Satirical Apocalypse: An Anatomy of Melville's "The Confidence-Man"
Brand: Praeger
Categories: Books, Literature & Fiction, History & Criticism



Dimensions: 6.14 x 0.69 x 9.21 inches
ISBN-13: 978-0274952106
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0313294046
Publisher: Praeger
Print length: 296 pages
Publication date: April 30, 1996
author: Visit Amazon's Jonathan A. Cook Page search results Jonathan A. Cook
review: Editorial Reviews Review "Jonathan Cook has written a lucid and useful study, one all readers of Melville will be glad to have. Satirical Apocalypse provides a rich, historically informed reading of Melville's most enigmatic novel, The Confidence-Man. Cook's discussions of Melville's satirical purposes and allegorical structure are especially illuminating."-Larry J. Reynolds, Thomas Franklin Mayo Professor in Liberal Arts, Texas A&M University ?In this exhaustive study, Cook examines an impressive array of contextual material. Eschewing theory and jargon, Cook offers straightforward, persuasive, and impressively informed readings of characters and scenes as satires of political, religious, social, literary, and familial issues and events....Cook's study is invaluable as a guide to a complex and elusive novel....the book will be immensely valuable to Melville scholars and students of 19th-century America because it clearly summarizes all relevant historical and biographical material. All subsequent commentary on The Confidence-Man will have to consider Cook's work.?-Choice "In this exhaustive study, Cook examines an impressive array of contextual material. Eschewing theory and jargon, Cook offers straightforward, persuasive, and impressively informed readings of characters and scenes as satires of political, religious, social, literary, and familial issues and events....Cook's study is invaluable as a guide to a complex and elusive novel....the book will be immensely valuable to Melville scholars and students of 19th-century America because it clearly summarizes all relevant historical and biographical material. All subsequent commentary on The Confidence-Man will have to consider Cook's work."-Choice About the Author JONATHAN A. COOK has a Ph.D. from Columbia University. He has been a lecturer at Boston University and has published articles on Irving, Hawthorne, and Melville.