In a series of 35 original essays, this companion demonstrates the relevance of Melville’s works in the twenty-first century.

• Presents 35 original essays by scholars from around the world, representing a range of different approaches to Melville
• Considers Melville in a global context, and looks at the impact of global economies and technologies on the way people read Melville
• Takes account of the latest and most sophisticated scholarship, including postcolonial and feminist perspectives
• Locates Melville in his cultural milieu, revising our views of his politics on race, gender and democracy
• Reveals Melville as a more contemporary writer than his critics have sometimes assumed

Wyn Kelley is Senior Lecturer in the Literature Faculty at MIT. The author of Melville’s City: Literary and Urban Form in Nineteenth-Century New York (1996) and A Short Guide to Herman Melville (Blackwell Publishing, 2008), she is also Associate Editor of the Melville Electronic Library.