Name: Herman Melville Classic Stories
ISBN: 9780786280988

Herman Melville

Stung by the critical reception and lack of commercial success of Moby-Dick and Pierre, Herman Melville became obsessed with the difficulties of communicating his vision to readers. His sense of isolation lies at the heart of these later works. In "Billy Budd, Sailor," a classic confrontation between good and evil, an innocent young man is unable to defend himself against a wrongful accusation. The other selections "Bartleby," "The Encantadas," "Benito Cereno," and "The Piazza" also illuminate, in varying guises, the way fictions are created and shared with a wider society.
--back cover

Herman Melville Classic Stories

While 'Moby Dick' is Herman Melville’s best known book, 'Billy Budd, Sailor' is considered by many to be his greatest work. Billy, a foundling from Bristol, has an innocence, good looks and a natural charisma that make him popular with the crew. His only physical defect is a stutter which grows worse when under intense emotion. He arouses the antagonism of the ship’s master-at-arms, John Claggart. Claggart, while not unattractive, seems somehow defective or abnormal next to Billy. Despite Claggart’s animosity towards him, Billy saves Claggart’s life further infuriating the man. Claggart then accuses Billy of conspiring to mutiny. Billy, dumfounded by the accusation, becomes unable to defend himself against Claggart’s words because of his stuttering and in frustration strikes the lying Claggart with a blow so powerful that it kills the man instantly. In the ensuing trial Melville explores good and evil, justices and mercy, right and wrong, and natural law verses man’s law. A Masterpiece for the Ages!

Billy Budd

Hannah Yang

Overcomplicated telling of a simple story of envy (and possible internalized homophobia?). Sometimes the writing is beautiful, but I think this already-short novella could have been half the length and still retained its substance. 

"The above, appearing in a publication now long ago superannuated and forgotten, is all that hitherto has stood in human record to attest what manner of men respectively were John Claggart and Billy Budd."

A handsome young sailor is unjustly accused of plotting mutiny in this timeless tale of the sea.
--back cover

Billy Budd, Sailor

Andrew John Kinney

A great book, full of symbolism for those who want to uncover it.

Andrew Louis

I can't get enough of Melville's long asides and parentheticals.

had to read this for my English class. it was excruciating 

Rachel Wilburn

Lily

This is a novella that manages to condense in itself all of Mellvile's larger-than-life tendencies in writing. It might be short, but it contains all the mythological, historical and religious allusions that a fan of Melville would want, completed with a theme of desire. Loved it.

Murdoch

Maureen

Brian Gillis

Critically acclaimed for more than 100 years, Herman Melville's sea tale, Billy Budd, is considered to be one of the small masterpieces of American fiction. An engaging plot on the surface, the exciting yarn set in 1791 also raises profound questions about the very nature of man himself. Handsome, young Billy Budd is well-liked by the other sailors aboard the British warship, the H.M.S. Indomitable. But the ship's cruel Master-at-Arms, insanely jealous of Billy's popularity, falsely accuses Billy of fomenting mutiny. Attempting to defend himself, the young sailor strikes out-only to find himself facing an even more serious charge. His years working on whaleships enabled Herman Melville to create realistic characters in authentic settings. The battle between good and evil, conscience and honor bursts from the page with Frank Muller's stirring narration.

Source: https://www.recordedbooks.com/title-details/9781449872052

A. D. Knapp

Tobias V. Langhoff

Comment un jeune matelot qui était l'innocence même, ayant frappé un sous-officier pervers qui l'accusait faussement de sédition, devint coupable selon les Articles de la Guerre et fut pendu parmi les vergues par la volonté d'un capitaine qui en était venu à l'aimer comme un père.
Source: http://gallimardmontreal.com/catalogue/livre/billy-budd-marin-melville-herman-9782070709045

Billy Budd, marin

Patrycja

Tales of compelling and mysterious power by one of America's greatest and most complex writers.

The works collected here were all written after Moby-Dick and Pierre. Stung by the critical reception and lack of commercial success of those two books, Melville became obsessed with the difficulties in communicating his vision to readers. This sense of isolation, of a need to find a way to express oneself, lies at the heart of these later works. "Billy Budd, Sailor," a classic confrontation between good and evil, is the story of an innocent young man unable to defend himself against a wrongful accusation. Billy's silence, his literal inability to express the truth, will ead to his death. The other selections here - "Bartleby," "The Encantadas," "Benito Cereno," and "The Piazza" - also deal, in varying guises, with the ways in which fictions are created and shared with a wider society.

Frederick Busch discusses in his introduction Melville's preoccupation with his "correspondence with the world," his quarrel with silence, and why fiction was, for Melville, "a matter of life and death."
(back cover)

Billy Budd and Other Stories

Lindsy Rice

Maurice FitzGerald

Boothby

Ömer Karaçay

Μπίλλυ Μπαντ, ναύτης

PENNY PAINESI

Jerald Lim

Scott Mitchell

Deniz Erkaradağ

This volume provides the first accurate version of Melville's final novel and differs in important aspects from editions previously available. Through exhaustive study the editors have evolved the definitive text and have shed new light on this widely discussed work of fiction.
(back cover)

Herman Melville Classic Stories

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