He Fictionalised, His, real-life experiences, in, the novel, 'REDBURN'.
[Being the Sailor Boy
Confessions and Reminiscences
Of the Son-Of-A-Gentleman
In, the Merchant Navy]
His, Personal, Voyage, was ,made , as, a 'Boy Sailor', on ,the Vessel, 'St Lawrence'.[out, of ,New York].
The Eponymous, 'Hero', of ,REDBURN, travels ,on ,the fictional,Vessel, ....'Highlander'.
He ,meets, all ,sorts, of, unexpected, trials and tribulations, describing , in ,detail, the socio-economic conditions, of ,the, early 19th century, Industrial Seaport, of, Liverpool.
POVERTY, HAND-IN-HAND, WITH, OPULENT WEALTH.
Many ,of, the Buildings, described, are, still here.
The 'Lyceum', The 'Town Hall', Princes Dock Gates,The Church ,of,St.Mary del Quay
[The Sailor's Church, also, known, as, 'OUR LADY, AND, ST.NICHOLAS'],
is, the, ......Setting,of, the 'Dead House',Chapter,- Nowadays, with the 'Simpson Fountain!, etc etc.
Chapter XXXVI. THE OLD CHURCH OF ST. NICHOLAS, AND THE DEAD-HOUSE
The floating chapel recalls to mind the “Old Church,” well known to the seamen of many generations, who have visited Liverpool. It stands very near the docks, a venerable mass of brown stone, and by the town’s people is called the Church of St. Nicholas. I believe it is the best preserved piece of antiquity in all Liverpool.Before the town rose to any importance, it was the only place of worship on that side of the Mersey; and under the adjoining Parish of Walton was a chapel-of-ease; though from the straight backed pews, there could have been but little comfort taken in it.
In old times, there stood in front of the church a statue of St. Nicholas, the patron of mariners; to which all pious sailors made offerings, to induce his saintship to grant them short and prosperous voyages. In the tower is a fine chime of bells; and I well remember my delight at first hearing them on the first Sunday morning after our arrival in the dock. It seemed to carry an admonition with it; something like the premonition conveyed to young Whittington by Bow Bells. “Wettingborough! Wettingborough! you must not forget to go to church, Wettingborough! Don’t forget, Wettingborough! Wettingborough! don’t forget.”
Thirty or forty years ago, these bells were rung upon the arrival of every Liverpool ship from a foreign voyage. How forcibly does this illustrate the increase of the commerce of the town! Were the same custom now observed, the bells would seldom have a chance to cease.
What seemed the most remarkable about this venerable old church, and what seemed the most barbarous, and grated upon the veneration with which I regarded this time-hallowed structure, was the condition of the grave-yard surrounding it. From its close vicinity to the haunts of the swarms of laborers about the docks, it is crossed and re-crossed by thoroughfares in all directions; and the tomb-stones, not being erect, but horizontal (indeed, they form a complete flagging to the spot), multitudes are constantly walking over the dead; their heels erasing the death’s-heads and crossbones, the last mementos of the departed. At noon, when the lumpers employed in loading and unloading the shipping, retire for an hour to snatch a dinner, many of them resort to the grave-yard; and seating themselves upon a tomb-stone use the adjoining one for a table. Often, I saw men stretched out in a drunken sleep upon these slabs; and once, removing a fellow’s arm, read the following inscription, which, in a manner, was true to the life, if not to the death:—
“Here LYETH yebody of TOBIAS DRINKER.”
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His, encounters, with. 'Land Rats', 'Land Sharks', 'Crimps', Sailors, of ,all, Nations, and, a host ,of ,strange characters, make, for, an ,enjoyable, read.
Edward F Edinger, A, Californian, Jungian Analyst, has, examined, the early life, of, Melville, in, His, Book, 'American Nekyia, Melville's , Moby Dick'.
[Available at Amazon, etc]
It, is, a, first rate , well- researched, and, thorough, Commentary, on, what, He considers, a, decidedly, unhappy, and depressive, Melville.
By,Going back, to Melville's Childhood, Edinger, expertly, puts together, evidence, of , the traumatic, and startling, fall, from economic security, and comfort, to, a harsh, and ,uncaring ,world, of, semi-poverty.
