About this episode

The episode discusses Herman Melville's novella 'Billy Budd, Sailor' and its themes of existential dread and morality.

Herman Melville's Novella Billy Budd, Sailor was not published until 1924, thirty-three years after his death. The literary world was in the midst of the Melville revival, suggesting that his themes of existential dread, guilt and innocence, right and wrong, and the conflict between what is good verses what is allowed had become salient to readers in the 1920s. The lads find it to be an absolute masterpiece: delightful in it's language, haunting in its human insight. We have a Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/c/upper_middle_brow And a Discord server!https://discord.gg/h734EZ3hBU Join us!

People in this episode

Host: Upper Middlebrow

Topics covered

• Herman Melville
• Billy Budd
• existential dread
• guilt and innocence
• literary analysis

Mentioned in this episode

Books & works: Billy Budd, Sailor

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