor, Symbol, Puns, Mardi,
Terms of Sale
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About the Seller
Pistil Books Online
Biblio member since 2003
Seattle, Washington
About Pistil Books Online
Pistil Books started in 1993 as a retail store. We are now operating completely online. We carry books in all fields, with an emphasis on art, how-to, and scholarly non-fiction titles. Quick service. Foreign orders. 24 hour response. Accurate descriptions, Excellent packaging. New titles added daily.
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- Spine
- The outer portion of a book which covers the actual binding. The spine usually faces outward when a book is placed on a shelf....
- Shelf Wear
- Shelf wear (shelfwear) describes damage caused over time to a book by placing and removing a book from a shelf. This damage is...
- Gilt
- The decorative application of gold or gold coloring to a portion of a book on the spine, edges of the text block, or an inlay in...
- Cloth
- "Cloth-bound" generally refers to a hardcover book with cloth covering the outside of the book covers. The cloth is stretched...
- Price Clipped
- When a book is described as price-clipped, it indicates that the portion of the dust jacket flap that has the publisher's...
- First Edition
- In book collecting, the first edition is the earliest published form of a book. A book may have more than one first edition in...
- Jacket
- Sometimes used as another term for dust jacket, a protective and often decorative wrapper, usually made of paper which wraps...