THE WHALE AVATAR OF THE HINDOOS IN MELVILLE'S "MOBY DICK"
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Abstract
Herman Melville depicted the great whale Moby Dick as a powerful force of nature, impossible to comprehend fully. He attributes to the whale not only great antiquity, but also divinity. One of the most striking and effective ways in which he does so is by describing the whale as a manifestation (avatar) of the Hindu deity Vishnu, whose mythology he recounts, the Matsya Avatāra. These passages are analysed in the context of the novel's other references to India and Hindu religious thought. In an effort to interpret the significance of India and Hinduism in the novel, aspects of Melville's life and thought are also analysed. We conclude that the structure of the myth of the fish avatar is reflected in the novel's structure, and that the novel presents a concept of the divine at variance with Christian theological orthodoxy. But in the great Sperm Whale, this high and mighty god-like dignity inherent in the brow is so immensely amplified, that gazing on it, in that full front view, you feel the Deity and the dread powers more forcibly than in beholding any other object in living nature.
Journal Information
Literature and Theology, a quarterly peer-review journal, provides a critical non-confessional forum for both textual analysis and theoretical speculation, encouraging explorations of how religion is embedded in culture. Contributions should address questions pertinent to both literary study and theology broadly understood, and be consistent with the Journal's overall aim: to engage with and reshape traditional discourses within the studies of literature and religion, and their cognate fields - biblical criticism, literary criticism, philosophy, politics, culture studies, gender studies, artistic theory/practice, and contemporary critical theory/practice.
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Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers the University's objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide. OUP is the world's largest university press with the widest global presence. It currently publishes more than 6,000 new publications a year, has offices in around fifty countries, and employs more than 5,500 people worldwide. It has become familiar to millions through a diverse publishing program that includes scholarly works in all academic disciplines, bibles, music, school and college textbooks, business books, dictionaries and reference books, and academic journals.
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Literature and Theology © 2001 Oxford University Press
