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The Twisted Mind

Madness in Herman Melville's Fiction


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1990
192 pp
Cloth: 
$26.95
0-87745-284-9

"Though madness has been a consistent topic in considerations of Melville's work, this is the first full-scale treatment of the subject."—William B. Dillingham

"…a thorough, unique study of madness in Melville's fiction….Clearly written and well documented."—Choice

The Twisted Mind provides a discussion of the importance and nature of Melville's reality-based views and portrayals of insanity. The general method is chronological, ranging through Melville's entire canon, with a linking of discussions of the writer's experiences and evaluations of the fictions influenced by them. At times McCarthy lets us glimpse his own realization of the deep ironies and tragedies of Melville's life—and he does so with a brisk poignancy that is suddenly moving and highly significant, providing an added dimension to this thorough and carefully researched study.