Revue Française d'Etudes

Américaines

Melville’s Black Whale

Viola Sachs

Résumé
La Baleine Noire de Melville
Comment expliquer le changement du titre de l'édition américaine de l'ouvrage de Melville par rapport à l'édition anglaise
publiée à peine trois semaines plus tôt ? Pourquoi La Baleine acquiert-elle un nom pour devenir Moby-Dick ; or, The Whale ?
De nombreux indices de ce livre initiatique qui foisonne d'erreurs intentionnelles font penser que Melville aurait eu des raisons
profondes. Moby-Dick est en réalité une baleine noire et non blanche, une baleine franche et non un cachalot, ce qui a des
implications fondamentales pour l'identité de la jeune nation américaine.

Citer ce document / Cite this document :

Sachs Viola. Melville’s Black Whale. In: Revue Française d'Etudes Américaines, N°50, novembre 1991. Herman Melville. pp.
401-408;

doi : https://doi.org/10.3406/rfea.1991.1443

https://www.persee.fr/doc/rfea_0397-7870_1991_num_50_1_1443

Fichier pdf généré le 10/04/2018

 Melville's Black Whale

(Viola SACHS)
Université Paris VIII

La Baleine Noire de Melville

Comment expliquer le changement du titre de l'édition américaine de l'ouvrage de
Melville par rapport à l'édition anglaise publiée à peine trois semaines plus tôt ?
Pourquoi La Baleine acquiert-elle un nom pour devenir Moby-Dick ; or, The Whale ?
De nombreux indices de ce livre initiatique qui foisonne d'erreurs intentionnelles
font penser que Melville aurait eu des raisons profondes. Moby-Dick est en réalité
une baleine noire et non blanche, une baleine franche et non un cachalot, ce qui a
des implications fondamentales pour l'identité de la jeune nation américaine.

A close scrutiny of the description of the Sperm Whale and the

Right Whale in Melville's « Cetology » led me to argue (Sachs 1980)
that Moby Dick was a Black Whale. The absence of the word
White in the title of the American edition, Moby-Dick; or, The
Whale, is highly significant. It belongs to the hidden pattern of
minus one — the apparent one being « minus one leg » — which
runs throughout the book.
The proof-page of the first version of the title of the American
edition has survived and is reproduced on the back of the North-
western-Newberry edition (Hayford, 1988). The title, identical to
that of the English edition The Whale, published in London three
weeks earlier by Richard Bentley, shows that Melville changed the
title in the final stage of the printing of the American edition.
Moreover, the typographical disposition of the words in the title —
page reproduced in the Penguin Edition (Beaver 1984) evokes the
outline of a coffin (see figure 1), so important a theme and word in

REVUE FRANÇAISE D'ÉTUDES AMÉRICAINES

402 VIOLA SACHS

the text. This all the more confirms that Melville gave thought to
the title of the American edition. In my opinion, he wished the
editions to stand for the respective countries they were published
in. The Whale would symbolize England while Moby-Dick : or, The
Whale the USA.
In the present article, I wish to argue that not only is Moby-
Dick a Black Whale but also a Right Whale instead of a Sperm
Whale, and show the implications of this for the identity of the
young nation.
The gold figure of a Right Whale adorns the spine of the three-
volume English edition, a mistake usually attributed to the
English editor. On the basis of a close reading of the original
American edition, I advance the hypothesis that this error was
intentional on Melville's part, that most probably he sent a picture
of a Right Whale to figure on the spine of the English edition and
that Bentley had it impressed without realizing what was going
on.
The Sperm Whale, so repeatedly mentioned in the text, is
presented in a vague and joking way in the famous chapter
« Cetology » :
Book I. (Folio), Chapter 1 (Sperm Whale). — This whale, among
the English of old vaguely known as the Trumpa whale, and the
Physeter whale, is the present Cachalot of the French, and the
Pottsfich of the Germans, and the Macrocephalus of the Long
Words (p. 184) \
The name « Trumpa Whale » belongs to Melville's coinings.
According to Feidelson it might come « from " tromp " (Old French
trompe) referring to his spout. » Yet the insistence on different
languages, the mistake in the German name « Pottsfich » instead
of Pottfisch which places the accent on the personal pronoun I —
ich, hint that names conceal translinguistic puns which Melville is
so fond of. Trumpa suggests the French tromper, to cheat and
« Cachalot » a play on French cache meaning to hide (the -e being
a mute letter, there is no difference in pronunciation) and the
English « a lot ». In other words, the Sperm Whale cheats and
hides a lot. The fake translation from English into French and
back into English in « The Pequod Meets the Rose-Bud » contains
the second of the three instances in the narration of the French
name for the Sperm Whale. It is preceded by one of Stubb's
concoctions of names for the French ship — « Bouton-de-Rose-bud »
— which contains both the French and English name : Bouton-de-
rose and Rose-bud. The proximity of a reference to creation (« how

