Raymond M. Weaver
| Raymond Melbourne Weaver | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1888 Baltimore, Maryland |
| Died | April 4, 1948 (aged 59–60) New York City |
| Nationality | American |
| Occupation | university professor, teacher, literary historian |
| Known for | Leader of Melville Revival |
Raymond Melbourne Weaver (1888 in Baltimore, Maryland - April 4, 1948 in New York City) was a professor of English and comparative literature at Columbia University in 1916-1948, and a literary scholar best known for publishing the first full biography of American author Herman Melville (1819-1891) in 1921 and editing Melville's works. Weaver's scholarly credentials, training, and persuasiveness were important in launching the "Melville Revival" of the 1920s that brought Melville from obscurity to wide recognition.
Weaver was an influential teacher. He published a novel, wrote introductions for editions of American fiction, book reviews, and literary essays, but never published another scholarly book.
In 1909 when Weaver was an undergraduate, he came across Melville's first book, Typee, but "stopped at the beginning," as he later wrote, and did not return to Melville for another decade. He graduated from Columbia Teachers College in 1910. In pursuit of teaching, he went to Japan, where he taught English in Hiroshima, and started his career as a writer by publishing articles of travel and reporting. He returned to become a graduate student at Columbia University, where his initial interest was in the literature of the Renaissance.
Weaver first taught at Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute, then was hired by Columbia to replace a socialist professor who had been fired because of his peace activities (Weaver left to teach again at Brooklyn Polytechnic, only to return to Columbia for good in 1922).
Carl Van Doren, then an editor of the The Nation magazine, had discovered the works of Melville and was impressed by Weaver's "ability to deal with a speculative subject." When they were seated side-by-side at a faculty dinner, Van Doren commissioned Weaver to write an article for The Nation to mark the centennial of Melville's birth in November, 1919. Weaver at first thought the project would be "child's play" and "a day's job," but when he went to the library, he was surprised to find that while there were many works by Melville there was almost nothing about him. Weaver's article for The Nation said that Moby-Dick was “born in hell-fire, and baptized in an unspeakable name” and that it “reads like a great opium dream,” but contains “some of the most finished comedy in the language.”
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