Best Selling Books by Herman Melville

A new, definitive edition of Herman Melville's virtuosic short stories--American classics wrought with scorching fury, grim humor, and profound beauty Though best-known for his epic masterpiece Moby-Dick, Herman Melville also left a body of short stories arguably unmatched in American fiction. In the sorrowful tragedy of Billy Budd, Sailor; the controlled rage of Benito Cereno; and the tantalizing enigma of Bartleby, the Scrivener; Melville reveals himself as a singular storyteller of tremendous range and compelling power. In these stories, Melville cuts to the heart of race, class, capitalism, and globalism in America, deftly navigating political and social issues that resonate as clearly in our time as they did in Melville's. Also including The Piazza Tales in full, this collection demonstrates why Melville stands not only among the greatest writers of the nineteenth century, but also as one of our greatest contemporaries. This Penguin Classics edition features the Reading Text of Billy Budd, Sailor, as edited from a genetic study of the manuscript by Harrison Hayford and Merton M. Sealts, Jr., and the authoritative Northwestern-Newberry text of The Piazza Tales. For more than sixty-five years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,500 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

Two classics in one volume: "Bartleby," a disturbing moral allegory set in 19th-century New York, and "Benito Cereno," a gripping sea adventure that probes the nature of man's depravity.

If you don't know Melville's letters to Hawthorne, you don't know Melville. These letters are full of passion, humor, doubt, and spiritual yearning, and offer an intimate view of Melville's personality. Lyrical and effusive, they are literary works in themselves. This correspondence has been out of print for decades, and even when it was in print it appeared in scholarly volumes of Melville's complete correspondence, aimed at the academy. The Divine Magnet will provide the general literary public as well as the college classroom with a reliable and beautifully produced volume of Melville's letters to Hawthorne, along with supplemental material, highlighting the relationship between these luminaries of American letters.

Billy Budd, Sailor and Bartleby, the Scrivener are two of the most revered shorter works of fiction in history. Here, they are collected along with 19 other stories in a beautifully redesigned collection that represents the best short work of an American master.As Warner Berthoff writes in his introduction to this volume, "It is hard to think of a major novelist or storyteller who is not also a first-rate entertainer . . . a master, according to choice, of high comedy, of one or another robust species of expressive humour, or of some special variety of the preposterous, the grotesque, the absurd. And Melville, certainly, is no exception. A kind of vigorous supervisory humour is his natural idiom as a writer, and one particular attraction of his shorter work is the fresh further display it offers of this prime element in his literary character."

Presents a collection of the writings of Herman Melville.

The Malcolm Letter was written by Melville in 1849 on the birth of his son. This letter is one of thirty-six to be retrieved since the publication of The Letters of Herman Melville (1960) and has earned a place in the New York Public Library's Gansevoort-Lansing Collection. Addressed to Melville's brother, the letter entices critics to read it on several levels. It reveals Melville's serious consideration of his own father's influence on his upbringing as he anticipates undertaking the role of father himself. It is not a literary work, but a deeply personal outpouring distinguished by dark underpinnings barely hidden by his light-hearted tone. In a bit of dramatic irony, Melville reflects on the responsibility looming ahead of him as the reader notes the tragedy that Melville cannot possibly foresee - his son Malcolm's suicide eighteen years later. Cohen's and Yannella's careful study relives for the reader this and other events which shaped the clannish Melville family history. They also show how the author's struggle with these pressures are manifested in his writing. This volume is published in cooperation with the New York Public Library.

Whitman and Dickinson are the two greatest American poets of the nineteenth century, but who is the third? Some critics say Whittier, others say Poe, and these days an increasing number say Herman Melville. The revaluation of Melville's poetry is due in large part to the influence of this landmark volume, for Melville the poet has never found a more judicious, eloquent, or persuasive champion than Robert Penn Warren.

