The Confidence-Man

[Phil Walsh]

After years of avoiding it, I finally got around to reading the
Confidence-Man. I enjoyed it very much, and plat to re-read it soon.

One side note is how much reading tastes and habits have apparently
changed--some reviewers, even in the early 20th century, found the book
unreadable and/or unintelligible. On first read, it's not nearly as
dense as some Melville, e.g. Moby-Dick.

Also: today (August 1) is the 197th anniversary of Melville's birth.
Happy birthday, Herman.

--Phil Walsh

[Stephen Hoy]

It would be great to learn what you make of it as you re-read it. Please share if you have time & inclination.

---

From: Phil Walsh
Sent: ‎8/‎1/‎2016 1:49 PM
To: ishma...@googlegroups.com
Subject: The Confidence-Man

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[Hardeman]

Phil,

You once replied to my 02/16/2007 posting “Not wholly unsurmised Antonyms” with “Not incompletely unsurprisingly, I took no small displeasure in your note. I do not doubt that I will want not to neglect reading it through again less unattentively, so as to less fleetingly perceive what was said, or, what was not left unimplied.”

That was before you read the Confidence-Man. Now after reading it, I wonder if you have an insights into why Melville used litotes so extensively in a work illustrating how people are conned.

From my original posting;

“Melville's ambiguous storm of negative antonyms color the CM with
challenges to the reader's reality;
not distrust
not wholly unobnoxious
not unlike
not unfrequently  (sic)
not wholly unaffected
not unlikely
Not alone unconsciousness
I was not wholly mistaken
though not used to be very indiscreet, yet, being not entirely inhumane

remained not entirely unmoved.
not over ardent, and yet not exactly inappropriate,
not altogether unbecomingly
not wholly without self-reproach
not wholly unlike pride out of place
not unsusceptible to goodness,
not improbably
not unaware
not untouched
not dissimilar
not unsilvery tongue
not now unprepossessed
not a little
not unlike a sermon
not indelicately
not unused
not unfamiliar
not unmoved
not improbably
not undesirable
not unpathetically
not unfitly
not unflattering
not ungraceful
not entirely undisturbed
not without likelihood
not improbably
not unamiably
not seldom
not uncongenial;
not wholly unsurmised
not wholly without the efficacy of a devout sentiment
not displeased
not impolitely
not wholly inadapted (sic)
not unimportant
not unwilling
not unrefined
not have misbecome
not unprovided
not unangelic
not unrelieved
not, in a meditative way, unimproved
not unreservedly
not undistressing
not uninteresting
not unperturbed”

Offered "not without displeasure" remembering the exchanges of those times,

Hardeman

[Phil Walsh]

Chapters 1 and 2 serve as introduction.
Some key points:
* the action takes place on April Fools Day
* we meet a lamb-like stranger in white. He is mute, deaf, and seemingly innocent of malice or ill-will
* we are told about a crowd of passengers who are reading a description of a “mysterious impostor", a stranger-from-the-east (a description which also fits the lamb-like stranger in white, and we are left wondering why none of the people reading the placard seem to consider whether the man-in-white is the mysterious impostor)
* in response to passengers reading the description of the impostor, the stranger-in-white repeatedly writes on and displays a slate, quoting verses from 1 Corinthians 13 and basically exhorting the passengers to practice "Charity" in all its forms
* we meet a barber who, we are pointedly told, hangs out a sign announcing 'No Trust’

Things that a reader may be scratching their head about at the end of these two chapters:

** how are we to feel about the lamb-like man? Is he hero or villain?
Just at a point where we feel like we may gain a little insight into his character, our author/narrator goes out of his way to obfuscate: the stranger has made his way to the front of the crowd in order to read the placard. How has he behaved as he moved through the passengers? “As, in gaining his place, some little perseverance, not to say persistence, of a mildly inoffensive sort, had been unavoidable…”

So he has behaved toward his fellow man in a "mildly inoffensive" way. What does that mean? I could parse this sentence successfully with multiple other constructions:

offensive: he was rude
inoffensive: he was polite
not offensively: polite
not inoffensively: rude
mildly offensive: slightly rude

But “mildly inoffensive” does not parse. At first appearance you’d think it was simply the antonym of “mildly offensive.” "Mildly offensive" is “slightly rude,” so “mildly inoffensive” must just be … “slightly not-rude”? “Slightly polite?” “Kind-of not rudely”? None of these things actually make sense, at least not to me.

