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| Southern Literary Messenger (June 1851) |
Oh reader! "gentle" or not,—I care not a whit,—so you are honest—I will tell you a secret. I write not to be read, and I swear never even to transcribe for your benefit unless I change my mind. All I want is a good listener; I want to converse with you; and if you are absolutely dumb, why I will sometimes answer for you.
Hundreds go and come at my word; none are my "equals," so none are my social friends. I have much to do; very much;—if I nod at my post, some one, or some interest suffers,—nevertheless, the race of hermits is extinct, and man requires companionship; there are some moments unoccupied, sometimes even hours, and you shall be my Imaginary Friend, and I will talk to you.
--June 1851 Scenes Beyond the Western Border; and Scenes and Adventures in the Army [with "Imaginary Friend" revised to "Friend"].
"You see, good reader, I am making a confidant of you, and that too in matters that another tyro-editor more discreet would very likely keep to himself, seeking to pass himself off as a veteran. But I desire to make a friend of you, and without frankness how accomplish it?"
--Herman Melville, "House of the Tragic Poet," in Robert A. Sandberg's edition of Melville's unfinished "Burgundy Club" book (PhD Dissertation, Northwestern University, 1989).The Captain's Imaginary Friend gets a name in the August 1852 installment of Scenes Beyond the Western Border. Yes, Frank.
Update 07/14/2018: the text of Melville's "House of the Tragic Poet" is now available in Volume 13 of The Writings of Herman Melville:
- Billy Budd, Sailor and Other Uncompleted Writings ed. Harrison Hayford, Alma A. MacDougall, Robert A. Sandberg, and G. Thomas Tanselle (Northwestern University Press and The Newberry Library, 2017), pages 141-5.
