Literature of the Americas Literature of the Americas 2541-7894 2542-243X IWL RAS https://doi.org/10.22455/2541-7894-2020-8-402-416 Articles “Ego non baptizo te in nomine patris...”: On the Fantastic / Supernatural / Demoniac in Melville’s Novel Moby Dick 2020 Copyright © 2026, IWL RAS 2026 The paper addresses the theme of the fantastic in Melville’s Moby Dick, or The White Whale. Its importance is underscored in the writer’s letter to Hawthorne, where he mentioned the secret motto of the book, namely, the presence of the demoniac. It is embodied in the figure of Fedallah endowed with pointedly satanic features. An examination of the plot proves that throughout the ship’s journey Ahab was closely connected with Fedallah and acted on his bidding. This mysterious figure has not attracted much attention of the Russian scholars. The analysis of Fedallah’s role in the novel, however, helps to reassess both the protagonist and the message of the book. The paper shows that the definition of Ahab as a romantic individualist pursuing higher values, is inapplicable to the character. At the helm of the “Pequod” was a mad captain possessed by the devil. The assumption that Ahab embodies the principle of Emerson’s “self-reliance” does not hold water, since the captain doesn’t rely on the voice of God in himself, but on the voice of the devil. Emphasized in the book is the theme of revenge as an irrational, blind passion infused into Ahab by the Satan. The analysis of the fantastic element in the novel helps to avoid a certain bias in determining the message of the book, which some Russian scholars define as a protest against the “bourgeois America”. The paper contains a revaluation of the symbolic figure of Moby Dick traditionally treated as an embodiment of the world’s evil. The White Whale in Melville’s novel represents some natural force which carries out punishment for human cruelty, blind revengefulness, and fanaticism 1. Gazeeva, E.A., Iakovleva, T.I. “Dva tipa romanticheskogo soznaniia v romane Germana Melvilla “Mobi Dik”. Vliianie idei Emersona na razvitie kliuchevykh obra- zov romana.” [“Two Types of Romantic Mind in the Novel ‘Moby Dick’ by Herman Melville. The Influence of Emerson’s Ideas on the Main Characters’ Development”]. Chelovek i iazyk v kommunikativnom prostranstve [Man and Language in Communi- cative Space]. Krasnoiarsk: Sibirskii federal'nyi universitet Publ., 2014: 90–95. (In Russ.) 2. Golovacheva, I.V. Fantastika i fantasticheskoe [Fantastika and the Fantastic]. St. Petersburg: Petropolis Publ., 2013. (In Russ.) 3. 4. Kazin, A. An American Procession. Major American Writers, 1830–1930. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1996. 5. Kovalev, Iu.V. Herman Melville i amerikanskii romantizm [Herman Melville and American Romanticism]. Leningrad: Khudozhestvennaia  literatura  Publ.,  1972. (In Russ.) 6. The Letters of Melville, ed. R.I. Merrell, H.G. William. New Haven, CT; L.: Yale University Press, 1960. 7. Matthiessen, F.O. American Renaissance: Art and Expression in the Age of Emerson and Whitman. Whitefish, MT: Literary Licensing, 2013. 8. Melville, H. Moby Dick, or The White Whale. London: Dent, 1965. 9. Melville, H. Mobi Dik, ili Belyi Kit [Moby-Dick; or, The Whale]. Moscow: Gosudarstvennoe izdatel'stvo geograficheskoi literatury Publ., 1962. (In Russ.) 10. Murray, H. “In Nomine Diaboli.” Melville. A Collection of Critical Essays, ed. Richard Chase. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1962 (Repr. 1951): 62–74. 11. Osipova, E.F. “Filosofskie romany Melvilla.” [“Philosophical Novels by H. Melville.”] Osipova, E.F. Amerikanskii roman ot Kupera do Londona. Ocherki po istorii romana SShA XIX veka [American Novel from Cooper to London. Essays on    the History of the US Nineteenth-century Novel]. St. Petersburg: Nestor-Istoriia Publ., 2014: 94–109. (In Russ.) 12. Pommer, H. Milton and Melville. New York: Cooper Square Publisher, 1970. 13. Prozorov, V. Mechta i tragediia: Po stranitsam amerikanskoi klassiki [Dream and Tragedy: Through the Pages of the American Classics]. Petrozavodsk:  KGPI Publ., 1993. (In Russ.) 14. Samokhvalov, N.I. “Herman Melville.” Istoriia amerikanskoi literatury [History of American Literature], ed. N.I. Samokhvalov. Vol. 1. Moscow: Prosveshchenie Publ., 1971: 141–154. (In Russ.) 15. Shogentsukova, N.A. Opyt ontologicheskoi poetiki [The Experience of Ontological Poetics]. Moscow: Nasledie Publ., 1995. (In Russ.) 16. Trubnikov, N.N. “Pritcha o belom kite.” [“The Parable of the White Whale.”] Voprosy filosofii 1 (1989): 56–82. (In Russ.) 17. Venediktova, T.D. Literatura kak opyt, ili “Burzhuaznyi chitatel'”  kak kul'turnyi geroi [Literature as Experience, or the “Bourgeois Reader” as a Cultural Hero]. Moscow: Novoe literaturnoe obozrenie Publ., 2018. (In Russ.) 18. Williams, J. White Fire. The Influence of Emerson on Melville. Long Beach, CA: California State University, 1991. 19. Zverev, A.M. “Herman Melville.” Istoriia literatury SShA [History of the USA Literature]. Vol. III. Moscow: Nasledie Publ., 2000: 114–171. (In Russ.)