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.Israel had been plow-world of minor inventions (such as an improved ing in the field when called to war, and upon hisspy s boot-heel) and witty maxims.And the con- return 50 years later, he finds a man plowing thetrast between the comfortable existence of Poor ground where his family s home once stood.ThisRichard and the real poverty of Israel and others circular structure allows the novel to reflect changecalls into question the usefulness of such celebrated and persistence simultaneously.Some critics havemaxims.Perhaps to emphasize this point, Melville argued that it also reflects Israel s close ties to thedrew from Franklin some of the maxims quoted in natural world, with the seasons of his life echoingthe novel, but others are his own invention.the seasonal pattern of nature, or of death andThe long passages involving John Paul Jones, rebirth.Though his return takes place on Inde-all of which come from sources other than Potter s pendence Day, the narrator notes that it is a sortoriginal memoirs, add texture to the novel in sev- of resurrection and that, due to scars from twoeral ways.On one hand, the sea battle sequences intersecting battle wounds, Israel is a bescarredprovided material for the kind of adventure Melville bearer of a cross. had promised his publisher.Also, incidents such as Elements of Israel Potter prefigure Melville s nextthe scene where American officers demand to be novel, The Confidence Man.Israel s many disguises,allowed to loot provide further authorial opportunity for example as a beggar, a ghost, and a scarecrow,for implied critique.Melville frequently describes among others hint at the confidence man s ever-Jones as swarthy, comparing him to Native Amer- shifting guises.And in Israel Potter, the issues ofican and Arabic figures, which suggests that in confidence, charity, and suspicion, which will formJones Melville also found the opportunity to raise the center of Confidence Man, are frequent topicshis persistent theme of civilization and savagery.of conversation among the American sympathizersJones s unrestrained fighting style and his inherent and Benjamin Franklin.nobility, the narrator approvingly presumes, derivePUBLICATION HISTORY ANDfrom some barbarian quality in him.RECEPTIONAs he does in other novels based on historicalpersons, Melville here draws out the metaphori- Israel Potter was first serialized in PUTNAM Scal potential of his protagonist s real name.The MONTHLY MAGAZINE.Melville assured the maga-novel frequently refers to Israel as the wanderer, zine s owner, George Palmer Putnam, that the work Jimmy Rose 109was an adventure story.He requested five dollars a where Benjamin Franklin receives them as Ameri-page for magazine rights and a $100 advance, which can ambassador to France.When Israel returns toPutnam apparently agreed to pay.He also published England, he is secreted at Woodcock s estate, butthe novel in book form.The reviews of the book he must leave after discovering that Woodcock haswere surprisingly favorable.Rather than reacting to died and he thus has lost his protector.the novel as satire, reviewers praised its comic epi-FURTHER READINGsodes, its vigorous style, and even its patriotism.Ofcourse, some reviewers did note Melville s sarcastic Bakker, J.The Role of the Mythic West in Some Repre-tone and anti-imperialist attitude, but the book s sentative Examples of Classic and Modern Americandeeper ironies escaped attention.Literature.Lewiston, N.Y.: E.Mellen Press, 1991.Altogether Melville received $421.50 (based Christopher, Bill. Israel Potter: Melville s Citizen ofon a 12.5 percent royalty) for sales of the 75-cent the Universe. Studies in American Fiction 21, no.book.It sold almost 3,000 copies in the first six 1 (1993): 21 35.months.This modest success, however, did not Kaufman, Will. Ben Franklin and Herman Melville:prevent the novel from being forgotten.Indeed, the The Comedian as Confidence Man. Thalia: Stud-distinguished critic Alfred Kazin chose Israel Pot- ies in Literary Humor 15, nos.1 2 (1995): 3 23.ter for the Warner Paperback Rediscovery Series; Lackey, Kris. The Two Handles of Israel Potter. Col-this edition was published in 1974.Kazin identi- lege Literature 21, no.1 (1994): 32 45.fies the novel s main theme and what drew the Rampersad, Arnold.Melville s Israel Potter: A Pilgrim-solitary Melville to Potter s memoirs: What Israel age and Progress.Bowling Green, Ky.: Bowling Greenshares with Herman Melville is exile seemingly University Popular Press, 1969.perpetual, exile as a lifetime experience, exile as afeeling about life unexplained by the circumstancesof exile. Jack Roy (1888)CHARACTERSBridges, James Along with Horne Tooke and Poem in JOHN MARR.The gallant Jack Roy, trulyJohn Woodcock, Bridges forms a conspiracy of a noble seaman, is meant to recall Jack Chase,agents in England who aim to aid the American the captain of the maintop on the USS UNITEDRevolution
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