{"id":{"repo_id":"utc","oai_identifier":"oai:scholar.utc.edu:theses-1858"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/utc/oai:scholar.utc.edu:theses-1858","repository":{"repo_id":"utc","name":"University of Tennessee - Chattanooga","base_url":"https://scholar.utc.edu/do/oai/"},"display":{"title":"\"Neither Believer nor Infidel\" Dialogic Portraits of Agnostic and Pragmatic Methodologies in Moby-Dick and Clarel","abstract":"Much scholarship is dedicated to Melville’s religious themes, and other scholarship carefully analyzes the innovative formal techniques used by Melville, such as biblical allusion, digressive essays, and philosophical musings imbedded in fiction. However, religious analysis often turns to biographical interpretations of Melville’s own beliefs, and formal analysis tends to highlight Melville’s idiosyncrasies rather than determine their function. This thesis uses the Bakhtinian concepts of dialogism and polyphony to show that Melville’s poetic techniques create open texts, allowing readers to freely engage with multiple religious views that are equally valid, though not equally beneficial. Anticipating the methodologies of agnosticism and pragmatism, Moby-Dick exemplifies an attitude of cheerful agnosticism, whereas Melville’s final major work, Clarel, exemplifies the frustrations of uncertainty. A primarily formal analysis allows scholars to view Melville both conforming and breaking out of expected religious attitudes in the nineteenth-century, without considering Melville a prophet of twentieth-century literary attitudes.","abstract_html":"Much scholarship is dedicated to Melville’s religious themes, and other scholarship carefully analyzes the innovative formal techniques used by Melville, such as biblical allusion, digressive essays, and philosophical musings imbedded in fiction. However, religious analysis often turns to biographical interpretations of Melville’s own beliefs, and formal analysis tends to highlight Melville’s idiosyncrasies rather than determine their function. This thesis uses the Bakhtinian concepts of dialogism and polyphony to show that Melville’s poetic techniques create open texts, allowing readers to freely engage with multiple religious views that are equally valid, though not equally beneficial. Anticipating the methodologies of agnosticism and pragmatism, Moby-Dick exemplifies an attitude of cheerful agnosticism, whereas Melville’s final major work, Clarel, exemplifies the frustrations of uncertainty. A primarily formal analysis allows scholars to view Melville both conforming and breaking out of expected religious attitudes in the nineteenth-century, without considering Melville a prophet of twentieth-century literary attitudes.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Overos, Matthias"],"institution":"University of Tennessee at Chattanooga","degree_name":null,"degree_level":null,"degree_discipline":null,"degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Wakefield, Hannah","Palmer, Heather; Guy, Matthew","College of Arts and Sciences"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":null,"date_issued":"","date_published":null,"updated_at":"2026-07-24T05:46:59Z","subjects":["Counterpoint","Dialogism (Literary Analysis)","Religion in literature","; Melville, Herman, 1819-1891. Clarel; Melville, Herman, 1819-1891. Moby Dick"],"languages":["English","eng"],"rights":[],"rights_urls":["http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/"],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://scholar.utc.edu/theses/700","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Wakefield, Hannah","Palmer, Heather; Guy, Matthew","College of Arts and Sciences"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Overos, Matthias"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date","label":"Dc Date","values":["2021-05-01T07:00:00Z"]},{"key":"dc:publisher","label":"Institution","values":["University of Tennessee at Chattanooga","Chattanooga (Tenn.)"]},{"key":"dc:relation","label":"Dc Relation","values":["Masters Theses and Doctoral Dissertations"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["Masters theses","Text"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Counterpoint","Dialogism (Literary Analysis)","Religion in literature","; Melville, Herman, 1819-1891. 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A.; A thesis submitted to the faculty of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Master of Arts."]},{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["Much scholarship is dedicated to Melville’s religious themes, and other scholarship carefully analyzes the innovative formal techniques used by Melville, such as biblical allusion, digressive essays, and philosophical musings imbedded in fiction. However, religious analysis often turns to biographical interpretations of Melville’s own beliefs, and formal analysis tends to highlight Melville’s idiosyncrasies rather than determine their function. This thesis uses the Bakhtinian concepts of dialogism and polyphony to show that Melville’s poetic techniques create open texts, allowing readers to freely engage with multiple religious views that are equally valid, though not equally beneficial. Anticipating the methodologies of agnosticism and pragmatism, Moby-Dick exemplifies an attitude of cheerful agnosticism, whereas Melville’s final major work, Clarel, exemplifies the frustrations of uncertainty. A primarily formal analysis allows scholars to view Melville both conforming and breaking out of expected religious attitudes in the nineteenth-century, without considering Melville a prophet of twentieth-century literary attitudes."]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["\"Neither Believer nor Infidel\" Dialogic Portraits of Agnostic and Pragmatic Methodologies in Moby-Dick and Clarel"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Wakefield, Hannah","Palmer, Heather; Guy, Matthew","College of Arts and Sciences"],"dc:creator":["Overos, Matthias"],"dc:date":["2021-05-01T07:00:00Z"],"dc:description":["Dept. of English","M. A.; A thesis submitted to the faculty of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Master of Arts."],"dc:description.abstract":["Much scholarship is dedicated to Melville’s religious themes, and other scholarship carefully analyzes the innovative formal techniques used by Melville, such as biblical allusion, digressive essays, and philosophical musings imbedded in fiction. However, religious analysis often turns to biographical interpretations of Melville’s own beliefs, and formal analysis tends to highlight Melville’s idiosyncrasies rather than determine their function. This thesis uses the Bakhtinian concepts of dialogism and polyphony to show that Melville’s poetic techniques create open texts, allowing readers to freely engage with multiple religious views that are equally valid, though not equally beneficial. Anticipating the methodologies of agnosticism and pragmatism, Moby-Dick exemplifies an attitude of cheerful agnosticism, whereas Melville’s final major work, Clarel, exemplifies the frustrations of uncertainty. A primarily formal analysis allows scholars to view Melville both conforming and breaking out of expected religious attitudes in the nineteenth-century, without considering Melville a prophet of twentieth-century literary attitudes."],"dc:identifier":["https://scholar.utc.edu/theses/700"],"dc:language":["English","eng"],"dc:publisher":["University of Tennessee at Chattanooga","Chattanooga (Tenn.)"],"dc:relation":["Masters Theses and Doctoral Dissertations"],"dc:rights":["http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/"],"dc:subject":["Counterpoint","Dialogism (Literary Analysis)","Religion in literature","; Melville, Herman, 1819-1891. Clarel; Melville, Herman, 1819-1891. Moby Dick"],"dc:title":["\"Neither Believer nor Infidel\" Dialogic Portraits of Agnostic and Pragmatic Methodologies in Moby-Dick and Clarel"],"dc:type":["Masters theses","Text"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T05:46:59Z"}