Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2009, English

The purpose of my dissertation is to illuminate the depth of Herman Melville's philosophical and aesthetical inquiries into the fundamental questions about human existence and possibilities in his novel Moby-Dick. I investigate the ways in which the novel interrogates the basic tenets of Platonism and Christianity and explores a positive alternative to the limitations of the existing system of knowledge by reading the novel in relation to Arthur Schopenhauer's and Friedrich Nietzsche's revision of the traditional understanding of human will, epistemology, and religion of the West. In his views of human life and the world, Melville's remarkable affinities with Schopenhauer have drawn much critical attention, but not many critics have paid attention to the import of the similarities between Melville and Nietzsche. My analysis of Melville's intellectual relationship with these two German philosophers contributes to current scholarship not only by bringing to light Melville's position in the larger intellectual tradition beyond his immediate cultural milieu, but also by exploring how Moby-Dick provides an answer to whether literature has a positive power especially when literature seems to undermine its own credibility and authority by questioning the validity of narrative and truth. I contend that Schopenhauer's differentiation between the veil of appearance and an inner reality of every natural phenomenon can elucidate Ahab's investigation of the incongruities between seems and is, while the concept of will as “merely a blind, irresistible impulse” can throw light on Ahab's “will determinate” and “madness maddened” in his pursuit of Moby Dick. Regarding Ahab's rejection of conventional religious doctrines in his attempt to give meaning to his life, I argue that Ahab's self-overcoming does not extend to examining the implications of his mad pursuit of Moby Dick, ultimately differentiating him from the Nietzschean Overman despite their similarities. My analysis of Ishma (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Steven Fink PhD (Advisor); Elizabeth Hewitt PhD (Committee Member); Susan Williams PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: English literature