Billy Budd: Amazon.ca: Herman Melville: Books

Product Description

Tor Classics are affordably-priced editions designed to attract the young reader. Original dynamic cover art enthusiastically represents the excitement of each story. Appropriate "reader friendly" type sizes have been chosen for each title--offering clear, accurate, and readable text. All editions are complete and unabridged, and feature Introductions and Afterwords.

This edition of Billy Budd includes a Foreword, Biographical Note, and Afterword by James Gunn.

Aboard the warship Bellipotent, the young orphan Billy Budd was called the handsome sailor. Billy was tall, athletic, nobel looking; he was friendly, innocent, helpful and ever-cheerful. He was a fierce fighter and a loyal friend. All the men and officers liked him...

All but one: Master-at-Arms Claggart. Envious, petty Claggart plotted to make Billy's life miserable. But when a fear of mutinies swept through the fleet, Claggart realized he could do more than just torment the Handsome Sailor...He could frame Billy Budd for treason...

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Called the "Handsome Sailor" by the other sailors aboard the warship, Bellipotent, Billy Budd is admired by all men but Master-at-Arms Claggart, an envious man who plots to frame Billy for treason. Reprint.

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Inside This Book (Learn More)

First Sentence
IN THE TIME before steamships, or then more frequently than now, a stroller along the docks of any considerable seaport would occasionally have his attention arrested by a group of bronzed mariners, man-of-war's men or merchant sailors in holiday attire, ashore on liberty. Read the first page

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Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover

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Customer Reviews

33 Reviews

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
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Average Customer Review

3.4 out of 5 stars (33 customer reviews)

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5.0 out of 5 stars As Relevant Today As It Was in 1891 - Wonderful !, July 8 2004

By

R. Schwartz (United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)

This review is from: Billy Budd (Mass Market Paperback)

.
Many lessons in the story of Billy Budd. And one is the personality of the master-in-arms, John Claggart. How does one explain in our current life persons who lash out at us for false reasons due to alterative motives? We can dispute the charges but when asked what reason we believe the reputable and well-respected person is accusing us for, what is our answer? This is where reading books, anything from philosophy, psychology, novels, biographies, etc., are so crucial in life. Crucial in all our endeavors, from cliché speech walking in our neighborhood to who we vote for politically. And so, here we are accused for motives beyond surface despite the respectability and dignity that the accuser so verily has. If we and our judges are familiar with the stories of the biblical Joseph and his brothers, and I find much more so, the story of John Claggart and Billy Budd, then our referral to such stories reaps far more insight than a lengthy explanation would do.

Another point that hit so very hard with me is the Newspaper's account of the story and I can't help but compare it to 99.9% of the stories on CNN and the American journalist media; shod journalism, bias, one-sided, selective and utterly false, that is, false to the extent that it conveys the right story but changes so slyly the intents and motives and most certainly in many cases, outright falsifies the information. So it is, in George Bush's' America, both domestically and in foreign policy. But what makes matters so much worse is the believing public, a naive public that is built on journalism where the reading of books is long forgotten in favor of TV, internet and of course, journalism. After reading Melville's story and his subsequent news article, there you can read the differences.

Were Captain Vere and the three lieutenants correct in their decision to execute Billy Budd? Should the letter of the law been obeyed? Or did this incur extenuating circumstances to pardon either the official crime or the punishment? This was a time of recent mutinies and revolts on other ships, although nothing of the sort here happened, it pervaded the spirit of strict disciplinarian measures. In addition, the outcome of the obedience and servitude of the sailors and officers would have to be weighed ahead of the life of Billy Budd, despite is false accuser and impulsive blow to counter act his failure to use speech to defend himself. Does this support a zero tolerance law code? Or should flexibility and discernment above strict adherence to each and every case be determined by the spirit and purpose of the law broke rather than then the letter of the so-called infringement?

Subjectively, Billy Budd was a good man and innocent of the death by accident he incurred to Claggart and therefore should be either found guilty of a lesser charge or given lesser punishment. Billy Budd's last words, "God Bless Captain Vere." Objectively, Billy Budd broke a major law, killing a superior officer, which in turn, has a major influence on the entire fleet of sailors and officers and is therefore guilty and subject to hanging.

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1.0 out of 5 stars A novella that is pure rubbish., May 6 2004

By

MAB (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Signet Classics Billy Budd And Other Tales (Paperback)

"Billy Budd and Other Tales" - this review is for "Billy Budd." Herman Melville's novella is a rambling piece of junk. Perhaps ten pages actually pertained to the plot of "Billy Budd," while the rest of seventy pages were about useless thoughts, perceptions, and historical tie-ins that did not benefit from the story at all. The story was barely about the character of Billy Budd, and was more like a soapbox for the author. This is not worth the time. I do not recommend.

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3.0 out of 5 stars Billy Budd Review, Oct 30 2003

By

j sarver (Pittsburgh) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Billy Budd And Other Tales (Paperback)

Billy Budd is unlike any book I have ever read. The way it is written is very unique and elaborate. There are some aspects about the story I liked, however it had some weaker points.
Even though it is only 90 pages long, it is packed with complex sentences and ideas. It seemed to stray from the storyline occasionally and begin to ramble on about senseless things. The language and wording he used seemed unnecessary and irrelevant. Also, at times, it got somewhat boring to read. I read that the story parallels the story of Christ, and I would have to disagree. Christ sacrificed himself for mankind, when Billy never put others first at all.
What I did like about the book were it's characters. Melville used a minimal amount of characters in this book, unlike most books. Also, each character was deep, and they all seemed to be almost labeled. Billy, being the extremely innocent 21 year old, was nearly flawless. What I liked about him was that his one fault proved to be fatal, indirectly. Billy stuttered and had trouble speaking when under pressure, which drove him to lose his temper and accidentally kill Claggart, and for that he was hanged. Claggart, to me, seemed somewhat psychotic. He hid his anger and malice, and because of this, he suspected others did also. He hated Billy for no reason, just that he thought Billy was conspiring against him. Vere was a kind man, except for the fact that he let his work as a captain interfere with his morals, like when he sentenced Billy to be hanged.
Melville wrote this story with the main idea being good versus evil, and I liked that. He wrote it with Billy as good and Claggart representing evil, and this aspect was one of my favorite parts to this novel.
All in all, I thought the book had a good idea, but it was presented in the wrong way. There were parts I loved and parts I could not stand, so I give it a three of five.

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Most recent customer reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Billy Budd, Sailor
Billy Budd, Sailor is an extraordinary novel. I can see why it is called one of the best short stories of all time. The story is about a sailor, of course, named Billy Budd. Read more

Published on Oct 29 2003 by Joshua Spicer

2.0 out of 5 stars Billy Budd: Misleading and/or Deceiving
Don't judge a book by its cover (or size). If ever this statement was true, it is now. At first glance, Billy Budd by Herman Melville looks like at quick easy read at only 80+... Read more

Published on Feb 11 2003 by Mike P.