Billy Budd
Assigned by 1 of the 9 reading lists, catalogue entry only
- Written
- written 1886-1891, published 1924
- Form
- Novel
- Language
- English
- Length
- Short · 100 ppunder 120 pages
- Difficulty
- Demanding3 of 5 for a first-year reader
We recommendBilly Budd, Sailor and Selected TalesOxford World's Classics, 2009Uses the Hayford and Sealts reading text, the scholarly reconstruction of Melville's unfinished manuscript.
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In 1797, the year of the great mutinies in the British navy, the handsome and innocent young sailor Billy Budd is pressed from a merchant ship onto the warship Bellipotent. The master-at-arms John Claggart conceives an unexplained hatred for him and accuses him of plotting mutiny before Captain Vere. Billy, who stammers when agitated, cannot answer and strikes Claggart dead with a single blow. Vere, convinced of Billy's moral innocence but bound by the Articles of War, convenes a drumhead court that condemns him, and Billy is hanged at dawn blessing the captain. Melville left the manuscript unfinished at his death.
No reading guide yet
The catalogue entry above is complete: the dates, the form, the themes and every program that assigns Billy Budd are verified against each program's published list.
What is missing is the part that takes real work: the summary, the key passages, and a recommended translation. The edition named below is the one most programs assign, so the buy links are useful already.
