On Voyaging and "Bildung" (The Case of Wellingborough/Redburn)
Abstract
Paweł Jędrzejko’s reflection on the career trajectories of Americanists from Eastern Bloc countries, including his own, spurs off his autoethnographic account of how sea sailing in Poland became a gateway to the world, leading to his involvement in Melville Studies. His chance encounter with the Polish training ship Zawisza Czarny in the Baltic Sea, marking the beginning of his Americanist journey, becomes a point of departure for a literary analysis, in which the author draws parallels between his own youthful experiences and those of Melville’s character Wellingborough Redburn. Exploring the character’s transatlantic journey in the context of the autobiographical characteristics of the genre of bildungsroman, Jędrzejko analyzes Redburn’s journey from
naïve boyhood to mature identity, emphasizing Melville’s use of Redburn’s voyage to Liverpool as a mirror of his own confrontation with reality, the collapse of inherited ideals, and the development of independent self-awareness. The author highlights the importance of direct (unmediated) experience in the shaping of one’s self-awareness, and poses questions concerning the reliability of narratives as “guides to reality.” By reflecting on the transformative nature of travel and the epistemological shifts it entails, Jędrzejko integrates his personal narrative with broader philosophical inquiries into identity formation, the fallibility of inherited knowledge, and the existential challenges faced by individuals in their pursuit of truth. The text serves as a meditation on the fluidity of discourse and the necessity of embracing uncertainty and impermanence as inextricable determinants of the human condition.
Keywords
American literature; bildungsroman; sea voyage; Herman Melville; identity formation; Redburn
References
Bergmann, Hans. God in the Street: New York Writing from the Penny Press to Melville. Temple University Press, 1995.
Jędrzejko, Paweł. “Traces in the Ocean. On Melville, Wolanowski, and Willing Suspension of Disbelief.” Review of International American Studies, vol. 8, no. 1, Spring-Summer 2015, pp. 101–119.
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Lowen, Alexander. The Spirituality of the Body: Bioenergetics for Grace and Harmony. The Alexander Lowen Foundation, 1988.
Melville, Herman. Redburn: His First Voyage. Being the Sailor Boy Confessions and Reminiscences of a Son-of-a-Gentleman in the Merchant Service. Doubleday Anchor Books, 1957.
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University of Silesia in Katowice Poland
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8435-5946
Paweł Jędrzejko, PhD. D.Litt. is an Associate Professor at the University of Silesia in Katowice, Poland, and Faculty Member of the PhD Programme in Studies in English Literatures, Language, and Translation of the “Sapienza” University in Rome. President of the International American Studies Association in the years 2021–2023; Co-Founder and Co-Editor in Chief of the Review of International American Studies. Associate Editor of Er(r)go. Theory–Literature–Culture. Ocean-Going Yachtmaster. Musician and lyricist. Former Director of the University of Silesia Press. By ministerial appointment, in years 2015–2016, he served as a member of the Advisory Committee for the Implementation of the Strategy of the Open Access to Academic Contents at the Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education. In the same years, he served as the representative of the President of the Conference of the Rectors of Academic Schools of Poland (CRASP) in an international contact group at the European University Association at the EU. His research interests include literary and cultural theory, history of literature, comparative cultural studies, translation theory and philosophy. Departing from the assumption of the aporetic (ontic/discursive) character of reality, Jędrzejko fosters research penetrating the common grounds of human cognitive experience and creative activity, focusing upon the complex interdependencies between individual awareness of the worldmaking power of language and the shape of daily interpersonal and intercultural relations. The areas of his particular interest include the philosophy of friendship, the philosophy of existence, the history of 19th century American literature, the literary philosophies of the “American Renaissance” the oeuvre of Herman Melville, postcolonial and post-dependence theories, as well as translation theories. His full CV is available at http://www.jedrzejko.info
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