The rarer quest

[Hardeman]

It has been a year since Scott posed for this list, “What do you make of Clarel's "rarer quest"? Other than my conjecture, a deadly silence has been the reply.

 Considering the current  monumental divisions  building throughout the world, one would suppose Melville’s symbolic quest in Clarel , created in response to a similarly divided American epoch, would inspire reflections in his current  admirers.

I trust it will not seem invidious to make comparisons with our own time to truly feel empathy for Herman’s actions as an accused misogynist and Christian heretic,  Or at least for the suffering of those Melvilleans who say it isn't so. Philip Weiss’s “Herman-Neutics” is an excellent summation of the attitudes dividing scholars in dealing with Melville’s image. https://www.nytimes.com/1996/12/15/magazine/herman-neutics.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm

Considering that the current leading candidate for the Presidency mouths misogynistic diatribes against powerful women and exhibits unChristian values that would have branded anyone else as a heretic, comprehending our feelings in response offers a powerful insight into what are the real values we trust to judge others, living and dead.

There is no quest rarer than seeking the source of one's suffering within oneself.