English 3349F/G Lecture Notes - Lecture 6: Typee
4 Jan 2021
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Part One: Melville’s History
- Melville’s marriage is relevant to this story
- Paradise of Bachelors and the Tartarus of Maids was written later than Typee — at this point he
was married
- Elizabeth Wranker:
- Suggested that Melville physically and emotionally abused Elizabeth Shaw, according to
his letters
- One letter testifies to a feigned kidnapping plot by her family and her minister in order
to get her out of the house
- Fake kidnapper would shove her in the carriage and run away — would allow
her to leave without her being ragged on by others, left of her own accord
- Cover-up of Herman’s abuse lasted for decades — Elizabeth refused to leave Herman,
tolerated abuse, lived with Melville her whole life
- Melville family covered up extent of his domestic abuse
- 1920s — when literary scholars became more interested in him as an author, they tried to get
biographers to portray his writing in a good light without touching on his drinking/abuse
- Grandchildren refused to speak to biographers on anything that wasn’t related to his
literature
- Some scholars see an overview on how domestic violence has been treated in popular culture —
ways that people talk about Elizabeth
- Say she didn’t “understand the tortured artist” that was Melville or deserved to be beat
- Women aren’t in Melville’s work
- Not a lot of female characters who even speak — Indigenous women in Typee are seen
as exotic and foreign
- Melville’s abuse is connected to his writing — resentment towards Elizabeth and his
own writing
- Most abusive parts of his relationship became with his hardest points in writing
- She was his copy editor — he had different migraines and body pains
- Elizabeth would rewrite his sentences without punctuation and he would add
punctuation in — he would blame her for his own inability to write
- If she wrote things down wrong, he abused her
- He would write things difficultly — upside down, cut up, stapled together,
crossed out — and have her piece it together — if she did it wrong
- Family hated him
- Melville’s oldest son killed himself in an argument with Melville, using his own gun
- Middle son went to sea and died of TB
- Daughter refused to never speak to him again
- At a time in American history, Melville recognized exploitation and class privilege
- New England Mill Industry
- Melville visited paper mill
- Both cotton mills and paper mills were dependent on textiles — paper was made from
cotton or linen at the time
Document Summary
Melville"s marriage is relevant to this story. Paradise of bachelors and the tartarus of maids was written later than typee at this point he was married. Suggested that melville physically and emotionally abused elizabeth shaw, according to his letters. One letter testifies to a feigned kidnapping plot by her family and her minister in order to get her out of the house. Fake kidnapper would shove her in the carriage and run away would allow her to leave without her being ragged on by others, left of her own accord. Cover-up of herman"s abuse lasted for decades elizabeth refused to leave herman, tolerated abuse, lived with melville her whole life. Melville family covered up extent of his domestic abuse. 1920s when literary scholars became more interested in him as an author, they tried to get biographers to portray his writing in a good light without touching on his drinking/abuse.
