Asylum for the perverse
Dec. 22nd, 2009 12:50 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
anteros_lmcFollowing on from Baynham's faded roses and soiled lilies here's Melville's take on the men of the service:
Backslidden parsons and broken-down comedians....love that!
Melville, H., (2000), White-Jacket or the World in a Man-of-War, Northwestern University Press.
"Indeed from a frigate's crew may be culled out men of all callings and vocations, from a backslidden parson to a broken-down comedian. The Navy is the asylum for the perverse, the home of the unfortunate. Here the sons of adversity meet the children of calamity, and here the children of calamity meet the offspring of sin."
Backslidden parsons and broken-down comedians....love that!
Melville, H., (2000), White-Jacket or the World in a Man-of-War, Northwestern University Press.