Moby-Dick or, The Whale is an 1851 novel by American writer Herman Melville. The book is sailor Ishmael's narrative of the obsessive quest of Ahab, captain of the whaling ship Pequod, for revenge on Moby Dick, the giant white sperm whale that on the ship's previous voyage bit off Ahab's leg at the knee. A contribution to the literature of the American Renaissance, the work's genre classifications range from late Romantic to early Symbolist. Moby-Dick was published to mixed reviews, was a commercial failure, and was out of print at the time of the author's death in 1891. Its reputation as a "Great American Novel" was established only in the 20th century, after the centennial of its author's birth. William Faulkner confessed he wished he had written the book himself, and D. H. Lawrence called it "one of the strangest and most wonderful books in the world" and "the greatest book of the sea ever written". Its opening sentence, "Call me Ishmael", is among world literature's most famous.About Melville: Herman Melville (August 1, 1819 - September 28, 1891) was an American novelist, short story writer, essayist, and poet. His earliest novels were bestsellers, but his popularity declined later in his life. By the time of his death he had virtually been forgotten, but his longest novel, Moby-Dick - largely considered a failure during his lifetime, and responsible for Melville's drop in popularity - was rediscovered in the 20th century as a literary masterpiece.

Herman Melville (1819 - 1891) was an American novelist, poet, and writer of short stories. His contributions to the Western canon are the whaling novel Moby-Dick (1851); the short work Bartleby, the Scrivener (1853) about a clerk in a Wall Street office; the slave ship narrative Benito Cereno (1855); and Billy Budd, Sailor (1924). When asked which of the great American writers he most admired, Vladimir Nabokov replied: "When I was young I liked Poe, and I still love Melville, whom I did not read as a boy." Around his twentieth year he was a schoolteacher for a short time, then became a seaman when his father met business reversals. On his first voyage he jumped ship in the Marquesas Islands, where he lived for a time. His first book, an account of that time, Typee, became a bestseller and Melville became known as the "man who lived among the cannibals." After Omoo, the sequel to his first book, Melville began to work philosophical issues in his third book, the elaborate Mardi (1849). The public indifference to Moby-Dick (1851), and Pierre (1852), put an end to his career as a popular author. From 1853 to 1856 he wrote short fiction for magazines, collected as The Piazza Tales (1856). In this book: Moby Dick Bartleby Typee

Presents a collection of the writings of Herman Melville.

Sail to the exotic Galapagos Islands with Herman Melville, author of "Moby-Dick." Let History and Legend, Fiction and Fact, Myth and Mystery swirl around you as you enter "The Encantadas," a unique island world stretching along our planet's Equator. Discover teeming seabird rookeries, stark volcanic landscapes, and world famous giant tortoises . . . Meet buccaneers and explorers, colonists and castaways, whalers and naturalists . . . Explore these Enchanted Isles with one of America's greatest writers . . . Enrich your once-in-a-lifetime visit to . . . The Galapagos Islands. Travelers have been arriving in the Galapagos Islands since at least 1535. While naturalist Charles Darwin made these volcanic peaks famous, Spanish explorers, English buccaneers, American whalers, Ecuadorian colonists, and a United States President all put in appearances here over the centuries. Herman Melville was one such visitor. He first glimpsed the Galapagos Islands as a young seaman on the whaler "Acushnet" out of New Bedford, Massachusetts. Years later, after the failure of his novel "Moby-Dick," he tried to regain his lost popularity with the reading public by writing a series ten of magazine sketches recalling the strange worlds he found in these Enchanted Isles. This current book was created for today's visitor-or armchair visitor. Bring it with you, or read it before you leave home. Enhance your enjoyment of the Galapagos Islands with these glimpses of its captivating natural and human history written over 150 years ago by that famous fellow traveler. Discover . . . - Herman Melville's ten sketches called "The Encantadas or Enchanted Isles." - Forty of Moses Michelsohn's striking b&w photographs (in color in the ebook) from the Galapagos islands: birds, iguanas, giant tortoises, sea lions, exotic plants, and volcanic landscapes. - Lynn Michelsohn's introduction to the work, and to each individual sketch. Enjoy your visit to the Galapagos Islands! About the Authors Herman Melville wrote in the genre that has been called "dark romanticism." "The Encantadas," like "Moby-Dick" (considered by many to be the best novel ever written) and his well respected novella "Billy Budd," draws on his shipboard experiences in the South Seas as a young man. Lynn Michelsohn has written such diverse books as "Roswell, Your Travel Guide to the UFO Capital of the World!" and "Gullah Ghosts, Stories and Folktales from the South Carolina Lowcountry." Her longstanding interests in both the Galapagos Islands and Herman Melville led to this work. Like Melville, biologist and wildlife photographer Moses Michelsohn found tortoises on the Galapagos Islands fascinating. Tree frogs in Ecuador, Costa Rica, and the southeastern United States remain his primary research interest, however.

