Read White Jacket or the World in a ManOfWar Audible Audio Edition Herman Melville Josh Smith Oregan Publishing Books
Download As PDF : White Jacket or the World in a ManOfWar Audible Audio Edition Herman Melville Josh Smith Oregan Publishing Books
This is a tale based on Melville's experiences aboard the USS United States from 1843 to 1844. It comments on the harsh and brutal realities of service in the US Navy at that time, but beyond this the narrator has created for the reader graphic symbols for class distinction, segregation and slavery aboard this microcosm of the world, the USS Neversink.
Read White Jacket or the World in a ManOfWar Audible Audio Edition Herman Melville Josh Smith Oregan Publishing Books
"It was sure no Moby Dick."
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White Jacket or the World in a ManOfWar Audible Audio Edition Herman Melville Josh Smith Oregan Publishing Books Reviews :
White Jacket or the World in a ManOfWar Audible Audio Edition Herman Melville Josh Smith Oregan Publishing Books Reviews
- This is a great primer before taking on Moby Dick. I never realized how funny Melville is in a Twain-like fashion! White Jacket's third party references and observations are hysterical. I would also highly recommend melville.org. You will exit this novel a better person, and you will carry its imagery with you forever. I truly believe that each character did and said what he would really do or say when White Jacket was written (1850). Interestingly, Melville lives and writes about 20 years before Twain. Twain's body of work is vastly larger and mostly better in every way--but it is silly for me (and a bit of a poser) to compare two giants amongst giants.
- This is a delightful book. Mr. Melville has a very sharp wit and a very observant individual was he. A friend suggested this book and I'm glad he did.Melville was on a sailing vessel back in the mid 18'00s. A web site my friend told me about was http//www.asailorslifeforme.org/ironsides_explore.php. The site is immensely helpful, for not very many folks would be familiar with all the terms of a day long gone by. Several hundred able bodied seaman manned these "Man o War" type vessels. Melville with this book White Jacket helped alert Congress of the horrific discipline of Flogging that took place during that time. Chapters are very short, and if one has any interest in history and would enjoy the wisdom, wit and charm of the author, my suggestion would be to Buy this book.
- I read this book after reading Erving Goffman's "Asylums". In that book, Goffman, a sociologist, discusses the rise of "Total Institutions", i.e. institutions that totally control the lives of those within. Melville's "White Jacket" is a book that Goffman often referred to in order to illustrate different aspects of life within the total institution.
The introductory essay to this book discusses White Jacket in relationship to the growing bro-ha-ha over slavery, but I thought the book was much more interesting then that.
What was most suprising to me, having never read Melville before, was how funny some of the chapters were. Episodes involving Surgeon Cuticle amputating the leg of an unwilling seaman recall the funniest moments of television shows like Monty Python or the Simpsons.
Melville's accurate portrayal of life within the "T.I.", reminded me of Ken Kesey's "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest". There, the setting is an insane asylum, here it is a Man O' Wear, but both books deal with the tactics and strategies an individual might employ when faced with an oppressive living environment.
Although I am not sure when, or if, I might try to tackle author's masterpiece 'Moby Dick', I did come away from this book with a profound respect for Melville's capabilities as a writer. I will no longer take for granted his status among the pantheon of American writers. - "White Jacket, or the World in a Man of War" is not of the same literary timber as Dana's "Two Years...". It was written in a hurry by Melville and shows it. But, he did serve on a man-of-war, i.e. an American war ship, and from just an historical standpoint, he takes you from the top of the mainmast, down to the bilge--essentially, you really get a background in the anatomy of an American military ship, circa the mid-nineteenth century. Additionally, you get a clear and lucid look into the personalities, and functionaries aboard such a vessel. For this, it is excellent for generalists and specialists alike. But, it is not great literature, though it is by Melville. Some of his manufactured characters are painfully stilted and contrived, almost to the point of being mawkish. But, the narrative and descriptive strength is there, and this makes "holding out" through the bad places worth it. Also, there is much repetition of content, another noticeable negative. Yet this book is by the man who wrote "Moby Dick" and "Billy Budd", so one can't help but look for the signs of greatness in "White Jacket.." and they, in my opinion, are there in abundance. Reading this, gave me the same experience one has when reading/seeing a very early Shakespeare work It is a good play by an artist who attained the highest artistic mastery of his kind. Such is the experience I had when reading "White Jacket". Definitely worth the reading time.
- This book had the same effect on me as Moby Dick. I felt I would be able to perform any job aboard one of those frigates or whaleships. His descriptions are complete, and the detail is sufficient to create the belief in the reader that one, too, could perform any of the tasks assigned to any of the crewmen or officers.
- A classic piece of literature and one which forever changed the U.S. Navy. For those wishing they could serve in the "good old days," this is an eye opener. The military still has some harsh policies and pretty rotten people, but nowhere near as bad as the officers and policies of the 19th century.
- I purchased this book as background research for my series of novels about the Marines in the Civil War (The Forgotten Marines). I am very pleased with the content.
- It was sure no Moby Dick.
