humnas and dogs

[Terrance F. Flaherty]

Also in 1855 Herman Melville published Israel Potter: His
Fifty Years Of Exile. Israel is an American loser—a failure
and a victim. After fighting for his country
he finds his
homestead burnt down and being ploughed over, while he
himself is spurned by his ungrateful country and left to die
in poverty and obscurity
He is a case of total obliteration
and erasure—he is one of those many Americans whom Thomas
Pynchon was to designate as “the praeterite,” all those
discarded, passed over, negated, or otherwise junked by the
dominant power system.

    --Tony Tanner

I can not find Tanner’s Introduction on line, however those
that are not familiar Melville’s Confidence Man may find the
following web site helpful.

http://xroads.virginia.edu/~MA96/atkins/cmmain.html

CM Chapter III In which a Variety of Characters Appear

“And who is your master, Guinea?”
“Oh, sar, I am der dog without massa.”
“A free dog, eh? Well, on your account, I’m sorry for that,
Guinea. Dogs without masters fare hard.”

M&D Chapter III

“Oughtn’t we to summon the Owners
?” suggests Dixon.
“I am a British Dog, Sir. No one owns me.”

Terrance