This first volume of The Library of America's three-volume edition of the complete prose works of Herman Melville includes three romances of the South Seas. Typee and Omoo, based on the young Melville's experiences on a whaling ship, are exuberant accounts of the idyllic life among the "cannibals" in Polynesia. They remained his most popular works well into the 20th century. Mardi("the world" in Polynesian) is a mixture of love story, adventure, and political allegory, set on a mythical Pacific island, that looks forward to the complexities of Moby-Dick. Together, these three romances give early evidence of the genius and daring that make Melville the master novelist of the sea and a precursor of modernist literature. Two companion volumes--Herman Melville: Redburn, White-Jacket, Moby-Dick and Herman Melville: Pierre, Israel Potter, The Piazza Tales, The Confidence Man, Uncollected Prose, and Billy Budd complete this edition of Melville's prose.

Herman Melville is a giant of American literature, whose novels are hailed as literary masterpieces. This eBook offers readers the complete works for the first time in digital print, as well as an array of bonus features. (Current version: 1) * illustrated with many images relating to Melville’s life and works * annotated with concise introductions to the novels and other works * ALL the novels, with separate contents tables * MOBY-DICK and other works are presented with their original illustrations * images of how the novels first appeared, giving your eReader a taste of the original texts * the complete short story collections * rare short stories like DANIEL ORME – first time in digital print * the complete poetry collections * the scarce poetry collection WEEDS AND WILDINGS, which Melville wrote for his wife – first time in digital print * separate CHRONOLOGICAL and ALPHABETICAL contents tables for the poetry – find that special poem easily! * includes Melville’s complete essays, available nowhere else * bonus collection of letters by Melville – explore the writer’s personal correspondence * boasts a special criticism section, with essays by writers such as D.H. Lawrence and Virginia Woolf examining Melville’s contribution to literature * features Raymond Weaver’s seminal biography on Melville, which sparked the great revival in the author * scholarly ordering of texts in chronological order and literary genres, allowing easy navigation around Melville’s immense oeuvre Please visit www.delphiclassics.com to browse through our range of exciting titles CONTENTS: The Novels Typee Omoo Mardi Redburn White-Jacket Moby-Dick Pierre Israel Potter The Confidence-Man Billy Budd, Sailor The Short Story Collections The Piazza Tales The Apple-Tree Table and Other Sketches Billy Budd and Other Prose Pieces The Short Stories List of the Short Stories The Poetry Collections Battle Pieces and Aspects of the War Clarel: A Poem and Pilgrimage in the Holy Land John Marr and Other Sailors Timoleon and Other Ventures Weeds and Wildings, with a Rose or Two Uncollected Poems The Poems List of Poems in Chronological Order List of Poems in Alphabetical Order The Essays Fragments from a Writing Desk Etchings of a Whaling Cruise Review Authentic Anecdotes of ‘Old Zack’ Mr Parkman’s Tour Cooper’s New Novel A Thought on Book-Binding Hawthorne and His Mosses The Letters Some Personal Letters of Herman Melville by Meade Minnigerode The Criticism The Best Sea-Story Ever Written by Archibald Macmechan Herman Melville’s Moby Dick by D. H. Lawrence Herman Melville’s Typee and Omoo by D. H. Lawrence Herman Melville by Virginia Woolf The Biography Herman Melville: Man, Mariner and Mystic by Raymond Weaver