N° 50 - NOVEMBRE 1991
 MELVILLE'S BLACK WHALE 403

like all creation it smells ») suggests that this translinguistic game

might be essential to Melville's creation/Creation, Moby-Dick :
« Well, then, my Bouton-de-Rose bud, have you seen the White
Whale ? »
« What whale ? »
« The White Whale — a Sperm Whale — Moby-Dick, have ye
seen him ? »
« Never heard of such a whale. Cachalot Blanche ! White Whale
— no. » (517-18).

The precision in the « designations » of the Right Whale

with the vagueness, mistakes and joking tone used for the
Sperm Whale :
Book I. (Folio), Chapter II. (Right Whale).
... Among the fishermen, he is indiscriminately designated by all
the following titles : The Whale ; the Greenland Whale ; the
Black Whale; the Great Whale; the True Whale; the Right
Whale. (185)

The use of a capital letter for the definite article in the

« The Whale » which does not occur in the other five names,
the word « titles » that precedes it point to a relation with « The
Whale » in the title of the American edition, Moby-Dick : or, The
Whale, which could be indiscriminately designated by all the
following titles : the Greenland Whale ; the Black Whale ; the
Great Whale ; the True Whale ; the Right Whale.

If such is the case, then this is a « vast practical joke » referred

to in the chapter entitled « The Hyena » (another name for « Black
Fish ») which the author plays upon us with a « Mephistophelean
grin ». It has, as we shall see, far reaching implications for the
identity of the United States of America.

Melville repeatedly says that the Right Whale existed and was
hunted long before the Sperm Whale became known in « his own
proper individuality ». The insistence on the difference in the
English and American designations of these two whales suggests
that it might concern the very identity of the young nation, which
like the « Sperm- Whale » was « till some seventy years back...
utterly unknown. »

The two titles differ by the fact that The Whale has been given
a name, that is, an identity, an individuality that distinguishes it
from the original whale or « chaos ». Yet Melville shows that no
essential difference exists between the English The Whale and the
American Moby-Dick : or, The Whale.

REVUE FRANÇAISE D'ÉTUDES AMÉRICAINES

404 VIOLA SACHS

The date 1776 which evokes the creation of the United States of
America appears only once in this book so full of dates. It refers to
an edition of Linnaeus's System of Nature that does not exist. Yet
Melville quotes from it 2 :
The uncertain, unsettled condition of this science of Cetology is
in the very vestibule attested by the fact, that in some quarters
it still remains a moot point whether a whale be a fish. In his
System of Nature, A.D. 1776, Linnaeus declares, « I hereby
the whales from the fish. » But of my own knowledge, I
know that down to the year 1850, sharks and shads, alewives
and herring, against Linnaeus's express edict were still found
dividing the possession of the same seas with the Leviathan
(182).
The meaning is clear ; the American Declaration of 1776, has
not led to any real difference between the United States of
and England. The generic name The Whale which figures in
both the English and American editions, to my mind, conveys that
the difference resides only in the process of conferring a name to
the whale in the American title.
In this text, names play an essential function. Many characters
go by two or three names. We ignore the name of the little black
boy described in « The Castaway » as called « Pippin by nick-name,
Pip by abbreviation ». (Marçais, 1990-1991) Is Ishmael really Ish-
mael, or is it a sort of generic name that the narrator takes up in
his quest of the black essence (pip) that the United States have
cast/away ? (Sachs, 1982). Is that why « Fourth of Julys » — the
date of the creation of the United Sates of America — appear in
relation to Pip, the castaway?
A final question arises : are the differences between the two
editions, brought to light by Harrison Hayford and Hershel Parker
(1967), due to changes introduced by the English editor Richard
Bentley or to Melville's interference in the course of the printing of
the American edition, or both ? Did Melville make intentional
changes while Craighead instead of Harper was setting the
plates ? Are many of the errors intentional, beginning with the so-
called erroneous typesetting of the opening page « Etymology »
(meaning the true origin of the logos, Word) ? In the English
edition, it figures at the end of the three volumes. Do these errors
signify that Moby-Dick : or, The Whale constitutes an error of
creation ? Of the creation of the United States ?
« Etymology » lists the name for whale in 13 different languages.
The number evokes simultaneously the 13 original states of
and the Covenant that God made with Abram in consequence

