Literature in English, North America Commons^™

Historical References And Literary Allusions In Ahab’S Wife, Joanne E. Gates

Presentations, Proceedings & Performances

In Sena Jeter Naslund’s 1999 novel Ahab’s Wife, books and their details of remembered passages are embedded in consciousness, especially in times of crisis. Ahab’s Wife is at once a sure-fire page-turner worthy of status as book club selection as well as a deeper text, overtly paying homage to Melville’s dense narrative. Moreover, this novel invites at least one re-reading and becomes more appealing with further study. The richly allusive text is powerful not simply for its grand scope of female adventure--one that the New York Times asserted was overdone optimism--but for its layered and interwoven references to works …