At this point in the narrative the crowd responds rudely to the stranger. Is their behavior justified? Since we don’t know whether or not the stranger behaved rudely, I can’t decide what to make of the crowd’s response to him.

** What should we believe about the “mysterious impostor” on the wanted poster? Is he on board? Should we be watching for him?

** What are we to make of the fact that the crowd jeers the man-in-white for exhorting them to practice Charity, but they do not bat an eyelash when the barber hangs up his sign announcing “No Trust”?

** What has happened to the man-in-white by the end of Chapter 2?
The last we see of him, he has fallen asleep at the foot of (Jacob’s?) ladder. The last we hear of him beyond that is “By-and-by—-two or three random stoppages having been made, and the last transient memory of the slumberer vanished, and he himself, not unlikely waked up and landed ere now—“. More vagueness. Has he really gone ashore, to be seen no more? Or will we see him again, in a different guise?

[I’m reminded of the opening passages of Benito Cereno, where Captain Delano looks out on the vista surrounding him and everything he sees is shrouded in haze.]

—Phil Walsh

[Phil Walsh]

Dear Hardeman,

re: litotes, I will pay more attention to them as I go through the book again. In other of Melville's works I've considered litotes a literary tic, something Melville is partial to but not particularly significant beyond that. But now I'm trying to be more alert to when he uses them, and whether he might be deliberately introducing ambiguity with them.

Thanks for the reminder that we've been back-and-forth over these dunes for a number of years now. It's oddly pleasing to me.

Phil

[Ffrangcon Lewis]

Hello Ishmailites, wherever you are!

This exchange between two of the group offers a chance to interrupt, not, I hope, entirely discourteously.  The extensive use of litotes is intriguing, and seems to me a way of seeding the question of confidence cumulatively throughout the reading of the text;  and is integrally linked too with the questions as to whether a reader understands the various avatars of the Confidence Man, and the concept of cosmopolitanism, positively or negatively.  As the name suggests, the rhetorical technique goes back to classical times, and may therefore be attractive to Melville for what he elsewhere terms his devotion to the 'archetype'.  I think there are other aspects, too.  One is the effect of conventional urbanity in conversation:  in using litotes almost habitually, one is signaling a wish to be moderate, to propitiate one's auditor, to anticipate and pre-empt a possible objection to uncivilized exaggeration or disproportionate utterance.  Such a usage is perhaps especially significant aboard a Mississippi steamboat.  Does it indicate a satirical contrast with an impatient frontier forthrightness, or does it parody a conventionally overdone effort to emulate genteel society.  Another, and perhaps more strategic, possibility is that litotes used extensively begins to mark out a territory of uncertainty:  does a specific usage indicate a merely slight hint of the what the positive expression would display, or does its very oblique construction insidiously insist upon that positivity?  'Not unlike a sermon', for example, may suggest both a faint resemblance or an embarrassingly strong likeness.  The result may be to force a provisional and queasy 'confidence' on the reader who is no longer able to bank on a supposedly secure sense of the currency of social interaction, but has to participate in a permanently uncertain and ambiguously changing human environment.  Allied to this unhinging of the reader's preconceptions is perhaps a deeper investigation of the political and metaphysical implications of 'cosmopolitanism', whether Kantian philosophy or nineteenth century American social mobility.  Certainly, to be constantly in motion but yet uncertain of our destination seems not wholly unfamiliar to many of our twenty-first century transactions.

Sorry for this long, uninvited response:  put it down to nostalgia perhaps?

Best wishes,

Ffrangcon Lewis

[Phil Walsh]

Dear Ffrangcon,

Thanks very much for this. Especially

> one is signaling a wish to be moderate, to propitiate one's auditor, to anticipate and pre-empt a possible objection to uncivilized exaggeration or disproportionate utterance

and

> The result may be to force a provisional and queasy 'confidence' on the reader who is no longer able to bank on a supposedly secure sense of the currency of social interaction

Those expansions on the (possible) implications of litotes are very illuminating to me.

With no small gratitude for the help,

—Phil

[Phil Walsh]

Maybe a litote wasn’t the best way to close this note after including the quotes that I did.
Thanks for the help, Ffrangcon, I appreciate it.

