Strike Through the Mask

Reviews / Votes

"'Strike through the Mask' offers a fascinating new perspective on Melville's career. From a meticulous scrutiny of the material and visual features of Melville's manuscripts, Renker develops the connections between Melville's works and his strenuous work of composing them."--Gillian Brown, University of Utah "Herman relied on [his wife] and his sisters to copy out his illegible manuscripts; those very manuscripts, with his violent revisions, displayed his hostility toward them. And this new view of the relationship, [Renker] said, must change the way we view his work."--Philip Weiss, 'New York Times Magazine' "There is...the uncomfortable suggestion that Melville physically and emotionally abused his wife. One letter reveals that Elizabeth Melville's minister proposed a feigned kidnap to spirit her away from husband and home...Those interested must turn to Elizabeth Renker's...'Strike Through the Mask'."--Harold Beaver, 'Times Literary Supplement' "Joining textual criticism with critical theory, the author argues that Melville was obsessed with the difficulties of the physical task of writing and how the words appear on the page...For her, Melville's metaphysical genius results from his conflict with the materiality of writing. Drawing on a wide range of critical practices and the vast history of Melville scholarship, Renker's study strikes through Melville scholarship as much as it elucidates it."--'Choice'