Abstract:This essay addresses two issues, one bearing on scholarly method, the other on what might be called the aesthetic and political character of a literature that embraces failure as a necessary condition of its work rather than perfection as an aspiring goal. Melville’s work, in particular Moby-Dick, provides the exemplary case in each instance. Implicit in the argument is the view that American Literature (classically so-called) has a distinctive commitment to, and not infrequently an anxiety about, its practical social usefulness. This orientation is grounded in what Constance Rourke long ago saw as the axiological ground of American writing: the “practical letters” that dominated the nearly two-hundred years of colonial founding.

中文翻译：

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作文作为白鲸的解释

摘要：本文解决了两个问题，一个是学术方法，另一个是文学的美学和政治特征，将失败作为其工作的必要条件，而不是将完美作为一个有抱负的目标。Melville 的作品，尤其是 Moby-Dick，在每种情况下都提供了典型案例。争论中隐含的观点是，美国文学（经典上所谓的）对其实际的社会效用有着独特的承诺，并且经常焦虑。这种方向基于康斯坦斯·洛克很久以前所认为的美国写作的价值论基础：主导近两百年殖民建立的“实用字母”。