rdf-syntax-grammar
mods:
  schema location: http://www.loc.gov/mods/v3 http://www.loc.gov/standards/mods/v3/mods-3-2.xsd
  title info:
    non sort: The
    title: prosthetic arts of Moby-Dick
  name:
    name part: Blake, David Haven
    role:
      role term: creator
    role:
      role term: author.
  type of resource: text
  genre: bibliography
  origin info:
    place:
      place term: nyu
    date issued: 2024
    copyright date: 2024
    issuance: monographic
  language:
    language term: eng
  physical description:
    form: print
    extent: x, 244 pages : illustrations ; 25 cm.
  abstract: The Prosthetic Arts of Moby-Dick examines how disability shapes one of the world's most iconic novels. For generations, readers have viewed Captain Ahab's whalebone leg as a symbol of what he lacks, the limb he lost fighting the white whale off the coast of Japan. David Haven Blake considers the artificial leg in a historical, medical and geopolitical context. Drawing on extensive archival research, the book situates Ahab's prosthesis at the center of the novel's reflections on wounding, embodiment and the role that Islamic cultures play in American narratives of revenge. Sawed from a sperm whale's jaw, Ahab's artificial leg helps him stand, walk and fight. But the prosthesis that marks him as different also creates the basis for his "irresistible dictatorship." Blake connects the novel's prosthetic arts with the use of Islamic imagery in 19th century America to characterize overwhelming power. He identifies the character Fedallah as the captain's most important prosthesis on ship, as the hair-turbaned soothsayer pilots the captain to his final battle with Moby Dick. Spanning each stage of Melville's career, The Prosthetic Arts of Moby-Dick meditates on democracy, aggrievement and the challenges of living in a global age.
  note: David Haven Blake.
  note: Includes bibliographical references and index.
  subject:
    name:
      name part: Melville, Herman
      name part: 1819-1891
  subject:
    name:
      name part: Captain (Fictitious character)
      name part: Ahab
  subject:
    topic: Prosthesis in literature
  subject:
    topic: Disabilities in literature
  classification: PS2384.M62 B58 2024
  classification: 813/.3
  identifier: 9780197780510
  identifier: 0197780512
  identifier: 9780197780534
  identifier: 2024030485
  record info:
    record content source: DLC
    record creation date: 240712
    record change date: 20251006203402.0
    record identifier: in00005611433