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Whipscars and Tattoos - The Last of the Mohicans, Moby-Dick, and the Maori (Hardcover)
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Whipscars and Tattoos - The Last of the Mohicans, Moby-Dick, and the Maori (Hardcover)
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In this original study, Geoffrey Sanborn presents a fresh
interpretation of the villanous Magua in James Fenimore Cooper's
The Last of the Mohicans (1826) and of the dignified harpooner
Queequeg in Herman Melville's Moby-Dick (1851). Through careful
historical research, Sanborn has determined that both authors
relied heavily on contemporary accounts of the indigenous natives
of New Zealand, the Maori, to develop their iconic characters.
Cooper drew heavily on the account of Te Aara in John Liddiard
Nicholas's Narrative of a Voyage to New Zealand (1817) while
Melville studied the personal history of Te Pehi Kupe in George
Lillie Craik's The New Zealanders (1830) to flesh out his
characterization of Queequeg. A close reading of the historical
evidence and the source material supports this compelling line of
argumentation.
At the same time, this isn't a simple source study nor an act of
explanatory historical recovery. The conception of the Maori is
sophisticated and paradoxical, a portrait of violent but
nonetheless idealized masculinity in which dignity depends on the
existence of fiercely defiant pride. This lens allows Sanborn to
present a radically different view of these fictional characters as
well as underscoring the imaginative projection that went into
reporting on the Maori themselves. Magua is no longer a
stereotypical "bad Indian" or "ignoble savage," but rather a
non-white "gentleman," an argument that supports Sanborn's
contention that throughout his career Cooper prioritizes status
equivalence over racial difference. Queequeg is similarly
re-imagined, a move that allows Sanborn to explicate scenes in
Moby-Dick that are often dodged by other critics because they do
not fit with the standard interpretations of the character. The
study as a whole provides a vivid example of the fascinating
interplay between fiction and non-fiction in the nineteenth
century.
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