Riley Peter - Whitman, Melville, Crane, and the Labors of American Poetry: Against Vocation

What follows was only made possible through the generous guidance of some very gifted and wonderful people. While the kinds of labor and thinking that went into this book altered across states of mind, economic circumstance, and political epoch, what remained constant was the willingness of others to engage with, and comment on, my work. If theres one thing I can say Ive learned throughout the process of writing and researching this book, its that ideas only get better in dialogue with colleagues and friends.

Thank you to my PhD supervisor Fiona Green, as well as to my teachers and examiners at the University of Cambridge: Anne Stillman, Sarah Meer, Tamara Follini, Becca Weir, Ian Patterson, and Lee Jenkins. Later, as Early Career Fellow in American Literature at the University of Oxford, I was lucky enough to receive the intellectual guidance and support of Lloyd Pratt, who was always able to show me the next thought along. I would also like to thank Laura Marcus, Patrick Hayes, Ed Sugden, Hannah Sullivan, Tara Stubbs, Tessa Roynon, Michle Mendelssohn, Elleke Boehmer, and Kevin Brazil, for the many engaging and enjoyable conversations we had together.

Writing a speculative email to Wyn Kelley in the first year of my PhD was one of the best decisions I made. Her guidance has been a great source of inspiration, and my times staying with her family during research trips in Boston have been some of my happiest. For the friendship and counsel of Mark Storey I am truly grateful: being in the company of his intelligence and wit is one of my favourite pastimes. I also want to thank my mentor and friend Michael Jonik for reading my manuscript so carefully: his suggestions were instrumental in transforming this project into a book. I also owe a significant debt of gratitude to the intellect, friendship and all-round savvy of Tom F. Wright. For the many enriching moments of intellectual exchange we have shared together, I am also very thankful to Jay Grossman, Rodrigo Andrs, ric Athenot, J. Michelle Coghlan, Cathryn Setz, Katie McGettigan, John Bryant, Mary K. Bercaw Edwards, Sam Otter, Tim Marr, Ed Folsom, Ken Price, Hilary Emmett, Elisa Tamarkin, Natalia Cecire, Michael J. Collins, and Ccile Roudeau.

Against Vocation became a book while I was working as Lecturer in American Literature at the University of Exeter, and I feel blessed to have so many brilliant and supportive colleagues. I have become a better Americanist scholar by being in the company of Sinad Moynihan, Paul Williams, Ellen McWilliams, Joanna Freer, and James Harding. Laura Salisbury has been, and continues to be, a key intellectual influence on my work. Lauras ability to see the shape of an idea so clearly (and be so generous as to then ask all the right questions) has been a gift. Karen Edwards, Regenia Gagnier, Jo Gill and Vike Plock, also all generously read and provided valuable feedback on various sections of the manuscript. And through their comradeship and friendship, the following people have all enriched this book by making my time at Exeter such a pleasure (in no particular order): Sam North, Daisy Hay, Andy Brown, Henry Power, Chris Campbell, Benedict Morrison, Florian Stadtler, Mark Steven, Treasa De Loughry, Felicity Gee, John Bolin, Ayesha Mukherjee, Helen Hanson, Simon Rennie, Jane Feaver, Debra Ramsay, Angelique Richardson, Andrew Rudd, Philip Schwyzer, Naomi Howell, Eric Lybeck, Beci Carver, Ranita Chatterjee, Abram Foley, Rob Turner, Paul Young, Jason Hall, and Adam Watt. Thank you all.

I also want to acknowledge the foundations and institutions that made much of this work possible, specifically the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC); Clare College, Cambridge; the Rothermere American Institute; Linacre College, Oxford; and the Melville Society. And thank you to those at my current institution, the University of Exeter, for granting me the time and space to finish this project. Thanks also to the helpful and considerate staff of the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library at Duke University; the Special Collections & University Archives of the University of Iowa; the Rare Book & Manuscript Library at Columbia University; the Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library at Yale University; the Manuscript Division of the Library of Congress; The Museum of Modern Art Archives; and in particular to Mark Gaipa at the Modernist Journals Project for his enthusiastic assistance and support. Portions of this book have appeared, in earlier versions, in the edited collections The Cambridge History of American Working-Class History (Cambridge University Press) and Melville as Poet: The Art of Pulsed Life (Kent State University Press), as well as the journals Leviathan: A Journal of Melville Studies (Johns Hopkins University Press) and the Walt Whitman Quarterly Review (University of Iowa Press). I am thankful to the editors of these publications for their feedback and encouragement. I have tried to incorporate, as far as possible, the generous and helpful comments from my anonymous readers at Oxford University Press. I would also like to express my gratitude to the commissioning editor Jacqueline Norton for supporting this project from the outset, as well as to Aimee Wright, Markcus Sandanraj, and Howard Emmens for seeing it through to print.

For their care, love, and forgiveness, I am also heavily indebted to Ellie Stedall, Jim Blackstone, Merlin Sheldrake, Katya Herman, Stuart Sheppard, Patrick Kingsley, Sophie Crawford, Grace Jackson, Martin Dubois, Greg Seach, Alex Owen, Roisin Dunnett, Matilda Wnek, Alice Farren-Bradley, Tom Neenan, Nish Kumar, and Ed Gamble. This book, and a good deal besides, would also not have been possible without Tom Evans, who combines the deepest intelligence with the best sense of humour. And I am lucky to know Steve Graves, Mariangela Milioto, and their children, Leo (my godson), Frank, and Max: your long-standing friendship, generosity and wisdom has kept me going.