MOBY-DICK and other books by Herman Melville reviewed in the Charleston SOUTHERN CHRISTIAN ADVOCATE

Rev. W.M. Wightman D.D.
Ed. of the Southern Christian Advocate

Found just this morning in the ginormous newspaper archives on genealogybank.com among articles added within 1 month, assorted Melville mentions including this previously uncollected notice of Moby-Dick; Or the Whale in the Charleston, SC Southern Christian Advocate for December 12, 1851. Edited in 1840-1854 by William May Wightman, the Southern Christian Advocate was published in Charleston, South Carolina by designated clergy on behalf of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. 

The notice of Moby-Dick in the Southern Christian Advocate of December 12, 1851 offers three sentences of admirably balanced and original commentary, followed by a paragraph copied (with a few omissions) from the favorable review by George Ripley in Harper's New Monthly Magazine Volume 4 (December 1851) page 137.

Southern Christian Advocate - December 12, 1851
via genealogybank.com

RECENT PUBLICATIONS. 

MOBY-DICK; Or the Whale. By Herman Melville, Author of Typee, etc. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1851. 

This last book of Melville's is a curiosity. At times playful as a kitten, then solemn as a preacher; now a touch of transcendental philosophy, then a dash of bold, thrilling narrative; by turns picturesque, poetical, sportive, and stern in the iron grip of deep reflection;--this sea-story seems to puzzle the critics. Some pronounce it a failure, others consider it the most successful of the author's productions. We copy a paragraph from the notice given in Harper's Magazine:--In the course of the narrative the habits of the whale are fully and ably described. Frequent graphic and instructive sketches of the fishery, of sea-life in a whaling vessel, and of the manners and customs of strange nations are interspersed with excellent effect among the thrilling scenes of the story. The various processes of procuring oil are explained with the minute, painstaking fidelity of a statistical record, contrasting strangely with the weird, phantom-like character of the plot, and of some of the leading personages who present a no less unearthly appearance than the witches in Macbeth. These sudden and decided transitions form a striking feature of the volume. To a less gifted author, they would inevitably have proved fatal. He has not only deftly avoided their dangers, but made them an element of great power. --For sale by J. W. Stoy, Agent.

Where the review in Harper's magazine printed "with excellent artistic effect" the Southern Christian Advocate has "with excellent effect," omitting the word artistic. Also omitted, one sentence that came before the last one quoted in the Charleston notice: "Difficult of management in the highest degree, they are wrought with consummate skill." One result of these particular omissions could be to slight or subtly undermine the original emphasis on Melville's craftsmanship as a writer. On the other hand, the point may have been regarded as redundant and the omitted words cut mainly to save space. 

As a "bold, thrilling narrative" Melville's book evidently made a lasting impression on the editor, Rev. W. M. Wightman. In June of the following year, the Charleston Southern Christian Advocate reprinted the popular excerpt from Moby-Dick Chapter 61: Stubb Kills a Whale under the heading, "THE DEATH OF A WHALE." Correctly attributed at the end of the excerpt, in italics, to "— Herman Melville." 

Charleston, SC Southern Christian Advocate
June 11, 1852

Of the 20+ newspaper excerpts from chapter 61 that we know about, only this one in the Charleston, SC Southern Christian Advocate printed "...grinning furies" where the English and American first editions both had Stubb saying, "...grinning devils." In imagination, you could join the chase with Stubb and Tashtego, and even witness the horrible slaughter of the whale at the end of it, but you would not be exposed in the Southern Christian Advocate to the word devils as Melville used it in Stubb's exhortation to the crew of his whaleboat--too close to swearing, apparently. This was, after all, an official publication of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. Still, although this version loses the alliteration between death and devils, grinning furies will do.

Early in September 1852, the Southern Christian Advocate weighed Melville's next book after Moby-Dick and found it wanting. 

Charleston, SC Southern Christian Advocate
September 3, 1852

PIERRE: Or the Ambiguities. By Herman Melville. New York: Harper & Brothers. 1852.

Whatever else may be ambiguous, it is clear enough that every reader of this last book of Mr. Melville, will vote it perfect trash. 

Previously on Wightman's watch, Melville had received much friendlier mentions in the Charleston Southern Christian Advocate, including mostly positive notices of Omoo on May 28, 1847; and White-Jacket on April 12, 1850.

• January 29, 1847: "HOW THE POLYNESIANS BECOME SWIMMERS." Excerpt from the Narrative of a Four Months' Residence Among the Natives of a Valley of the Marquesas Islands (Typee chapter 31), credited here to "Melville's Residence in the Marquesas." 

***

• May 28, 1847: review of Melville's second book, Omoo.
  
  

  

  Charleston Southern Christian Advocate
  May 28, 1847

OMOO: A narrative of adventures in the South Seas. By Herman Melville, Author of "Typee." Complete in two parts. New York: Harper & Brothers. 1847. 

This work is the production of no ordinary mind. The narrative is as deeply interesting as the style is brilliant. We are sorry the author gives so unfavourable an account upon the whole, of the South Sea Island missions. Yet there is a tone of exaggeration, an air of romance pervading the book, which induces the reader to take, with many grains of allowance, what is said respecting missionary operations. The author's account of Tahiti, and of Queen Pomaree, possesses singular interest. His sea-scenes are sketched with the precision and force of Cooper, and an Irving-like charm pervades his descriptions of Island life. For sale by J. W. Stoy, 50cts. a volume. 

-- Charleston, SC Southern Christian Advocate for May 28, 1847.

*** 

• April 12, 1850: review of Melville's fifth book,  White-Jacket; or, The World in a Man-of-War.

Charleston, SC Southern Christian Advocate 
April 12, 1850 via genealogybank.com

WHITE-JACKET: Or the world in a Man-of-War. By Herman Melville, Author of Typee, etc. New York: Harper & Brothers. 1850.

Mr. Melville is getting to be a voluminous writer. In this work he gives us his man-of-war experiences and observations during a year's service on board of a United States frigate as an ordinary seaman. Life in the naval service was never more graphically drawn; nor ever, we may add, has the romance been more completely cut out of the thing. Talk of slavery! the articles of war will tell you what it is:--of despotism! and "Capt. Claret" is its personification. Distant seems the day when nations shall have no use for the war-ship. Heaven speed the time:--but really the work of the world's conversion to the peaceable principles and spirit of the gospel, appears to be hardly begun.

-- Charleston Southern Christian Advocate for April 12, 1850. 

As best I can tell, the four book notices identified herein (of Omoo, White-Jacket, Moby-Dick, and Pierre) are all new finds; none is collected in Herman Melville: The Contemporary Reviews, edited by Brian Higgins and Hershel Parker (Cambridge University Press, 1995; paperback 2009). Now I have to add the Southern Christian Advocate notice to the inventory of Moby-Dick reviews in 1851-1852. Favorable or Mixed? The choice to quote from the laudatory Harper's review accentuates the positive, for sure. However, Rev. Wightman's notice begins with such an explicit recognition of dramatically different critical responses, it practically begs to be counted with the honorable undecideds. 

So be it! 👍👎

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