This book is annotated. Moby Dick is one of the greatest American novels ever wrote. If you've always wanted to read the classic, but just don't have the time, this abridged version can help. At just 20,000 words long, this version of the classic novel will let you read Melville's classic in just hours, and provide you with an excellent overview of the entire novel. The story tells the adventures of the wandering sailor Ishmael, and his voyage on the whaleship Pequod, commanded by Captain Ahab. Ishmael soon learns that Ahab seeks one specific whale: Moby Dick, a ferocious, enigmatic white sperm whale. In a previous encounter, the whale destroyed Ahab's boat and bit off his leg. Ahab intends to take revenge.

Herman Melville (1819 - 1891) was an American novelist, poet, and writer of short stories. His contributions to the Western canon are the whaling novel Moby-Dick (1851); the short work Bartleby, the Scrivener (1853) about a clerk in a Wall Street office; the slave ship narrative Benito Cereno (1855); and Billy Budd, Sailor (1924). When asked which of the great American writers he most admired, Vladimir Nabokov replied: "When I was young I liked Poe, and I still love Melville, whom I did not read as a boy." Around his twentieth year he was a schoolteacher for a short time, then became a seaman when his father met business reversals. On his first voyage he jumped ship in the Marquesas Islands, where he lived for a time. His first book, an account of that time, Typee, became a bestseller and Melville became known as the "man who lived among the cannibals." After Omoo, the sequel to his first book, Melville began to work philosophical issues in his third book, the elaborate Mardi (1849). The public indifference to Moby-Dick (1851), and Pierre (1852), put an end to his career as a popular author. From 1853 to 1856 he wrote short fiction for magazines, collected as The Piazza Tales (1856). In this book: Moby Dick; or The Whale Bartleby, The Scrivener A Story of Wall-Street The Piazza Tales Typee A Romance of the South Sea, A Romance of the South Sea Pierre; or The Ambiguities

This carefully crafted ebook: "HERMAN MELVILLE Ultimate Collection" is formatted for your eReader with a functional and detailed table of contents: Herman Melville (1819-1891) was an American novelist, short story writer and a poet. His writing draws on his experience at sea as a common sailor, exploration of literature and philosophy, and engagement in the contradictions of American society in a period of rapid change. Novels: Typee Omoo Mardi Redburn White-Jacket Moby-Dick Pierre Israel Potter The Confidence-Man Billy Budd, Sailor Short Stories: The Piazza Bartleby, the Scrivener Benito Cereno The Lightning-Rod Man The Encantadas, or Enchanted Isles The Bell-Tower The Apple-Tree Table Jimmy Rose I and My Chimney The Paradise of Bachelors and The Tartarus of Maids Cock-a-Doodle-Doo! The Fiddler Poor Man's Pudding and Rich Man's Crumbs The Happy Failure The 'Gees The Two Temples Daniel Orme Poetry Collections: Clarel – A Poem and Pilgrimage in the Holy Land Battle-Pieces and Aspects of the War Timoleon and Other Ventures in Minor Verse Weeds and Wildings, With a Rose or Two John Marr and Other Sailors Bridgeroom Dick Tom Deadlight Jack Roy The Haglets The Aeolian Harp To the Master of the "Meteor" Far off Shore The Man-of-War Hawk The Figure-Head The Good Craft "Snow Bird" Old Counsel The Tuft of Kelp The Maldive Shark To Ned Crossing the Tropics The Berg The Enviable Isles Pebbles Poems from Mardi We Fish Invocation Dirge Marlena Pipe Song Song of Yoomy Gold The Land of Love Other Poems Essays: Fragments from a Writing Desk Etchings of a Whaling Cruise Authentic Anecdotes of "Old Zack" Mr. Parkman's Tour Cooper's New Novel A Thought on Book-Binding Hawthorne and His Mosses Criticism: Herman Melville by Virginia Woolf Herman Melville's Moby Dick by D.H. Lawrence Herman Melville's Typee and Omoo by D.H. Lawrence

