Propriété et possession dans le chapitre 89, « Fast-Fish and Loose-Fish » de Moby-Dick
In the cetological chapter 89 of Moby-Dick , Ishmael launches into a jocular disquisition about maritime laws aimed at settling litigations between ships claiming possession of the same whale. Dubbed “Fast-Fish and Loose-Fish”, the law under scrutiny is ostensibly extolled as the peaceful means to...
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2019
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cairn-RFEA_160_0010RFEARevue française d’études américaines https://shs.cairn.info/revue-francaise-d-etudes-americaines-2019-3-page-10?lang=fr https://doi.org/10.3917/rfea.160.0010 Propriété et possession dans le chapitre 89, « Fast-Fish and Loose-Fish » de Moby-Dick Derail, Agnès2019 appropriationautoritédroit de propriétédroit du plus fortesclavageétat de droitMoby-Dickpropriété de soipropriété littérairefre Revue française d’études américaines | 160 | 3 | 2019-10-28 | p. 10-24 | 0397-7870 RFEA_16059 In the cetological chapter 89 of Moby-Dick , Ishmael launches into a jocular disquisition about maritime laws aimed at settling litigations between ships claiming possession of the same whale. Dubbed “Fast-Fish and Loose-Fish”, the law under scrutiny is ostensibly extolled as the peaceful means to solve all whaling disputes. Yet, what emerges from the cases cited is that the law invariably grants the entire ownership of a contested prey to the party who last got hold of it. The judicial construct of property, Ishmael cannot but admit, amounts to legitimizing the right of the strongest: the idea that “possession is the whole of the law” ultimately extends to all human jurisprudence, justifying worldwide systems of exploitation. Such seems to be Ishmael’s orthodox indictment of the law as a mere instrument of power. However, the question of legal property ties in with the motif of self-ownership, crucial in the novel, notably via Ahab’s memorable claims to self-sovereignty but also via the more subdued issue of slavery. This article interrogates the implicit alignment of the law of property with the ontological issue of self-ownership, which wryly tends to exculpate human legal construct on the ground that it would merely emanate from a metaphysical law of generalized predation and appropriation—which also applies to literature, and most notoriously to Melville’s Moby-Dick, as a summa of plagiarized archives.Cairn free access |
| language |
Français |
| format |
Article ou chapitre numérique |
| building |
0/Bibliothèque numérique/ 1/Bibliothèque numérique/Cairn/ |
| topic |
appropriation autorité droit de propriété droit du plus fort esclavage état de droit Moby-Dick propriété de soi propriété littéraire |
| spellingShingle |
appropriation autorité droit de propriété droit du plus fort esclavage état de droit Moby-Dick propriété de soi propriété littéraire Derail, Agnès Propriété et possession dans le chapitre 89, « Fast-Fish and Loose-Fish » de Moby-Dick |
| topic_facet |
appropriation autorité droit de propriété droit du plus fort esclavage état de droit Moby-Dick propriété de soi propriété littéraire |
| description |
In the cetological chapter 89 of Moby-Dick , Ishmael launches into a jocular disquisition about maritime laws aimed at settling litigations between ships claiming possession of the same whale. Dubbed “Fast-Fish and Loose-Fish”, the law under scrutiny is ostensibly extolled as the peaceful means to solve all whaling disputes. Yet, what emerges from the cases cited is that the law invariably grants the entire ownership of a contested prey to the party who last got hold of it. The judicial construct of property, Ishmael cannot but admit, amounts to legitimizing the right of the strongest: the idea that “possession is the whole of the law” ultimately extends to all human jurisprudence, justifying worldwide systems of exploitation. Such seems to be Ishmael’s orthodox indictment of the law as a mere instrument of power. However, the question of legal property ties in with the motif of self-ownership, crucial in the novel, notably via Ahab’s memorable claims to self-sovereignty but also via the more subdued issue of slavery. This article interrogates the implicit alignment of the law of property with the ontological issue of self-ownership, which wryly tends to exculpate human legal construct on the ground that it would merely emanate from a metaphysical law of generalized predation and appropriation—which also applies to literature, and most notoriously to Melville’s Moby-Dick, as a summa of plagiarized archives. |
| author |
Derail, Agnès |
| author_facet |
Derail, Agnès |
| author_sort |
Derail, Agnès |
| title |
Propriété et possession dans le chapitre 89, « Fast-Fish and Loose-Fish » de Moby-Dick |
| title_short |
Propriété et possession dans le chapitre 89, « Fast-Fish and Loose-Fish » de Moby-Dick |
| title_full |
Propriété et possession dans le chapitre 89, « Fast-Fish and Loose-Fish » de Moby-Dick |
| title_fullStr |
Propriété et possession dans le chapitre 89, « Fast-Fish and Loose-Fish » de Moby-Dick |
| title_full_unstemmed |
Propriété et possession dans le chapitre 89, « Fast-Fish and Loose-Fish » de Moby-Dick |
| title_sort |
propriété et possession dans le chapitre 89, « fast-fish and loose-fish » de moby-dick |
| publishDate |
2019 |
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| container_issue |
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| url |
https://ezproxy.univ-orleans.fr/login?url=https://shs.cairn.info/revue-francaise-d-etudes-americaines-2019-3-page-10?lang=fr https://ezproxy.univ-orleans.fr/login?url=https://doi.org/10.3917/rfea.160.0010 |
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