—Phil

[Ffrangcon Lewis]

Hello Phil,

                Thanks for your kind reply:  I thought your use of litotes just the thing!  What we both seem to be feeling is that Melville's recurring use of the device is a kind of miniature version of the ambiguously playful flickering of the characters as a whole and the sequence of 'disguises' of the confidence-man.  The reader is ushered into a world of certain uncertainties and uncertain certainties.  Thanks to you for making me reconsider what made some of Melville's reviewers react as they did.

Best wishes,

Ffrangcon Lewis

On Sunday, August 7, 2016 4:56 PM, Phil Walsh <pj...@netins.net> wrote:

Maybe a litote wasn’t the best way to close this note after including the quotes that I did.
Thanks for the help, Ffrangcon, I appreciate it.

—Phil

> On Aug 7, 2016, at 10:48 AM, Phil Walsh <pj...@netins.net> wrote:
>
> Dear Ffrangcon,
>
> Thanks very much for this. Especially
>
>> one is signaling a wish to be moderate, to propitiate one's auditor, to anticipate and pre-empt a possible objection to uncivilized exaggeration or disproportionate utterance
>
> and
>
>> The result may be to force a provisional and queasy 'confidence' on the reader who is no longer able to bank on a supposedly secure sense of the currency of social interaction
>
> Those expansions on the (possible) implications of litotes are very illuminating to me.
>
> With no small gratitude for the help,
>
> —Phil
>
>
> --
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[Hardeman]

Welcome back Ffrangcon,

It is a joy to hear from Ffrancon, the past source of many inspirations. I trust that you will allow some observations to “mark out a territory of uncertainty” Ffrancon clearly outlined.  Amplifying upon, “The result may be to force a provisional and queasy 'confidence' on the reader who is no longer able to bank on a supposedly secure sense of the currency of social interaction, but has to participate in a permanently uncertain and ambiguously changing human environment,” I would add it may have been Melville's intention to create a “gospel” enlightening his readers to the sense that our own perceived reality is the source of all confidence and all uncertainty. .

Considering litotes as a method of enlightenment. There is the theory proposed by psychology that the unconscious mind uses images and does not register negations. Thus all negative concepts are a conscious process requiring the attachment of values by the user upon an image. Shakespeare understood this “I never was, nor never will be false” where the speaker, Stanley, uses “nor” rather than “or” perhaps hiding his unconscious intention. Shakespeare understood before it became a theory the use of “nor never” reveals a conscious manipulation. So he has Richard respond to Stanley, “leave behind your son George Stanley. Look your heart be firm. Or else his head’s assurance is but frail.” Richard knows that negated will is false because emotions make our decisions despite our denial .

Melville being a close reader of Shakespeare may have gained the same insight.

“This coin speaks wisely, mildly, truly, but still sadly to me. I

will quit it, lest Truth shake me falsely."

Hardeman

[Gordon Poole]

Hello, guys!

                Gordon Poole

 

Da: ishma...@googlegroups.com [mailto:ishma...@googlegroups.com] Per conto di Hardeman
Inviato: lunedì 8 agosto 2016 01:22
A: Ishmailites
Cc: ffrangc...@yahoo.com
Oggetto: Re: The Confidence-Man

--

[Ros’ Haruo]

Ciao! Come stai?

Leland Bryant Ross aka Ros' Haruo (呂須•春男)
Delegito en Seattle, Universala Esperanto-Asocio
My Hymn Blog | Mia Himna Blogo — The Seattle Esperanto Society
Sankta Harmonio (formnotacia libro plurlingva) — Biblioteko Culbert

On Mon, Aug 8, 2016 at 4:08 PM, 'Gordon Poole' via Ishmailites <ishma...@googlegroups.com> wrote:

Hello, guys!

                Gordon Poole

 

Da: ishma...@googlegroups.com [mailto:ishmailites@googlegroups.com] Per conto di Hardeman

Inviato: lunedì 8 agosto 2016 01:22
A: Ishmailites
Cc: ffrangc...@yahoo.com
Oggetto: Re: The Confidence-Man

 

Welcome back Ffrangcon,

It is a joy to hear from Ffrancon, the past source of many inspirations. I trust that you will allow some observations to “mark out a territory of uncertainty” Ffrancon clearly outlined.  Amplifying upon, “The result may be to force a provisional and queasy 'confidence' on the reader who is no longer able to bank on a supposedly secure sense of the currency of social interaction, but has to participate in a permanently uncertain and ambiguously changing human environment,” I would add it may have been Melville's intention to create a “gospel” enlightening his readers to the sense that our own perceived reality is the source of all confidence and all uncertainty. .

