Melville and Repose

John Bryant's book is a strong and significant argument for the centrality of the comic and repose in Melville's novels. The purpose of Melville and Repose is dual: to ground the uses of romantic humor in Melville in sensitive readings of contemporaneous European and American writings, and to offer a definitive account of the comic as the shaping force of Melville's narrative voice throughout the major phase of his literary career. Bryant argues that Melville fused a "e;rhetoric of geniality"e; and "e;picturesque sensibility"e; adopted from the British with a "e;rhetoric of deceit"e; borrowed from the American tall tale in order to create his own amiably cosmopolitan "e;rhetoric of aesthetic repose."e; Thorough research into American culture and recent Melville manuscript findings, an engaging style, and full, scholarly readings combine to make this historicist study a welcome addition to the libraries of Americanists and Melville scholars and enthusiasts.