Herman Melville

Literature / Writers Datebook: August 1

American novelist, famous for Moby-Dick (or The Whale), and considered one of the most important figures in American literature. 

 Brief biography of Herman Melville (b. Aug. 1 1819 - d. Sept. 28, 1891, age at death 72).   

Early Years

Herman Melville was born in New York City, the son of a wealthy merchant. His father died when he was 13, leaving the family in poverty. He left school to support family until he was 22, when he became a seaman on a whaling ship bound for the Pacific.  He deserted the ship on the Marquesa Islands and lived with the islanders until another ship took him to Tahiti. He eventually landed in Hawaii and enlisted in the US Navy. 

The writer and Influences  

At the age of 25, he left the navy and wrote novels based on his experiences. He soon gained a reputation as an author of adventure stories. At 31, he moved to Massachusetts, where he became a close friend of Nathaniel Hawthorne. Melville had almost completed Moby-Dick when Hawthorne encouraged him to change it from a simple book about whaling to an allegorical and philosophical novel.  

On one hand Moby-Dick is about Captain Ahab's search our of revenge for the fierce white whale, Moby-Dick, and details about whaling and a whaler's life. On another hand it is a story of a man's search for meaning in his life, and a tale of good versus evil.  When Moby-Dick was published, it was not a success. It was only recognised as a masterpiece 30 years after Melville's death.    

Legacy

Herman Melville's legacy is a posthumously rediscovered master whose novel Moby-Dick transformed into a cornerstone of world literature after decades of critical and commercial obscurity. Though Moby-Dick was slammed by critics and largely forgotten when Melville died in 1891, his epic was canonised in the 20th century as a supreme achievement in American symbolism, existential philosophy, and narrative scale. 

Works by Herman Melville

Typee: A Peep at Polyneian Life, 1846

Omoo:  A Narrative of Adventures in the South Seas, 1847

Mardi: 1849

Moby-Dick: 1851

The Piazza Tales: 1856

The Confidence-Man: 1857  

Billy Budd, 1924  (Published after Melville died) 

 

Image Credit:

Herman Melville, Public Domain

 

Resources:

Cambridge Guide to Literature in English by Ian Ousby (1993)

Larousse Dictionary of Writers, edited by Rosemary Goring (1994)

Macmillan Dictionary of Women's Biography. 3^rd Ed, ed. by Jennifer Uglow (1999) 

 

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