Considering litotes as a method of enlightenment. There is the theory proposed by psychology that the unconscious mind uses images and does not register negations. Thus all negative concepts are a conscious process requiring the attachment of values by the user upon an image. Shakespeare understood this “I never was, nor never will be false” where the speaker, Stanley, uses “nor” rather than “or” perhaps hiding his unconscious intention. Shakespeare understood before it became a theory the use of “nor never” reveals a conscious manipulation. So he has Richard respond to Stanley, “leave behind your son George Stanley. Look your heart be firm. Or else his head’s assurance is but frail.” Richard knows that negated will is false because emotions make our decisions despite our denial .

Melville being a close reader of Shakespeare may have gained the same insight.

“This coin speaks wisely, mildly, truly, but still sadly to me. I

will quit it, lest Truth shake me falsely."

Hardeman

 

 

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[Ffrangcon Lewis]

Molto bene!

Ffrangcon Lewis

On Tuesday, August 9, 2016 4:00 AM, Ros’ Haruo <rosh...@gmail.com> wrote:

Ciao! Come stai?

Leland Bryant Ross aka Ros' Haruo (呂須•春男)
Delegito en Seattle, Universala Esperanto-Asocio
My Hymn Blog | Mia Himna Blogo — The Seattle Esperanto Society
Sankta Harmonio (formnotacia libro plurlingva) — Biblioteko Culbert

On Mon, Aug 8, 2016 at 4:08 PM, 'Gordon Poole' via Ishmailites <ishma...@googlegroups.com> wrote:

Hello, guys!

                Gordon Poole

 

Da: ishma...@googlegroups.com [mailto:mailto:ishma...@googlegroups.com] Per conto di Hardeman

Inviato: lunedì 8 agosto 2016 01:22
A: Ishmailites
Cc: ffrangc...@yahoo.com
Oggetto: Re: The Confidence-Man

 

Welcome back Ffrangcon,

It is a joy to hear from Ffrancon, the past source of many inspirations. I trust that you will allow some observations to “mark out a territory of uncertainty” Ffrancon clearly outlined.  Amplifying upon, “The result may be to force a provisional and queasy 'confidence' on the reader who is no longer able to bank on a supposedly secure sense of the currency of social interaction, but has to participate in a permanently uncertain and ambiguously changing human environment,” I would add it may have been Melville's intention to create a “gospel” enlightening his readers to the sense that our own perceived reality is the source of all confidence and all uncertainty. .

Considering litotes as a method of enlightenment. There is the theory proposed by psychology that the unconscious mind uses images and does not register negations. Thus all negative concepts are a conscious process requiring the attachment of values by the user upon an image. Shakespeare understood this “I never was, nor never will be false” where the speaker, Stanley, uses “nor” rather than “or” perhaps hiding his unconscious intention. Shakespeare understood before it became a theory the use of “nor never” reveals a conscious manipulation. So he has Richard respond to Stanley, “leave behind your son George Stanley. Look your heart be firm. Or else his head’s assurance is but frail.” Richard knows that negated will is false because emotions make our decisions despite our denial .

Melville being a close reader of Shakespeare may have gained the same insight.

“This coin speaks wisely, mildly, truly, but still sadly to me. I

will quit it, lest Truth shake me falsely."

Hardeman

 

 

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[Gordon Poole]

Dear Ffrangcon:

Benone!

                Ciao,

Gordon

 

Da: 'Ffrangcon Lewis' via Ishmailites [mailto:ishma...@googlegroups.com]
Inviato: martedì 9 agosto 2016 11:00
A: ishma...@googlegroups.com
Oggetto: Re: The Confidence-Man

[Ffrangcon Lewis]

Pronto!  Come sta, Gordon?

Ciao/Hwyl,

Ffrangcon

[Gordon Poole]

Dear Ff:

                I told you; “Benone!”

Hwyl,

                Gg

 

Da: 'Ffrangcon Lewis' via Ishmailites [mailto:ishma...@googlegroups.com]
Inviato: mercoledì 10 agosto 2016 21:04
A: ishma...@googlegroups.com
Oggetto: Re: R: The Confidence-Man

[Ffrangcon Lewis]

Dear Gg,

              Grazie mille!

Ciao,

Ff