Moby Dick and Melville's Imagination of the American “Pacific Empire”

Abstract

Abstract: Herman Melville's Moby Dick is a classic text that examines the geopolitical map of the American expansion across the Pacific. Through the narrative of the glorious American whaling, Melville delineates the historical route of constructing the American “Pacific Commercial Empire” and presents the American cartography of its aspiring geopolitical presence and power in the Pacific by mapping out the “blank space” across the South Pacific. In fact, Melville's “Pacific writings” are closely tied to the “Pacific Myth” deeply ingrained in American thought and culture. His Moby Dick reveals, with great clarity, the historical traces of the American “Pacific Empire” and its colonization of the Pacific “frontiers”.

Key words: Melville, Moby Dick, Pacific writings, commercial community, the Pacific myth

Duan Bo. Moby Dick and Melville's Imagination of the American “Pacific Empire”[J]. Foreign Literature Studies, 2020, 42(1): 135-148.

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