Melville, Herman (1 Aug. 1819-28 Sept. 1891), novelist and poet, was born in New York City, the son of Allan Melvill (as the name was spelled), an importer of Parisian dry goods, and Maria Gansevoort. The Melvill family was connected to Scottish nobility; Maria was the daughter of General Peter Gansevoort, a hero of the American Revolution, and related to the Van Rensselaers and other Dutch families long dominant in upstate New York. Between 1815 and January 1830 eight children were born to the Melvills, all of whom lived to adulthood. At six Herman entered the New York Male High School; at nine he was enrolled in the Grammar School of Columbia College. After persistently borrowing from his father and his mother-in-law, Allan Melvill in 1827 was duped into a financial scheme that wiped out the rest of his wife's and his own prospective inheritances. In October 1830, eluding creditors, Melvill fled to Albany, where Maria's brother Peter got him work as a clerk; the trauma precipitated the death of old Mrs. Gansevoort.
From the end of 1831, when he was withdrawn from the Albany Academy, Herman's education was catch-as-catch-can. The sudden death of his father in January 1832 was followed that year by the death of his grandfather, the aged Thomas Melvill, a hero of the Boston Tea Party, and early in 1833 by the death of his Grandmother Melvill. The Melvilles (as they began spelling the name) were left in poverty. At twelve Herman was hired as a bank clerk for $150 a year; two years later his mother put him to work in his older brother Gansevoort's cap and fur store. Some years Herman was allowed to spend a week with his uncle Thomas at the Melvill farm south of Pittsfield, Massachusetts. The farm was Herman's "first love," a cousin later declared, and when he managed it in 1837, after his uncle went west to Illinois, he saw in the Berkshires an American paradise. Poorly educated himself, he taught that fall in a rural school nearby, but early in January 1838 he was back in Albany.
In May 1838 Maria Melville moved with six of her children to Lansingburgh, across the Hudson River, to live more cheaply. Herman took a course in surveying and engineering at the Lansingburgh Academy, but he was unable to find maintenance work on the Erie Canal. In May 1839 a Lansingburgh newspaper published his first known fiction, "Fragments from a Writing Desk." That summer he signed on a merchant ship bound for Liverpool (the basis for his Redburn), and that fall he taught at Greenbush, across the Hudson from Albany. The school proved unable to pay his salary, and late the next spring he taught briefly in Brunswick, near Troy. In June 1840 he traveled to Illinois hoping in vain that his uncle Thomas could find him work. After job-hunting in Manhattan, Herman and his brother Gansevoort went to the Massachusetts whaling ports. At Fairhaven Herman signed on the whaleship Acushnet, which set sail on 3 January 1841.
Edinger, Postulates, that ,Melville's, Father,[ who died ,whilst , Herman ,was ,still, a Boy,]contributed ,to, a 'Split', in, the Personality, of ,the Adult,writer.
He expounds , with, many ,examples, on, the' Breakdown ',of ,Herman Melville.
Melville, of course, was, unaware, of, Jungian Psychology!
Edinger, although ,supremely talented, as ,an ,Analyst, may, have missed, an, important detail.
Melville, smoked Marihuana!
Marihuana, has , as ,We ,all know, many ,different Names!
In, Melville's, day, most ,Ship's Ropes ,were ,made, of ?
.......HEMP!
A chapter in REDBURN, describes ,the scene, as, the sailors, of, the 'Highlander', having, bartered, or, sold , their, allowance, of, Tobacco,whilst, in ,Liverpool Dock, search, the Fo'castle, for, any ,'odds and ends' ,of, old Rope!...
This, is, then split, until ,the 'Heart', of, the Rope, was found, and, subsequently, Smoked!
The older, the Rope, the better. the Smoke!
Melville, was, a known ,Cigar smoker,in, his, latter years,[Mentioned, in ,Liverpool, US, Consul,Nathaniel Hawthorne's, Memoirs] it, is, reasonable, to assume, He, was, a Smoker, in ,His Youth.
[Moby Dick, is, dedicated, to, Hawthorne]
Nearly, all, His, later, works, show, an, 'Unconscious', inclusion, of, 'Drug', References.
Be, it ,Physical[Rolling Grasslands/Prairies] or, Metaphorical!
The Grand imagery, of , 'Moby Dick', much discussed, by,' Academia', in, countless Volumes, can, now, be seen, in, a slightly, different, Light!
I, see it, as, an attempt, to reconcile,' Archaic ' Content,['God-Symbols'] of, the 'Collective Unconscious', into, Consciousness.VIA,THE IMAGINATION.
