Different Time Zones: Newtonian Time, Herman Melville and Omoo

This essay examines the complex relationship between time and place in Herman Melville's second book, Omoo. In it I argue that Melville is intensely resistant to enumerative and deterministic models of time, and that he instead favours fluid and qualitative versions of it. Suggesting that a spatial bias in Melville studies has led to temporality being neglected, I draw on critical conceptualizations of the 'planetary' and 'hemispheric' to construct a model for thinking about global temporalities. Through contextualizing Wai Chee Dimock's notion of Newtonian time, I examine the ways in which Newton was at the heart of American Renaissance thinking about time, and note how Melville manifested his animus towards his theories. Having established this, I see how Melville resists what may be termed on methodological grounds Newtonian time through the opposition he constructs between 'ship time' and 'island time'.