Great Literature in Different Packages: Moby-Dick

Moby Dick by Herman Melville. Armed Services Edition
New York : Council on Books in Wartime, 1944
AC 1 .A7 G-209

Moby Dick Comic. Authorized Edition
New York : Dell Pub. Co., 1956.
Hoole Library Harold E. Selesky Comic Collection

On November 14, 1851, one hundred and sixty years ago this week, the great American novel Moby-Dick was first published in a single volume in the United States by Harper and Brothers.

Though the novel had very limited success during Melville's lifetime and beyond (he died in 1891), it stands today as part of the Western canon, and one of the most important American novels.

The "Melville Revival" began around the time of World War I, when the novel found new relevance in the wake of the Modernist movement. The book continues to speak to readers, with complex metaphors representing good and evil, power, and class. Literary critic Nick Selby said, "Moby-Dick was now read as a text that reflected the power struggles of a world concerned to uphold democracy, and of a country seeking an identity for itself within that world."

These two examples of Moby-Dick shown here represent interesting examples of the rethinking and repackaging of great American literature. The first, an example of an Armed Services Edition, offers a compact version of the novel to American servicemen. These small paperbacks were distributed widely during World War II and exposed soldiers to a variety of great works of both the 19th and 20th centuries, along with a variety of other materials. The Hoole Library holds nearly a complete collection of Armed Services editions, one of the most complete collections held in libraries.

The second image is the cover of the 1956 Dell comic edition of Moby-Dick, based on the 1956 film starring Gregory Peck (best known by fans great Alabama literature as the beloved Atticus Finch in the film version of Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird) as the tyrannical Captain Ahab. Though this is a far cry from Melville's dense prose, it is a welcome introduction to the great American authors, perhaps inspiring children to take the leap from comics to great American Literature! But there is room for every form and interpretation of this epic tale.

Harper Lee Postscript: The Understatement of the Century

This detail from the "Little Nelle" Heads Ram... article posted earlier this week merits a second look. And write a book she did.... It was awarded the Pulitzer Prize 47 years ago today.

Of birthdays, Campus Humor Magazines, and the Pulitzer Prize!

One of the most beloved Alabamians and University of Alabama alums has a birthday this week - Happy Birthday, Harper Lee! And it was 47 years ago this week that she received quite a birthday present -- the Pulitzer Prize in Letters for her novel (and one of the most read and beloved books of the 20th century), To Kill a Mockingbird.

What many people don't know about Ms. Lee is that she got her literary start right on The University of Alabama campus as a columnist and editor. In 1946, she served as the editor of The University of Alabama's humor magazine, Rammer Jammer. The UA Libraries have started to digitize the Rammer Jammer , with some of the earliest issues available here with more to come!

The images featured here are from three of the major University of Alabama student publications -- an article from the Crimson White ("Little Nelle" Heads Ram, Maps Lee's Strategy") which appeared in the October 8, 1946 edition; a page from the 1947 yearbook, the Corolla (which are also being digitized as part of the Corolla Digital Initiative -- did you know that you can sponsor a Corolla and make it available online! ); and Rammer Jammer, the UA humor magazine which was published from the mid-1920s through the mid-1960s -- it later became known as Mahout.


All of these publications are housed at the Hoole Special Collections Library (of course!) and are very, very cool -- and now some of them are available online, which is also very cool indeed. But we all know who is the coolest -- and we wish her a very Happy Birthday!

Congratulations Harper Lee!

A very special congratulations to beloved native daughter, University of Alabama alum, and friend to the UA Libraries, Nelle Harper Lee. On November 5, 2007, Ms. Lee was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian award. The image here is from a January 2006 NY Times article by Ginia Bellafante on the To Kill a Mockingbird High School Essay Contest sponsored by UA's Honors College. The photograph was taken in the lobby of the Hoole Library (and features my arm along with Ms. Lee's visage!). Note the Tiffany stained glass window in the background. (photo by Dana Mixer for the NY Times -http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/30/books/30lee.html)

Ms. Lee was honored along with Gary S. Becker, an economist and 1992 Nobel Prize winner; Oscar Elías Bisce, a human rights advocate imprisoned in Cuba; Francis S. Collins, director of the National Human Genome Research Institute; Benjamin L. Hooks, former executive director of the NAACP; Illinois Republican Henry J. Hyde; and President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf of Liberia, first woman elected president of an African nation.

Ms. Lee attended The University of Alabama from 1945-1949. Her novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, received the Pulitzer Prize in 1960 and it continues to captivate the minds and hearts of people all over the world. Several editions of To Kill a Mockingbird are of course included in the Hoole Library's Alabama Collection.

From the vaults -- past events and exhibits at Hoole

This time of year brings to mind some cool film screenings we did in 2001, 2002, and 2003 at the Bama Theater in downtown Tuscaloosa right around Halloween.

In 2001, we screened the 1956 film The Bad Seed, which was based on the creepy novel by William March -- whose papers are at Hoole! In 2002, we screened the 1967 film, In Cold Blood, which was based on Truman Capote's stellar book on a quadruple homicide in rural Kansas -- which he researched with his childhood friend and fellow Monroeville, Alabamian, Harper Lee. In 2003, we screened the 1955 semidocumentary film, The Phenix City Story, which was shot in Phenix City not long after the crime took place that was the subject of the film. All three films were introduced by scholars from UA and beyond that added an interesting and unique perspective to the film itself. To read about the events and exhibits that the Hoole Library has done in the past several years, visit http://www.lib.ua.edu/libraries/hoole/happenings/pastexhibitions.htm

And tune in next year... it may be time again for another cool and creepy film event!