The three works considered in Hierarchy and Mutuality in Paradise Lost, Moby-Dick and The Brothers Karamazov display a striking overlap in their concern with hierarchy and mutuality as parallel and often intersecting way of how human beings relate to each other and to divine forces in the universe. All three contain adversarial protagonists whose stature often commands admiration from audiences less ready to confront their motives and deeds than to be swayed by their verbal harangues. Why the quest for personal power should disturb the serenity of mutual love with such compelling force is an issue that Milton, Melville and Dostoevsky address with varying degrees of self-consciousness. In their texts the seeds of disaster seem to sprout in both spiritual and barren soil, sometimes nurtured by a hierarchy that gave them birth, at others in reaction against a hierarchy that would stifle their energy. The purpose of this study is to analyze the origins and the consequences of such tensions.
Lawrence L. Langer is professor of English emeritus at Simmons University in Boston.
Introduction: Hierarchy and Mutuality Chapter One: Portents Chapter Two: Conflicts Chapter Three: Dual Vision Chapter Four: The Fruits of Ressentiment Chapter Five: Justice and Judgment Chapter Six: Endings Bibliography About the Author
The breadth and depth of Lawrence L. Langer's reading of these three major works is masterful. In a time of slavish devotion to domineering hierarchies, Langer's book makes the case for "balance and reciprocity as the ideal goals of social existence" as arrived at through mutuality, while also acknowledging the tension between "the world of ought and the world of is" explored by Milton, Melville, and Dostoevsky. Readers can only be thankful for the wisdom and intelligence on display here, as well as the author's deep commitment to literature, life, and human love. -- Peter Filkins, Bard College at Simon's Rock Hierarchy and Mutuality offers a fresh reading of three central literary works. Elegantly and powerfully written, the book traces interconnections among Milton, Melville and Dostoevsky's most important works, regarding the human drive toward and resistance to obedience, authority, intimacy, and connectedness. This magisterial literary analysis that engages crucial ethical issues with the clarity and complexity that characterizes Lawrence Langer's work. Without sacrificing the specificity of each author's time, place and literary tradition, Langer's reading makes these works profoundly - chillingly - relevant to our times, raising questions about the rise of tyrants and their seductive appeal. -- Sara R. Horowitz, York University
