    
          |
|
|
|
  |
|
New Scholarly Edition of Moby-Dick, First in Twenty Years, Coming in February 2007 Longman Critical Editions Releases Melville's Landmark Novel As Written, Edited, And Censored New York, NY - Dec. 18, 2006 -Herman Melville's Moby-Dick is considered by many readers to be the Great American Novel. But most don't know that since its appearance in 1851, it has been revised in substantial ways that alter its original meaning. Melville's masterpiece is described as a "fluid text": it exists in multiple versions, each revealing shifting intentions. The new Longman Critical Edition offers unprecedented access to the revisions that Melville made, the further changes and censoring imposed by his British editors, and controversial alterations made by modern scholars. Noted Melville scholars John Bryant and Haskell Springer combine elegant scholarship and innovative editing to illuminate Melville's creative process. Bryant and Springer's introduction engages readers in the personal, social, and cultural context of Melville's novel, his life, and his writing process. To showcase the novel's "fluid text" features, a special typeface indicates hundreds of passages that were later revised, edited, and censored. On-page "Revision Narratives" explain the stories behind the major changes, and Explanatory Notes at the back of the book discuss literary allusions, as well as contemporary social, political, philosophical, and cultural references - some never before explained in any edition. Concise footnotes and a modern Glossary bring obscure language and nautical terms to life, and diverse illustrations -- including a new map of the Pequod's voyage, historical ship diagrams, relevant film stills, and comic-book art -- depict whaling life and reveal how Melville's story is still being revised. "Longman's Moby-Dick provides its readers a fuller understanding of its multiple complexities," said Elizabeth Schultz, author of Unpainted to the Last: Moby-Dick and 20th-Century American Art. "This edition will be the definitive Moby-Dick for years to come." "[Bryant and Springer] make it possible to experience Melville's great novel at the rollicking pace at which it was written," said Richard Ellis, author of Men and Whales.
About The Editors John Bryant, a professor of English at Hofstra University, has published numerous articles, editions, and books related to Melville, including A Companion to Melville Studies, Melville & Repose: The Rhetoric of Humor in the American Renaissance, and Melville's Tales, Poems, and Other Writings. As a textual scholar, he has written The Fluid Text: a Theory of Revision and Editing for Book and Screen, and published an online, fluid-text edition of the Typee Manuscript. He is also editor of Leviathan: A Journal of Melville Studies. Haskell Springer, professor emeritus of English at the University of Kansas, has published many books and articles in American literature. He edited America and the Sea and The Merrill Studies in Billy Budd, and coedited Melville and Women. Other publications include an online hypertext edition of "Bartleby, the Scrivener" and the standard scholarly edition of Washington Irving's Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon. About Pearson Longman Critical Editions The Longman Critical Edition series provides general readers, instructors, and students an accessible and informed reading experience of classic literary works in a readable format with thorough and unobtrusive notes. A distinctive feature of the series is its focus on revision and the different versions (fluid texts) of a given work generated through the author's writing process, the demands of publishing, even censorship and adaptation. About Pearson Education Educating 100 million people worldwide, Pearson Education (www.pearsoned.com) is the global leader in educational publishing, providing research-based print and digital programs to help students of all ages learn at their own pace, in their own way. Virtually all students in America learn from a Pearson program at some point in their educational career. The company is home to such renowned publishing brands as Pearson Prentice Hall, Pearson Longman, Pearson Addison-Wesley, Pearson Allyn & Bacon and Pearson Benjamin Cummings. Pearson Education is part of Pearson (NYSE: PSO; LSE: PSON), the international media company. In addition to Pearson Education, Pearson's primary operations include the Financial Times Group and the Penguin Group.
Contact: |
|
|
| |
|
School | Higher
Education | Professional
| Global |
|
|
Copyright © 2002-2004
by 