The Whaleness of the Whale: Interspecies Relationality in Moby-Dick and In The Heart of the Sea
Herman Melville’s enigmatic white whale Moby Dick is undoubtedly one of the most famous characters of American literature. His symbolic and allegorical potential, especially as manifested in his “whiteness,” has been given extensive scholarly attention; much less frequently is the personhood of the...
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European Association for American Studies
2024-02-01
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| Series: | European Journal of American Studies |
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| Online Access: | https://journals.openedition.org/ejas/21504 |
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| author | Svetlana Seibel |
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| author_sort | Svetlana Seibel |
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| description | Herman Melville’s enigmatic white whale Moby Dick is undoubtedly one of the most famous characters of American literature. His symbolic and allegorical potential, especially as manifested in his “whiteness,” has been given extensive scholarly attention; much less frequently is the personhood of the whale—what I call his whaleness—accorded a sustained discussion. Yet, Melville’s novel raises the question of the personhood of the whale time and time again, and this issue comes into even starker relief when considered as part of the narrative matrix formed by Melville’s Moby-Dick, Owen Chase’s narrative of the sinking of the whaleship Essex in 1820, and Ron Howard’s 2015 feature film In the Heart of the Sea. All these texts are concerned with questions of human-whale relationality and reflect changing debates on human-animal relations by grappling with the whaleness of the whale, each in its own, particular way. This article explores the significance of the theme of human-whale relationality in this narrative matrix, as well as the ways in which its manifestations reflect socio-cultural debates on interspecies relationality. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-69f4e093cd934bc09d76cebc98cfd43a |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 1991-9336 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2024-02-01 |
| publisher | European Association for American Studies |
| record_format | Article |
| series | European Journal of American Studies |
| spelling | doaj-art-69f4e093cd934bc09d76cebc98cfd43a2025-01-06T09:08:15ZengEuropean Association for American StudiesEuropean Journal of American Studies1991-93362024-02-0119110.4000/ejas.21504The Whaleness of the Whale: Interspecies Relationality in Moby-Dick and In The Heart of the SeaSvetlana SeibelHerman Melville’s enigmatic white whale Moby Dick is undoubtedly one of the most famous characters of American literature. His symbolic and allegorical potential, especially as manifested in his “whiteness,” has been given extensive scholarly attention; much less frequently is the personhood of the whale—what I call his whaleness—accorded a sustained discussion. Yet, Melville’s novel raises the question of the personhood of the whale time and time again, and this issue comes into even starker relief when considered as part of the narrative matrix formed by Melville’s Moby-Dick, Owen Chase’s narrative of the sinking of the whaleship Essex in 1820, and Ron Howard’s 2015 feature film In the Heart of the Sea. All these texts are concerned with questions of human-whale relationality and reflect changing debates on human-animal relations by grappling with the whaleness of the whale, each in its own, particular way. This article explores the significance of the theme of human-whale relationality in this narrative matrix, as well as the ways in which its manifestations reflect socio-cultural debates on interspecies relationality.https://journals.openedition.org/ejas/21504Moby-Dickinterspecies relationalitywhale narrativesOwen Chase’s NarrativeIn the Heart of the Sea |
| spellingShingle | Svetlana Seibel The Whaleness of the Whale: Interspecies Relationality in Moby-Dick and In The Heart of the Sea European Journal of American Studies Moby-Dick interspecies relationality whale narratives Owen Chase’s Narrative In the Heart of the Sea |
| title | The Whaleness of the Whale: Interspecies Relationality in Moby-Dick and In The Heart of the Sea |
| title_full | The Whaleness of the Whale: Interspecies Relationality in Moby-Dick and In The Heart of the Sea |
| title_fullStr | The Whaleness of the Whale: Interspecies Relationality in Moby-Dick and In The Heart of the Sea |
| title_full_unstemmed | The Whaleness of the Whale: Interspecies Relationality in Moby-Dick and In The Heart of the Sea |
| title_short | The Whaleness of the Whale: Interspecies Relationality in Moby-Dick and In The Heart of the Sea |
| title_sort | whaleness of the whale interspecies relationality in moby dick and in the heart of the sea |
| topic | Moby-Dick interspecies relationality whale narratives Owen Chase’s Narrative In the Heart of the Sea |
| url | https://journals.openedition.org/ejas/21504 |
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