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The Dark Truth of the Piazza Tales

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 December 2020

Scott Donaldson
Scott Donaldson*
Affiliation:
College of William and Mary Williamsburg, Va.
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Abstract

Although a collection of stories, The Piazza Tales achieve unity by revealing Herman Melville's pessimistic state of mind during the early 1850's. Three persistent concerns of the author run through the six stories that make up the book: the difficulty of human perception, artistic and otherwise; the dangers of human isolation; and the catastrophic effects of human servitude.

Type
Research Article
Information
PMLA , Volume 85 , Issue 5 , October 1970 , pp. 1082 - 1086
Copyright
Copyright © Modern Language Association of America, 1970

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References

Note 1 in page 1082 Merton M. Sealts, “The Publication of Melville's Piazza Tales,” MLN, 59 (1944), 56–59.

Note 2 in page 1082 Citations from Melville in my text are to Herman Melville, The Piazza Tales, ed. Egbert S. Oliver (New York, 1948).

Note 3 in page 1083 See Luke xvi. 19–31.

Note 4 in page 1085 Marvin Fisher, “Melville's ‘Bell-Tower’: A Double Thrust,” AQ, 18 (1966), 200–07, discovers in the story “a fearful response” to the institution of Negro slavery. Charles A. Fenton, “ ‘The Bell-Tower’: Melville and Technology,” AL, 23 (1951), 219–32, demonstrates Melville's fears about technological growth.

Note 5 in page 1086 Masters in chancery held extraordinary powers, their business being to decide those matters of equity for which the narrowness of the law courts provided no relief. Such men were appointed to their posts, and could command high fees when serving as referees of disputes. They held judgelike powers, yet could, presumably, be tempted to determine issues on the basis of fees offered by the disputants. See D. T. Blake, An Historical Treatise on the Practices of the Court of Chancery of the State of New York (New York, 1818), p. viii; and Jack B. Weinstein, Harold L. Korn, and Arthur D. Miller, New York Civil Practice (Albany, 1963), Vol. IV, Sec. 4001.

Note 6 in page 1088 Lisca, p. 76.

Note 7 in page 1088 The context of the letter indicates that Steinbeck is speaking of essentially the version of Tortilla Flat that was published eventually. The significant point is that Steinbeck appears to have little insight into the relationships between structure and materials even, in this instance, when the act of creation is essentially complete.

Note 8 in page 1088 E. M. Forster, Aspects of the Novel (New York: Harcourt, Brace & Co., 1927), pp. 140–44. Forster points out that on occasion a work in hand will develop its own logic, in spite, sometimes, of the novelist's plan.

Note 9 in page 1088 Tortilla Flat, p. 11.