Presents a collection of the writings of Herman Melville.

Herman Melville was born in New York City on August 1st, 1819 the third of eight children. At age 7 he contracted scarlet fever which was to permanently diminish his eyesight. By 12 his Father, bankrupted by a failed fur business with the embargo's of the 1812 war with England, died. The family was left penniless. He was briefly able to attend again the Albany Academy from October 1836 to March 1837, where he studied the classics. After a failed stint as a surveyor he signed on to go to sea and travelled across the Atlantic to Liverpool and then on further voyages to the Pacific on adventures which would soon become the architecture of his novels. Whilst travelling he joined a mutiny, was jailed, fell in love with a South Pacific beauty and became known as a figure of opposition to the coercion of native Hawaiians to the Christian religion. He drew from these experiences in his books Typee, Omoo, and White-Jacket. These were published as novels, the first initially in London in 1846. They sold very well and enabled him to write full time although royalties were not vast. (During his life it is estimated his writing brought him no more than $10,000). In 1847 he married Elizabeth Shaw and after initially settling in New York they moved to Massachusetts. By 1851 his masterpiece, Moby Dick, was ready and published. It is perhaps, and certainly at the time, one of the most ambitious novels ever written. However it never sold out its initial print run of 3,000 and Melville's earnings on this masterpiece was $556.37. In succeeding years his reputation waned and he found life increasingly difficult. His family was growing, now four children, and a stable income was essential. By 1855 with his writings almost ignored he joined the New York Customs house and worked there for the next 19 years. He published his last book in 1857 to little notice. Despite periods of drinking, depression and other ails Elizabeth stood by her husband despite calls from other family members and the marriage held together. In the 1860's he wrote many poems, many based on the Civil War. But there was no publisher for him and no audience. In 1876 he was at last able to publish privately his 16,000 line epic poem Clare! It was to no avail. By 1885 with his wife's inheritances they were able to retire. Herman Melville, novelist, poet, short story writer and essayist, died at his home on September 28rh 1891. He was the first writer to have his works collected and published by the Library of America.

Short stories include portraits of a young sailor's clash with authority, the extreme passive resistance of a law clerk, and a mutiny on a slave ship.

Brought to you by the long-time writer of Hellboy's B.P.R.D, John Arcudi curates a magnificent collection of over fifty illustrations inspired by the works of Herman Melville. Each piece of art is brand new for this collection from artists known for their work in comics as well as illustration, ranging from US artist to abroad. Accompanying each piece of art is an excerpt from Herman Melville from his novels or short story that coincides with the illustration. Join the celebration of Melville's bicentennial. There won't be better reason to do so for another 100 years.

This eBook features the unabridged text of ‘Isle of the Cross by Herman Melville - Delphi Classics (Illustrated)’ from the bestselling edition of ‘The Complete Works of Herman Melville’. Having established their name as the leading publisher of classic literature and art, Delphi Classics produce publications that are individually crafted with superior formatting, while introducing many rare texts for the first time in digital print. The Delphi Classics edition of Melville includes original annotations and illustrations relating to the life and works of the author, as well as individual tables of contents, allowing you to navigate eBooks quickly and easily. eBook features: * The complete unabridged text of ‘Isle of the Cross by Herman Melville - Delphi Classics (Illustrated)’ * Beautifully illustrated with images related to Melville’s works * Individual contents table, allowing easy navigation around the eBook * Excellent formatting of the textPlease visit www.delphiclassics.com to learn more about our wide range of titles

