A View of Melville's Piazza Tales from The Piazza

Literary critics have tended to view Melville's short stories as individual units, though sometimes also in relation to his other major works. However, six of his short stories were collected in The Piazza Tales and republished as a unit. This was not just an arbitrary association, but a carefully designed collection established by Melville with the agreement of his publisher. Significantly, the first story, "The Piazza," was never published independently, only as a specific introduction to this combined work. Some critics have noted the important role that "The Piazza" then assumes. However, limited criticism and analysis is currently available which not only discusses the themes of this first tale but also traces these themes through the entire work. In this thesis I consider the themes presented in "The Piazza" which include limited and changing perspective as well as the need for a retreat and place of security for one who ventures out into the world. I discuss the wide variety of critical opinion present regarding each of the tales and establish how these issues put them into perspective as well. Here the issue is not so much direct association and symbolism in characters and problems which have no verifiable quantities or answers but the way in which events and characters are seen and the viable means of coping for one who will realize this. With a view of the collection as a whole, Melville's attempt to unsettle dominant or commonly held perspectives becomes apparent as well as his own need to approach these issues indirectly at times, or his own retreat to a piazza of sorts.