N° 50 - NOVEMBRE 1991
 MELVILLE'S BLACK WHALE 405

of which the letter H (which figures in Hackluyt's quotation) was

introduced into his name and all men of his household were
circumcised. Ismael was then 13 years old. In consequence of this
Covenant he was cast away by the Chosen People just a the
Americans believing themselves to be the remnants of the Chosen
People 3 would cast away the other, the Red Man and the Black
man.
In the American edition, Kokovoko — the island Queequeg
comes from — becomes in ch. 13 « Rokovoko ». The pun concealed
in the phrase :
« Peter Coffin's cock and bull stories » (91)
rock cock
ito&ovoko Kokovoko
indicates that the error is intentional. Paraphrasing St. Peter,
Melville seems to say « upon this error I build my church ».
Kokovoko figures in chapter 12 the title of which, « Biographical »,
refers to writing. The change to rock occurs in chapter 13, the
number evoking the 13 original states and the biblical story of
Ishmael. The number of the chapter « Biographical » 12 evokes the
letter L, the 12th letter of the alphabet. The words for whale in
the 13 different languages outline the letter L (see figure 2).
Unfortunately editions rarely reproduce the original printing and
editors unaware of the possible implications of these errors keep
correcting the text, unwittingly destroying thus its essential «
meaning ».
The error of gender in the French name « Cachalot Blanche »
questions the sexual male identity of the Sperm Whale, for
being a masculine noun, should be qualified as Blanc. This
allows us to see in The Whale the incarnation of the original
feminine principle. Playing on the phonetic sound of the letter L
we can read this letter as concealing an allusion to El, one of the
designations for God in Hebrew and « elle », the French for the
feminine pronoun « she » 4. This implies a feminization of God
(Sachs, 1987).
When and how were the changes introduced ? This remains « a
riddle to unfold » which only a very careful reading of the two
texts and a confrontation with the manuscript can elucidate.
Whatever it be, by denying the existence of the White Whale
(Marçais, 1982) Melville questions the construction of the
identity in a period when the colour of the skin was a crucial
issue. Does not Ishmael say that « a white man » is nothing « more
dignified than a white washed negro » and that « Queequeg was

REVUE FRANÇAISE D'ÉTUDES AMÉRICAINES

406 VIOLA SACHS

George Washington cannibaljstically developed » ? To him, no

essential difference exists between white and black, all being
originally black (Marçais, 1990) just as all beings are originally
cannibalistic.
Melville transcends his age and reaches deep into the American
imaginaire, shaped by the polarities of light/darkness, God/Devil,
good/evil, white/black, civilization/wilderness, order/disorder, male/
female, etc... Whiteness blinds the reader to the point where he is
unable to see the blackness of The Whale. Five years later,
Melville resorts to the same technique in « Benito Cereno ». The
blackness of Babo's skin keeps the reader from seeing the complex
humanity of the Negro. With a few exceptions, American critics
long continued to see in Babo an incarnation of evil. This
which bears certain analogies with the Sperm Whale unable
to see two objects at the same time, has outlasted the political and
social context of mid-nineteenth century America ; it shows how
deeply Melville understood the structures of the American

NOTES

1. All quotations refer to Feidelson, 1980 ; the number of the page will be indicated between
brackets ; italics are mine. Bold type corresponds to Melville's italics.
2. The Northwestern Edition emends the date to 1766 arguing that Melville's source was the
article on «Whales » in Penny Cyclopaedia and that no edition of 1776 has been found. It also
remarks that « I hereby » is « not part of the wording attributed to Linnaeus » (856).
3. For more complex readings of « Etymology » as printed in the original edition, see Sachs
(1986, 1990).
4. See Sachs (1982), 128 ; also Sachs (1987).

