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Herman Melville (born Melvill; August 1, 1819 – September 28, 1891) was an American novelist, short story writer, and poet of the American Renaissance period. Among his best-known works are Moby-Dick (1851); Typee (1846), a romanticized account of his experiences in Polynesia ; and Billy Budd, Sailor , a posthumously published novella .
- Overview
- Heritage and youth
- Wanderings and voyages
Herman Melville’s family was descended from Scottish and Dutch settlers of New York and had taken leading roles in the American Revolution and in the early affairs of the United States. One grandfather was a member of the Boston Tea Party, and the other was known for defending Fort Stanwix, New York, against the British.
What is Herman Melville famous for?
Herman Melville was briefly famous in his lifetime as the writer of adventure novels such as Typee and Omoo. Beginning in the early 20th century, Melville’s works, including Moby Dick, “Bartleby the Scrivener,” and Billy Budd, rose in critical esteem, and he was eventually considered to be one of the great American writers.
What were Herman Melville's jobs?
As a young man, Herman Melville worked as a schoolteacher. He then worked on the sea, first as a cabin boy and later as a harpooner on a whaling ship. For a time Melville made a living by writing popular novels, but he spent his last decades in obscurity working as a customs inspector.
Herman Melville (born August 1, 1819, New York City—died September 28, 1891, New York City) American novelist, short-story writer, and poet, best known for his novels of the sea, including his masterpiece, Moby Dick (1851).
Melville’s heritage and youthful experiences were perhaps crucial in forming the conflicts underlying his artistic vision. He was the third child of Allan and Maria Gansevoort Melvill, in a family that was to grow to four boys and four girls. His forebears had been among the Scottish and Dutch settlers of New York and had taken leading roles in the American Revolution and in the fiercely competitive commercial and political life of the new country. One grandfather, Maj. Thomas Melvill, was a member of the Boston Tea Party in 1773 and was subsequently a New York importer. The other, Gen. Peter Gansevoort, was a friend of James Fenimore Cooper and famous for leading the defense of Fort Stanwix, in upstate New York, against the British.
In 1826 Allan Melvill wrote of his son as being “backward in speech and somewhat slow in comprehension . . . of a docile and amiable disposition.” In that same year, scarlet fever left the boy with permanently weakened eyesight, but he attended Male High School. When the family import business collapsed in 1830, the family returned to Albany, where Herman enrolled briefly in Albany Academy. Allan Melvill died in 1832, leaving his family in desperate straits. The eldest son, Gansevoort, assumed responsibility for the family and took over his father’s felt and fur business. Herman joined him after two years as a bank clerk and some months working on the farm of his uncle, Thomas Melvill, in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. About this time, Herman’s branch of the family altered the spelling of its name. Though finances were precarious, Herman attended Albany Classical School in 1835 and became an active member of a local debating society. A teaching job in Pittsfield made him unhappy, however, and after three months he returned to Albany.
Young Melville had already begun writing, but the remainder of his youth became a quest for security. A comparable pursuit in the spiritual realm was to characterize much of his writing. The crisis that started Herman on his wanderings came in 1837, when Gansevoort went bankrupt and the family moved to nearby Lansingburgh (later Troy). In what was to be a final attempt at orthodox employment, Herman studied surveying at Lansingburgh Academy to equip himself for a post with the Erie Canal project. When the job did not materialize, Gansevoort arranged for Herman to ship out as cabin boy on the “St. Lawrence,” a merchant ship sailing in June 1839 from New York City for Liverpool. The summer voyage did not dedicate Melville to the sea, and on his return his family was dependent still on the charity of relatives. After a grinding search for work, he taught briefly in a school that closed without paying him. His uncle Thomas, who had left Pittsfield for Illinois, apparently had no help to offer when the young man followed him west. In January 1841 Melville sailed on the whaler “Acushnet,” from New Bedford, Massachusetts, on a voyage to the South Seas.
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In June 1842 the “Acushnet” anchored in the Marquesas Islands in present-day French Polynesia. Melville’s adventures here, somewhat romanticized, became the subject of his first novel, Typee (1846). In July Melville and a companion jumped ship and, according to Typee, spent about four months as guest-captives of the reputedly cannibalistic Typee people. Actually, in August he was registered in the crew of the Australian whaler “Lucy Ann.” Whatever its precise correspondence with fact, however, Typee was faithful to the imaginative impact of the experience on Melville. Despite intimations of danger, Melville represented the exotic valley of the Typees as an idyllic sanctuary from a hustling, aggressive civilization.
Although Melville was down for a 120th share of the whaler’s proceeds, the voyage had been unproductive. He joined a mutiny that landed the mutineers in a Tahitian jail, from which he escaped without difficulty. On these events and their sequel, Melville based his second book, Omoo (1847). Lighthearted in tone, with the mutiny shown as something of a farce, it describes Melville’s travels through the islands, accompanied by Long Ghost, formerly the ship’s doctor, now turned drifter. The carefree roving confirmed Melville’s bitterness against colonial and, especially, missionary debasement of the native Tahitian peoples.
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Apr 2, 2014 · Best Known For: Celebrated American author Herman Melville wrote 'Moby-Dick' and several other sea-adventure novels before turning to poetry later in his literary career. Industries; Fiction...
Apr 19, 2024 · Moby Dick, novel by Herman Melville, published in London in October 1851 as The Whale and a month later in New York City as Moby-Dick; or, The Whale. It is dedicated to Nathaniel Hawthorne. Moby Dick is generally regarded as Melville’s magnum opus and one of the greatest American novels.
- What is Moby Dick?Moby Dick is a novel by Herman Melville, published in London in October 1851 as The Whale and a month later in New York City as Moby-Dick; or, The...
- Where does Moby Dick take place?The action of Moby Dick takes place largely on Captain Ahab’s whaling ship, the Pequod, while sailing in the Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific oceans.
- How was Moby Dick received when it was first published?When Moby Dick was first published, the public was unimpressed. It sold fewer than 4,000 copies in total, including fewer than 600 in the United Ki...
- What is Moby Dick a metaphor for?The whale Moby Dick has been interpreted as a metaphor for a great many things, from the Judeo-Christian God to atheism and everything in between....
- Why is Moby Dick a famous novel?Moby Dick gained recognition as an important American novel in the 1920s, more than half a century after its publication. Its fame subsequently gre...
The Life of Herman Melville. Not until the early 20th century was Herman Melville's novel Moby Dick first recognized as a literary masterpiece and touted as a cornerstone of modern...
- American Experience
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Mar 31, 2020 · Herman Melville (August 1, 1819 – September 28, 1891) was an American writer. A consummate adventurer, Melville wrote about ocean voyages with rigorous detail. His most famous work, Moby-Dick, was unappreciated during his lifetime, but has since come to the fore as one of America’s greatest novels.
Aug 29, 2012 · A Historical Guide to Herman Melville. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005. DOI: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195142822.001.0001. Six original essays by leading scholars that place Melville in the history of his own time and examine his social, political, and cultural relevance to today’s readers.
