herman melville
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Herman Melville’s Opinion of Ralph Waldo Emerson
From a letter to Evert Augustus Duyckinck of March 3, 1849. “I was very agreeably disappointed in Mr Emerson. I had heard of him as full of transcendentalisms, myths & oracular gibberish; I had only glanced at a book of his once in Putnam’s store — that was all I knew of him, till I Continue reading
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Used Bookstore Haul (Delillo, Melville, Hawthorne and Doctorow) 9.16.22
Today’s best find at the used bookstore was a first edition of Libra by Don DeLillo for $5.00. Got the entire stack for under $20. The Blithedale Romance by Hawthorne, Pierre by Melville, and The Book of Daniel by EL Doctorow included. Continue reading
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William Faulkner on wishing he’d written Moby-Dick (1851)
By Jay Innis Murray TO THE BOOK EDITOR OF The Chicago Tribune*, It is a difficult question. I can name offhand several books which I should like to have written, if only for the privilege of rewriting parts of them. But I dare say there are any number of angels in heaven today (particularly recent Continue reading
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“Who aint a slave?” A Note on Melville and Slavery
A note on Melville and slavery Continue reading
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A Note on the Etymology Section of Herman Melville’s Moby-Dick
Melville invites us to turn the tables on him by starting with Etymology. We are miles from Call me Ishmael here. So, turn the tables. An usher is an assistant teacher, a job he once had. But the etymology of usher comes from Old French and Latin for a doorman. He’s got a doorkeeper at Continue reading
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On the novel Wieland (1798) by Charles Brockden Brown
A friend told me that Wieland was the poet Shelley’s favorite novel. It was published in 1798, the same year as Lyrical Ballads Continue reading
About Talking Big
All posts by Jay Innis Murray.
Always on the lookout for new books to review. Please drop me a line at grashupfer@gmail.com or say hi on Twitter, Mastodon or Blue Sky.
Read my novel here: https://tinyurl.com/p98jtu7c
Recent Posts
- A Review of The Ten Year Affair by Erin Somers
- Stealing Einstein’s Underpants – A Review of The Delegation (2025) by Avner Landes
- A Review of On the Calculation of Volume 1 (2024) by Solvej Balle
- A Review of The Cannibal Owl (2025) by Aaron Gwyn
- A Review of Every Arc Bends Its Radian (2024) by Sergio De La Pava
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