Melville in the Popular Imagination

Abstracts MLA 2006—Philadelphia Melville in the Popular Imagination CHAIR: M. THOMAS INGE, RANDOLPH-MACON COLLEGE M. Thomas Inge, Chair. H erman Melville, along with Edgar Allan Poe and Mark Twain among American writers, has always held a special place in our popular culture. In his own day, he was widely known as the man who lived among the cannibals, and today he is considered the author of difficult works that challenge the minds and imaginations of readers. Nearly all of his novels and many of his stories have been adapted more than once to the motion picture screen, radio, television, drama, symphonic productions, opera, comic books, graphic novels, and other media. Moby-Dick, the great but often unread American novel, remains a pervasive influence in all aspects of our collective cultural memory. For the 2006 MLA Melville Society panel, proposals were solicited for papers that addressed the subject of Melville’s presence in the popular C
2007 The Authors Journal compilation C
2007 The Melville Society and Blackwell Publishing Inc L E V I A T H A N A J O U R N A L O F M E L V I L L E S T U D I E S 95 E X T R A C T S imagination in any medium, especially papers that considered the meaning of Melville as an icon and the relevance of his works as popular texts. A large number of inquiries and proposals were received by the panel chair from all over the United States and from as far away as Japan, Germany, and Jerusalem. Most of them were worthy proposals and selecting the few for presentation was a difficult task. The maximum four papers selected discussed Melville’s presence in and influence on radio, film, popular music, and culture in general. They were presented to a packed room with standing room only and elicited provocative questions from the audience. Following are abstracts of the four presentations. Tim Prchal, Oklahoma State University. ‘He’s Going to Sound!’: Herman Melville and the Struggle to Legitimize Radio Tim Prchal Oklahoma State University I n the 1930s, radio broadcasting struggled to establish its role in U.S. culture . Some saw it as an opportunity to refine the tastes of its mass-market audience while others worried commercial sponsorship and domination by a few national networks would lead only to intellectual and artistic degradation . Certain radio shows did cater to tastes that might be deemed lowbrow; however, programmers also made a concerted effort to produce sophisticated material, thereby legitimizing the medium. A prominent genre of radio programming involved audio adaptations of esteemed works of literature and 96 L E V I A T H A N A B S T R A C T S drama. These programs included The Columbia Workshop, The NBC University Theater, and various series featuring Orson Welles’s Mercury Theater. In fact, these three programs—along with others—adapted Herman Melville’s MobyDick , and Melville’s place in the heyday of radio drama is perhaps best understood in regard to the negotiation between “uplifting” listeners and appealing to a mass audience. Radio used various techniques to balance highbrow tastes and popular appeal. One involved employing a host whose reputation would lend an air of distinction to the proceedings. A show called Favorite Story, for instance, was hosted by actor Ronald Colman, whose rich but nasal voice and mellifluous British accent marked him as genteel and refined. This feature was counterbalanced by dramatizations of stories chosen by widely admired public figures, usually Hollywood celebrities. Into this mix came adaptations of Moby-Dick and “Bartleby the Scrivener,” the latter being the choice of Robert Montgomery, whom Colman describes as “the famous star and director of Universal International Studios.” Introductions by these hosts offer some insight into how Melville’s place in literature was, if not perceived by listeners, then at least presented to them. Orson Welles’s description of Moby-Dick as “certainly the greatest novel ever written in America” is just one example of the praise paid to the author. Of course, the manner in which Melville’s works were presented influenced popular conceptions of the author, too...