Doing what comes naturally : the domestication of bug and humbug at Melville’s table

Of the short pieces Herman Melville wrote between 1853 and 1856, while trying his chances as a short story writer, the last was “The Apple-Tree Table; Or, Original Spiritual Manifestations”, published in Putnam’s Monthly Magazine in May, 1856. As in some other Melvillean works the core narrative is based on a true story to which he obtained access. Set in a domestic environment, with characters also present in former stories, the action takes place when a bug emerges from an ancient table, eliciting all kinds of responses. The contrasting reactions and the way they are portrayed show that beneath this apparently simple and humorous narrative there are inner layers of a subtle philosophical debate. Throughout his life, Melville maintained a permanent interest in Emerson’s writings, in spite of a paradoxical double reaction of acceptance and rejection of his ideas. This article addresses the relationship between this short story and the principles stated in the essay “Nature”, as well as other positions of Melville concerning Ralph Waldo Emerson.