MELVILLE, HAD,AN, ARGUMENT, WITH, GOD. THE PASTORAL,MILK,DRINKER,
WITNESSED, HIS, MOTHER'S,ANGST,AND,FINANCIAL,DESPERATION,AND, THIS, IN, TURN,MUST, HAVE, BEEN, COMPOUNDED, BY, A WELL MEANING, BUT, NAIVE, RELIGIOUS,INSTRUCTOR.
MELVILLE,I,POSTULATE,HAD, NOT, YET,FULLY,MATURED,....HIS,'PHALLIC JOKES',
ARE,THE RESULT, OF, EXPOSURE,TO,A, WORLD, OF, ALMOST,TOTAL, MASCULINITY,
[ABOARD SHIP]
AFTER, BEING, RAISED, IN, AN, ALMOST, TOTALLY,MATRIARCHAL,PASTORAL,ENVIRONMENT....[THREE SISTERS]
THE 'DMT', THAT,CANNABIS, CONTAINS, AFFECTS, THE PINEAL GLAND[THIRD EYE],
IN, THE HUMAN, BRAIN-CHEMICALLY, THE STRUCTURE, OF, 'DMT', IS, VERY, SIMILAR, TO, SERATONIN, AND, MELATONIN..[BOTH, OF, WHICH, AFFECT, MOOD, AND, IMAGINATION]...THE 'THIRD EYE', IS, ALSO, KNOWN, AS,THE 'AGNI CHAKRA'..
[LAMBS,SHEEP, ETC, FIND, FORM, IN, HIS, LATER WORK, 'THE CONFIDENCE MAN'..
BUT, IN, REDBURN, HIS ,DEPARTURE, FROM, PASTORAL,INNOCENCE, IS, WITNESSED, BY, A BLACK, 'GOAT FIGURE'..FROM, THE RUINS, OF, A NEW YORK,PUBLIC PARK,AS, HIS, SHIP, SAILS, FOR, LIVERPOOL]
I, THINK, MELVILLE, WAS, MILDLY, EPILEPTIC.MELVILLE,HAD,HIS,
'ARGUMENT WITH GOD'...
AND,UNCONSCIOUSLY,HIS, OWN,DEAD,FATHER.
MELVILLE, KNEW, THE BIBLE, ALMOST, BY, HEART.
THE BIBLE, OF, 19TH CENTURY, AMERICA, CONTAINED, THE 'APOCRYPHA',MID-SECTION,
NOT, OFTEN, SEEN, IN, MORE, MODERN, VERSIONS,,
THE 'BOOK OF MACCABEES', ETC.
THE BIBLE, OF, COURSE, CONTAINS, UNCONSCIOUS, CANNABIS, USAGE, SYMBOLISM.
THE CHARACTER, 'AHAB',BEARS, THE MARK,OF, AN ENCOUNTER, WITH, THE 'SELF'.
[OF, JUNGIAN THOUGHT]
HE, HAS, BEEN, 'STRUCK BY LIGHTENING'...
AND, APART, FROM, A MULTITUDE, OF, BIBLICAL,'LIGHTENING',REFERENCES, 'SATAN FALLING FROM HEAVEN,AS LIGHTENING', ETC, ETC..
THE LIGHTENING, ITSELF, NOW, BECOMES, THE AUTOCRATIC SYMBOL.
[IT,'ILLUMINATES', THE CHARACTERIZATIONS,AND, IS, THE CENTRAL, PIVOTAL,
SYMBOL, REPRESENTING, 'ENERGY'
'THE LIGHTENING ROD MAN',IS, A,LATER, SHORT STORY, BY,MELVILLE]
IN, MODERN MEDIA, PRODUCTIONS, 'HARRY POTTER', [THE LIGHTENING, IS, ON, THE FOREHEAD]...'ZIGGY STARDUST',[THE LIGHTENING ,STREAKS, ACROSS ,DAVID BOWIES, FACE,]ETC, ETC..
THE SAME SYMBOLISM, TAKES, DIFFERENT, 'FORM'...
FOR, THE LIGHTENING,IS, DIRECTLY, ATTRIBUTABLE, TO, CANNABIS/SATIVA.
[HINDU MYTHOLOGY,'THUNDER GODS', ETC]....
AND, THIS, IN, TURN, IS,
RELATED, TO,WHAT, I, CONSIDER, TWO, FACTORS.
1, AUDITORY DIS-FUNCTION/PARTIAL DEAFNESS
2, UNRESOLVED ANGER/GRIEF,SEVERE DEPRESSION, OVER, THE,LOSS,OF, A,LOVER/SOUL MATE.
