SOURCE: Schroeter, James. “Redburn and the Failure of Mythic Criticism.” American Literature 39, no. 3 (November 1967): 279-97.

In the following essay, Schroeter discusses the limitations of the mythic, initiation into evil interpretation of Redburn, claiming that there are important elements of tone and structure within the novel that undercut such an interpretation.

The usual critical opinion of Redburn is that it is a gloomy book. Some recent critics, including William Gilman and Edward Rosenberry, have pointed out comic elements in it, and when the book first appeared it was praised mainly for its “freshness” and “humor.” But ever since the Melville revival of the twenties, the critics, perhaps because they were trying to stress that the book ought to be taken seriously, have been calling it a “dark” book, a “bitter” book, a self-pitying book, a tragedy of some kind, or a reflection of Melville's own misery.¹ Commenting on the...