Why Moralize upon It?

Franklin Delano Roosevelt famously declared that “the greatest duty of a statesman is to educate.” The central claim of “Why Moralize upon It?” is that it is not only statesmen who can help educate a democratic citizenry, but also novelists and filmmakers. This book’s title is drawn from Melville’s “Benito Cereno.” Near the end of this novella, after he has put down a rebellion of enslaved Africans, the American captain Amasa Delano claims that “the past is passed,” and thus there is no need to “moralize upon it.” Melville suggests, though, that it is crucial for Americans to critically examine American history and American political institutions; otherwise, they may be blind to the existence of injustices which will ultimately undermine democracy. Danoff argues that novels and films play a crucial role in helping democratic citizens undertake the moral reflection that must be engaged with in order to preserve their political community and render it “forever worthy of the saving,” as Abraham Lincoln put it. Contending that some of the most profound American thinking about the nature of democratic leadership has come through novels more so than treaties or essays, the works of fiction examined in this book explore difficult questions rather than provide any easy answers. Because these works have an ambiguous, nuanced, and tragic outlook, they show citizen-readers how to think through the moral complexities political issues on which they must render judgment. The rich and multi-faceted democratic education that citizens glean from outstanding works of fiction is particularly necessary at a time when the media-landscape is often dominated by superficial “viral moments,” “sound-bites,” and social media posts. Moreover, given that we today live in an era of sharp political polarization in which partisans often demonize one another, it is especially valuable for Americans to be exposed to literary and cinematic works of art which remind us that none of us have a monopoly on virtue, and that all of us inhabit what Melville called “the common continent of men.”

“Brian Danoff reveals the unparalleled capacity of the novel and film to illuminate the complexity of political life and to foster the moral reflection necessary for democracy. In doing so, Danoff demonstrates that Herman Melville, Ralph Ellison, and Robert Penn Warren are indeed some of America's greatest statesmen.”, “Danoff incisively reveals and explores the crucial significance of reading great American literature, and watching great American films, to the success of our unique experiment in self-government. This impressive achievement could not have come at a better time for an American political culture that is in desperate need of resuscitation."

Brian Danoff is associate professor of political science at Miami University