Herman Melville’s Philosophical Testimony: Stones as Witnesses in the Desert Reserve of Clarel: A Poem and Pilgrimage in the Holy Land
Abstract
After decades of relative obscurity, Herman Melville’s 1876 poem, Clarel: A Poem and Pilgrimage in the Holy Land, has been gaining much more critical attention in the last twenty years as a work of great literary significance. Recently, scholars such as Paul Hurh, Rhian Williams, Branka Arsić, and Troy Jollimore, have focused specifically on philosophical themes in Clarel. First, in working with Gert-Jan van der Heiden’s The Voice of Misery: A Continental Philosophy of Testimony, this thesis continues to argue for Clarel’s philosophical importance by considering this poem as a work of philosophical testimony. Second, this thesis claims that Clarel pushes the site of testimony beyond a human voice or written account and into the desert landscape itself. In Clarel, it is not a human figure or written text that acts as a witness to the misery of human life, but rather the stones in the desert landscape testify to the possibilities of death, decay, and oblivion for human existence. Third, this thesis contributes to considering Clarel as a crucial text for bringing Melville scholarship, literary criticism, and academic philosophy into an interdisciplinary dialogue.
Citation
Crist, Alexander (2020). Herman Melville’s Philosophical Testimony: Stones as Witnesses in the Desert Reserve of Clarel: A Poem and Pilgrimage in the Holy Land. Master's thesis, Texas A&M University. Available electronically from https : / /hdl .handle .net /1969 .1 /192238.