Natural Humans, Arbitrary Persons, and Expatriated White Jackets

Meredith Farmer

Wake Forest University

Meredith Farmer is an Assistant Teaching Professor of English at Wake Forest University, affiliated with the Center for Energy, Environment, and Sustainability. Her current project, Melville’s Leaks: Science, Materialism, and the Reconstitution of Persons, is under advance contract with Northwestern University Press. She is also at work on two editorial projects: a collection titled Rethinking Ahab: Melville and the Materialist Turn and a special issue of Leviathan on “Melville and Materialisms.” Her next project will focus on nineteenth-century hurricanes, the “American Storm Controversy,” and related antebellum attempts to model climate change. Her next article is titled “Moby-Dick and the Hurricane.”   

Abstract

Meredith Farmer’s paper begins with Melville’s White-Jacket plunging into the ocean. His goal is to slice himself out of his white skin. That skin is repeatedly framed as a liability, since “most monkey jackets are of a... [ view full abstract ]

Authors

  1. Meredith Farmer (Wake Forest University)

Topic Area

Panel

Session

P67 » Other Humans (10:15 - Saturday, 24th March, Fiesta I-II)

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