I ,Postulate, that, Melville, a, ' Depressed Personality', with, all ,the Symptomology, of, a 'Split', or, 'Schizoid',Outlook, , and, 'Introvert', Attitude
[ a, Very, Serious, Studious, and, Well- Read, in ,many Subjects,Bible, etc Melville],
but ,Also, an Adventurous, and, Naturally, 'Athletic',Extrovert Personna!, was, Inordinately, and, Probably Unknowingly, affected, by, the 'Holy Plant of Shiva!'.
[SATIVA=SIVA, ETC, ALSO, KNOWN, AS, 'HOLY ANOINTING OIL', OF, JUDAISM..YES, THAT'S RIGHT! MARIJUANA, IS, IN, THE BIBLE, READ, IT, YOURSELF..]
...and,which, after smoking the weed, immediately found, 'Form', in, His, Writings.
The Chapter,[Princes Dock] about, 'An, Indian Trading Vessel, Mahogany Planked, smelling, of,' Eastern Spices', crewed, by, 'Lascars',[Who, also, make, an appearance, in,' Moby Dick', as, Ahab's 'Hidden Consorts] which berthed ,right next, to ,His ,own Ship, in, Liverpool's Princes Dock![with ample opportunity, to barter, trade, goods!] shows, the power, of, weed ,on, the imagination!
I, also ,Postulate, that, His, Description, of, the Old, 'Soger',... Jackson, was, in, fact, a, Psychic 'Projection', of, His ,own, Inner, 'Demon', onto, the Person, of ,the work-shy , though ,very able, Leading Sailor, of ,the 'Highlander'.
....................................................
While the men were settling away the halyards on deck, and before they had begun to haul out the reef-tackles, to the surprise of several, Jackson came up from the forecastle, and, for the first time in four weeks or more, took hold of a rope.
Like most seamen, who during the greater part of a voyage, have been off duty from sickness, he was, perhaps, desirous, just previous to entering port, of reminding the captain of his existence, and also that he expected his wages; but, alas! his wages proved the wages of sin.
At no time could he better signalize his disposition to work, than upon an occasion like the present; which generally attracts every soul on deck, from the captain to the child in the steerage.
His aspect was damp and death-like; the blue hollows of his eyes were like vaults full of snakes; and issuing so unexpectedly from his dark tomb in the forecastle, he looked like a man raised from the dead.
Before the sailors had made fast the reef-tackle, Jackson was tottering up the rigging; thus getting the start of them, and securing his place at the extreme weather-end of the topsail-yard—which in reefing is accounted the post of honor. For it was one of the characteristics of this man, that though when on duty he would shy away from mere dull work in a calm, yet in tempest-time he always claimed the van, and would yield it to none; and this, perhaps, was one cause of his unbounded dominion over the men.
Soon, we were all strung along the main-topsail-yard; the ship rearing and plunging under us, like a runaway steed; each man gripping his reef-point, and sideways leaning, dragging the sail over toward Jackson, whose business it was to confine the reef corner to the yard.
His hat and shoes were off; and he rode the yard-arm end, leaning backward to the gale, and pulling at the earing-rope, like a bridle. At all times, this is a moment of frantic exertion with sailors, whose spirits seem then to partake of the commotion of the elements, as they hang in the gale, between heaven and earth; and then it is, too, that they are the most profane.
"Haul out to windward!" coughed Jackson, with a blasphemous cry, and he threw himself back with a violent strain upon the bridle in his hand. But the wild words were hardly out of his mouth, when his hands dropped to his side, and the bellying sail was spattered with a torrent of blood from his lungs.
As the man next him stretched out his arm to save, Jackson fell headlong from the yard, and with a long seethe, plunged like a diver into the sea.
It was when the ship had rolled to windward, which, with the long projection of the yard-arm over the side, made him strike far out upon the water. His fall was seen by the whole upward-gazing crowd on deck, some of whom were spotted with the blood that trickled from the sail, while they raised a spontaneous cry, so shrill and wild, that a blind man might have known something deadly had happened.
Clutching our reef-points, we hung over the stick, and gazed down to the one white, bubbling spot, which had closed over the head of our shipmate; but the next minute it was brewed into the common yeast of the waves, and Jackson never arose. We waited a few minutes, expecting an order to descend, haul back the fore-yard, and man the boat; but instead of that, the next sound that greeted us was, "Bear a hand, and reef away, men!" from the mate.
