The Novel and the Sea (Translation/Transnation)

Foracentury,thehistoryofthenovelhasbeenwrittenintermsofnationsandterritories:theEnglishnovel,theFrenchnovel,theAmericannovel.Butwhatifnovelswereviewedintermsoftheseasthatunitethesedifferentlands?Examiningworksacrosstwocenturies,"TheNovelandtheSea"recountsthenovel'srise,toldfromtheperspectiveoftheship'sdeckandtheallureoftheoceansinthemodernculturalimagination.MargaretCohenmoorsthenoveltooverseasexplorationandworkatsea,framingitsemergenceasatransatlantichistory,steepedintheadventuresandrisksofthemaritimefrontier.CohenexploreshowRobinsonCrusoecompetedwiththebest-sellingnauticalliteratureofthetimebydramatizingremarkableconditions,fromthewondersofunknownlandstostorms,shipwrecks,andpirates.SheconsidersJamesFenimoreCooper'srefashioningoftheadventurenovelinpostcolonialAmerica,andachangeinliterarypoeticstowardnewfrontiersandtothemaritimelaborandtechnologyofthenineteenthcentury.CohenshowshowJulesVernereworkedadventuresatseaintosciencefiction;howMelville,Hugo,andConradnavigatedthefoggywatersoflanguageandthought;and,howdetectiveandspyfictionbuiltonseafiction'sproblem-solvingdevices.Shealsodiscussesthetransformationoftheoceanfromatheaterofskilledworktoanenvironmentofpristinenatureandthesublime.Asignificantliteraryhistory,"TheNovelandtheSea"challengesreaderstorethinktheirland-lockedassumptionsaboutthenovel.