N° 50 - NOVEMBRE 1991
 MELVILLE'S BLACK WHALE 407

RÉFÉRENCES

Beaver, Harold, ed. Moby-Dick ; or, The Whale. Harmondsworth : Penguin, 1984.
Feidelson, Charles, Jr., ed. Moby-Dick ; or, The Whale. Indianapolis : Bobbs-
Merrill, 1980.
Hayford, Harrison, and H. Parker, eds Moby-Dick. New York : Norton, 1967.
Hayford, Harrison, H. Parker, and G.T. Thomas, eds. Moby-Dick; or, The Whale.
Evanston and Chicago : Northwestern UP and Newberry, 1988.
Marçais, Dominique. — « Moby-Dick and the White Whale » in Sachs, The Game of
Creation, 173-184;
— « Les jeux sur le blanc et le noir chez Melville » in Du Noir au Blanc,
Figures, cahiers n° 6 et 7 (1990-1991) : 173-186.
Sachs, Viola. — « The Gnosis of Hawthorne and Melville : An Interpretation of The
Scarlet Letter and Moby-Dick ». American Quarterly (summer 1980) : 123-143.
— The Game of Creation : The Unlettered Primeval Language of Moby-Dick ;
—or, «The
American
Whale. Identity,
Paris : Editions
the Bible
de and
la Maison
the Scripture
des Sciences
of thedeNew
l'Homme,
Cosmogony
1982 »,;
Information sur les Sciences Sociales 2 (1986) : 507-519.
— « The Breaking Down of Gender Boundaries in American Mythical Texts »,
Information sur les Sciences Sociales 4 (1987) : 139-151 ;
— « The Scriptures of the Devil and the American Identity » in L'Autumno del
Diavolo, Milan : Bompiani, 1990. 1 : 619-630.

REVUE FRANÇAISE D'ÉTUDES AMÉRICAINES

408 VIOLA SACHS

MOBY-DICK;

THE WHALE,

HERMAN MELVILLE,
"oMOO," " UDBUXJt," "mmSL," " WMITIMACHT.'

NEW YORK:
HARPER & BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS.
LONDON: RICHARD BENTLEY.
1651.

Figure 1

ETYMOLOGY ETYMOLOGY
'While you take in hand to school
is to others,
(sui andinto our
teachtongue,
them
TO A GRAMMAR SCHOOL) by what name a whale-fish be called
leaving out, through ignorance, the letter H, which almost
The alone makethis notup true.'
the signification of the word, youHackluyt.
deliver
I see him now.—He
pale Usher threadbare
was everin dusting
coat, heart, body,lexicons
and brain; that which
his old and
grammars, with a queer handkerchief, mockingly embellished 'Whale. • • • Sw. and Dan. hval. This animal is named from
with all the gay flags of all the known nations of the world. roundness or rolling; for in Dan. hvalt a arched or vaulted.'
He loved to dust his old grammars; it somehow mildly Webster's Dictionary.
him of his mortality.
'Whale. ♦ • • It is more immediately from the Dut. and
Ger. Wallen ; a.s. Walw-ian, to roll, to wallow.'
Richardson's Dictionary.
Hebrew
•enros Grrek
CETUS Latin
VVHŒL Anglo-Saxon
HVALT Danish
WAL Dutch
HWAL Swedish
WHALE Icelandic
WHALE English
BALEINE French
BALLENA Spanish
PEKEE-NUEE-NUEE Fegu
PEHEE-NUEE-NUEE Erromangoan

Figure 2

N° 50 - NOVEMBRE 1991