Herman Melville was born in New York City on August 1st, 1819, the third of eight children. At the age of 7 Melville contracted scarlet fever which was to permanently diminish his eyesight. At this time Melville was described as being "very backwards in speech and somewhat slow in comprehension." His father died when he was 12 leaving the family in very straitened times. Just 14 Melville took a job in a bank paying $150 a year that he obtained via his uncle, Peter Gansevoort, who was one of the directors of the New York State Bank. After a failed stint as a surveyor he signed on to go to sea and travelled across the Atlantic to Liverpool and then on further voyages to the Pacific on adventures which would soon become the architecture of his novels. Whilst travelling he joined a mutiny, was jailed, fell in love with a South Pacific beauty and became known as a figure of opposition to the coercion of native Hawaiians to the Christian religion. He drew from these experiences in his books Typee, Omoo, and White-Jacket. These were published as novels, the first initially in London in 1846. By 1851 his masterpiece, Moby Dick, was ready to be published. It is perhaps, and certainly at the time, one of the most ambitious novels ever written. However, it never sold out its initial print run of 3,000 and Melville's earnings on this masterpiece were a mere $556.37. In succeeding years his reputation waned and he found life increasingly difficult. His family was growing, now four children, and a stable income was essential. With his finances in a disappointing state Melville took the advice of friends that a change in career was called for. For many others public lecturing had proved very rewarding. From late 1857 to 1860, Melville embarked upon three lecture tours, where he spoke mainly on Roman statuary and sightseeing in Rome. In 1876 he was at last able to publish privately his 16,000 line epic poem Clarel. It was to no avail. The book had an initial printing of 350 copies, but sales failed miserably. On December 31st, 1885 Melville was at last able to retire. His wife had inherited several small legacies and provide them with a reasonable income. Herman Melville, novelist, poet, short story writer and essayist, died at his home on September 28rh 1891 from cardiovascular disease.

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. To ensure a quality reading experience, this work has been proofread and republished using a format that seamlessly blends the original graphical elements with text in an easy-to-read typeface. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

A collection of selected short and long stories by one of the greatest American novelist, short story writer, and poet of the American Renaissance period Herman Melville. This collection will present an overview of his literary genius at various genres that he incorporated through his writings.

No library's complete without the classics! "Call me Ishmael" says Moby Dick's protagonist, and with this famous first line launches one of the acclaimed great American novels. Part adventure story, part quest for vengeance, part biological textbook and part whaling manual, Moby Dick was first published in 1851. The story follows Ishmael as he abandons his humdrum life on shore for an adventure on the waves. Finding the whaler Pequod at harbour in Nantucket, he signs up for a three year term without meeting the Captain of the ship, a mysterious figure called Ahab. It is only well into the voyage that Ahab's thirst for vengeance against the eponymous white whale Moby Dick--and the consequences--become clear. The novel is semi-autobiographical: Herman Melville had had his own experience of whaling, having spent a year and a half aboard a whaling ship and further years travelling the world in the early 1840s. Herman used the knowledge gained from his experiences and wide reading on the subject to furnish Moby Dick with an almost encyclopaedic quality at times. The literary style varies widely, veering from soliloquies and staged scenes to dream sequences to comprehensive lists of ships provisions, but everything serves to further detail the world that's being painted. Presented here is the New York edition, which was published later than the London edition and reverted numerous changes the original publishers had made, as well as including the initially omitted epilogue. Complete Unabridged Original Illustrated with book-end doodles about reading

A reconstruction of Melville's original text omits the "Pierre as author" subplot that was later assimilated and is accompanied by thirty full-color pictures by Maurice Sendak. $35,000 ad/promo.