Indeed, upon reflection, it would have been idle to attempt to save Jackson; for besides that he must have been dead, ere he struck the sea—and if he had not been dead then, the first immersion must have driven his soul from his lacerated lungs —our jolly-boat would have taken full fifteen minutes to launch into the waves.
And here it should be said, that the thoughtless security in which too many sea-captains indulge, would, in case of some sudden disaster befalling the Highlander, have let us all drop into our graves.
The most prominent theme of Redburn is the confrontation between innocence and corruption, as the inexperienced Redburn faces first the depraved evil embodied by Jackson and then the institutionalized evil responsible for the poverty and destitution the boy encounters in Liverpool and on the return voyage. Redburn must come to terms with both, according to Michael Davitt Bell, who summarizes one of the novel's central problems: “If Redburn's naive moral and religious scruples are challenged by the depravity of Jackson, so his naive reverence for authority, his identification with the ruling class, finally succumbs to his discovery of the evil perpetrated upon the masses in the name of authority.”
Another important theme in Redburn involves the loss of the father. Charles Haberstroh insists that “the prevailing psychological patterns in Melville's fiction” reveal the author's “almost bottomless sadness over being cut adrift from his father.” Redburn's futile efforts to retrace his father's steps in Liverpool appear to be part of that longing for the comfort and safety he felt when his father was still alive.
Christian brotherhood is also a thematic concern in the novel. Elmer R. Pry has explored this feature of Redburn, claiming that the novel's meaning inheres in the main character's failure to honor his brotherly obligations to Harry Bolton. By linking the two characters through the many parallels in their lives, Pry states, “Melville creates them as counterparts, as ‘brothers’ in a figurative and a Christian sense, then shows us Redburn's rejection of his brother.”
There are a number of important symbols in the novel, including the miniature glass ship in the family sitting room that apparently inspired Redburn as a child to seek a life at sea. Significantly, several of the little glass ropes and spars have broken and the tiny glass sailor that serves as a figurehead has fallen off the ship. Redburn's sisters reveal that this last mishap occurred on the day their brother began his first voyage. Another symbol is Redburn's clothing, particularly his elegant moleskin shooting jacket, initially a mark of his status as a gentleman's son. As it becomes smaller and smaller each time it gets wet, the jacket becomes more and more inappropriate as protection from the elements aboard ship. It then serves as an emblem not only of Redburn's lost status as a member of the privileged class but also as a symbol of his poor preparation for a life of manual labor at sea. A third significant symbol is his father's guidebook to Liverpool, which is hopelessly outdated and leads Redburn to buildings that have been demolished, suggesting the inability of the absent father to provide guidance and direction.
Did ,Marihuana, coupled, with mild, Schizophrenia/Bi-Polar Illness, create, One, of, the World's, most respected works, of ,Literature?
There, is ,much, Dark Imagery, in, all ,Melville's, works, but, perhaps, the
Darkest, comes, in 'Moby Dick', in ,the form, of the, 'Blood Ceremonial', of, the Harpooneers?
Perhaps, He ,eventually, found, the 'Light', in ,the End Chapter, of ,Another work.. 'The Confidence Man?'
where, quite literally, it, is all, that,is left, .....a 'Lamp', in, the Gloom.....
This,same, 'LAMP', Symbolism, is, also, used, by, GEORGE ORWELL, in, 'Homage to Catalonia'....
[Orwell, in, the Spanish Civil War, must, have, smoked, Cannabis]
And, of, course, 'ALADDIN', and, His,Lamp, are, well, known, in, Story-telling.
What ,was, REDBURN? another, 'Humorous', attempt, by Melville, to, disguise, His,' Hallucinatory Experiences?'..
another, 'Phallic Joke?', or, a, Very Real, attempt, to, 'Transcend', reality?....
http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Redburn._His_First_Voyage
Today, is ,New Years Eve. I ,will, be, near, Princes Dock, when the Clock strikes 12! Happy New Year!
I , will think, of ,the Genius, who came, to, My Town,... just, as, I, am, also, thinking ,of ,others, ...Old Friends, Marihuana Smokers, some Alive, some Dead, who really, did not understand , the Power! of, Entheogens!
A Friend, with, Weed? a Friend?.. Indeed?
take 'er easy! Why, not, make, a New Year, Resolution?
BE YOURSELF!,
Leave the Weed alone, for a while, see what transpires......
ALIVE AND KICKING!
R.I. P. PETE BURNS, MUSICIAN, TRANSVESTITE, AND, FELLOW, SCOUSER.
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