Will and Representation ― The Philosophical Foundations of Melville's Theatrum Mundi

The Theatrum Mundi of Melville's thought investigated in this work signifies the representational space of modern subjectivity, which posits a "world" of value for itself. The representational theatre of the will manifests itself through the governing discourses of politics, religion, and aesthetics as they are integrated into Melville's fiction. Will and Representation focuses on Moby Dick, revealing the fundamental metaphysical dispositions illustrated through the historical discourses that Moby Dick integrates and transforms. The metaphysical dispositions themselves determine Melville's reception of classical questions of politics, philosophy, and aesthetics, and his transformation of them.

Bernhard Radloff is Associate Professor of English at the University of Ottawa.