Herman Melville was born in New York City on August 1st, 1819, the third of eight children. At the age of 7 Melville contracted scarlet fever which was to permanently diminish his eyesight. At this time Melville was described as being "very backwards in speech and somewhat slow in comprehension." His father died when he was 12 leaving the family in very straitened times. Just 14 Melville took a job in a bank paying $150 a year that he obtained via his uncle, Peter Gansevoort, who was one of the directors of the New York State Bank. After a failed stint as a surveyor he signed on to go to sea and travelled across the Atlantic to Liverpool and then on further voyages to the Pacific on adventures which would soon become the architecture of his novels. Whilst travelling he joined a mutiny, was jailed, fell in love with a South Pacific beauty and became known as a figure of opposition to the coercion of native Hawaiians to the Christian religion. He drew from these experiences in his books Typee, Omoo, and White-Jacket. These were published as novels, the first initially in London in 1846. By 1851 his masterpiece, Moby Dick, was ready to be published. It is perhaps, and certainly at the time, one of the most ambitious novels ever written. However, it never sold out its initial print run of 3,000 and Melville's earnings on this masterpiece were a mere $556.37. In succeeding years his reputation waned and he found life increasingly difficult. His family was growing, now four children, and a stable income was essential. With his finances in a disappointing state Melville took the advice of friends that a change in career was called for. For many others public lecturing had proved very rewarding. From late 1857 to 1860, Melville embarked upon three lecture tours, where he spoke mainly on Roman statuary and sightseeing in Rome. In 1876 he was at last able to publish privately his 16,000 line epic poem Clarel. It was to no avail. The book had an initial printing of 350 copies, but sales failed miserably. On December 31st, 1885 Melville was at last able to retire. His wife had inherited several small legacies and provide them with a reasonable income. Herman Melville, novelist, poet, short story writer and essayist, died at his home on September 28rh 1891 from cardiovascular disease.

Herman Melville was born in New York City on August 1st, 1819, the third of eight children. At the age of 7 Melville contracted scarlet fever which was to permanently diminish his eyesight. At this time Melville was described as being "very backwards in speech and somewhat slow in comprehension." His father died when he was 12 leaving the family in very straitened times. Just 14 Melville took a job in a bank paying $150 a year that he obtained via his uncle, Peter Gansevoort, who was one of the directors of the New York State Bank. After a failed stint as a surveyor he signed on to go to sea and travelled across the Atlantic to Liverpool and then on further voyages to the Pacific on adventures which would soon become the architecture of his novels. Whilst travelling he joined a mutiny, was jailed, fell in love with a South Pacific beauty and became known as a figure of opposition to the coercion of native Hawaiians to the Christian religion. He drew from these experiences in his books Typee, Omoo, and White-Jacket. These were published as novels, the first initially in London in 1846. By 1851 his masterpiece, Moby Dick, was ready to be published. It is perhaps, and certainly at the time, one of the most ambitious novels ever written. However, it never sold out its initial print run of 3,000 and Melville's earnings on this masterpiece were a mere $556.37. In succeeding years his reputation waned and he found life increasingly difficult. His family was growing, now four children, and a stable income was essential. With his finances in a disappointing state Melville took the advice of friends that a change in career was called for. For many others public lecturing had proved very rewarding. From late 1857 to 1860, Melville embarked upon three lecture tours, where he spoke mainly on Roman statuary and sightseeing in Rome. In 1876 he was at last able to publish privately his 16,000 line epic poem Clarel. It was to no avail. The book had an initial printing of 350 copies, but sales failed miserably. On December 31st, 1885 Melville was at last able to retire. His wife had inherited several small legacies and provide them with a reasonable income. Herman Melville, novelist, poet, short story writer and essayist, died at his home on September 28rh 1891 from cardiovascular disease.

La poursuite forcenée de la baleine blanche par le capitaine Achab, habitué de la "lutte cosmique en mer", et dont le bateau sombrera.