Herman Melville was born in New York, New York on August 1, 1819 (Hom-Par 1913). According to Kalasky Melville had a comfortable will to do childhood up until 1832 the year his father died. He was forced to quit his studies at New York Male High School to help support his family. He worked for his brothers fur business, at a bank as a clerk, and taught at numerous schools (Kalasky 324).
On June 5, 1839 Melville shipped off as a crew member aboard St. Lawrence, a packet ship headed for Liverpool, New England (Hillway 13). He returned to New York in October of the same year and continued his odd jobs. Mr. Melville shipped off again on January 3, 1841 as a common seaman aboard the whaling ship Acushnet, bound for the South Seas from Fairhaven , Massachusetts (14). This voyage turned out to be his most important experience, and provided the background for his first two novels, Typee: A Peep at Polynesian Life and its sequel, Omoo: A Narrative of Adventures in the South Sea (Kalasky 324). Immediate success came to Melville from these two adventure novels. In 1847, Melville married Elizabeth Shaw and had four children with her, three of them never lived past their childhood (Hom-Par 1914). Mardi a novel filled with metaphysical and philosophical questions was published in 1849, and marked the beginning of his down-fall (Kalasky 324). Mr. Melville then returned to narrative adventures and produced Redburn (1849) a novel of his first sea voyage, and White-Jacket (1850). The two works regained some of his popularity (324).
According to SoftKey Multimedia Herman Melville moved to a farm near Pittsfield, Massachusetts (1850), where he became intimate friends with Nathaniel Hawthorne, to whom he dedicated Moby-Dick. Eighteen fifty-one was the year Melville wrote Moby-Dick; or The White Whale. He gained no fame or popularity. Melville continued to write books that gained little popularity, such as Pierre: or The Ambiguities (1852) and Israel Potter (1855). The Piazza Tales (1856) contained some of MelvilleÆs finest Short Stories "Benito Cereno," "Bartleby The Scrivener," "The Encantadas," and the ten descriptive sketches of the Galapagos Islands. Between 1866 and 1885 Melville became a District Inspector of Customs in New York City to support himself. In 1888, Mr. Melville published three poetryÆs that gained recognition, John Marrand Other Sailors (1888), Timoleon (1891), and Weeds and Wildings, with a Rose or Two (1924) (Herzberg 727). Herman Melville died of a heart attack on September 28, 1891 in New York, New York, but before he did he was able to complete the novella Billy Budd (1924), a symbolic story about the clash of innocence and evil; however, he never saw it published (SoftKey).
WRITING STYLE
According to Hillway Melville had a highly imaginative, allusive, even a poetic style. An allegorical framework is noticeable in Moby Dick, White Jacket, The Confidence-Man, and Billy Bud (22). Hillway also states that from MelvilleÆs first novel Typee: A Peep at Polynesian Life to Moby-Dick: or, The Whaler, readers can find traces of fast moving, realistic narrative storytelling methods of the nineteenth-century. The presence of symbolical description is also found (21,22).
According to Hom-Par MelvilleÆs fiction is highly autobiographical and comes from records of his inner life. Hom-Par continues to state that MelvilleÆs stories are characterized by an intense interest in the problems of metaphysics, philosophy, psychology, and theology, and are often expressed in terms of myth or allegory. Hom-Par then includes that Herman was intrigued by the ambiguities which he perceived in all human experiences, and that this theme underlies his best works (1913).
PUBLIC RESPONSE
According to Kalasky Herman Melville had a wide range of public response. His immediate success came from Typee: A Peep at Polynesian Life and Omoo: A Narrative of Adventures in the South Seas. He was known as the "man who lived among the cannibals". Although most were excited about MelvilleÆs work, the Christian missionary community were infuriated about MelvilleÆs negative portrayal of them (324).
MAJOR THEMES
According to Soft Key Multimedia Herman Melville explored psychological and metaphysical themes which foreshadowed twentieth century literary concerns and it was not until long after his death that his genius use of psychological and metaphysical themes where recognized (SoftKey).
CRITICS RESPONSE
Mordecai Marcus an American poet, critic, and editor points out that critics have seen "Bartleby the Scrivener" as a somewhat allegorical comment on MelvilleÆs plight as a writer after the upsetting publications of Moby-Dick and Pierre. Mordecai also states that the story dramatizes the conflict between absolutism and free will in its protagonist, and also shows the destructive power of irrationality of a business society (Harris. Vol. 49. 376).
Another criticism by Nathaniel Hawthorne states that "Herman MelvilleÆs Typee, is a very remarkable work... The book is lightly but vigorously written; and we are acquainted with no work that gives a more effective picture of barbarian life..." He also adds that "The narrative is skillfully managed, and in a literary point of view, the execution of the work is worthy of the novelty and interest of its subject" (Harris Vol. 3. 325)
INFLUENCES
Hom-Par states that Melville was influenced by his reading of medieval and Renaissance authors, notably William Shakespeare, Dante Alighieri, Edmund Spenser, and Francois Rabelais. Influences also came in the direction of his contemporaries, including Nathaniel Hawthorne, Thomas Carlyle, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Walt Whitman. The largest influences were his own voyages of the seas (1913).
COMPARISON WITH OTHER WRITERS
Hillway states that Mr. MelvilleÆs symbolic description resembles that of Nathaniel Hawthorne and that they have interest in similar themes, which justifies placing them in the same category of American literature (22). Melville is also compared to Richard Henry Dana, Jr. in his Two Years Before The Mast (Kalasky 324). Dana was another writer who had thrilled readers of MelvilleÆs time with narrative adventures of the sea (324).
RECOMMENDED WORK
The first novel I would recommend would be Typee: A Peep At Polynesian Life. This book led to HermanÆs immediate success in 1846. I recommend this novel for its excitement and great visual description of the South Seas. Another book I recommend is MelvilleÆs second novel Omoo: A Narrative of Adventures in the South Seas because it is of the same style and is the sequel to Typee.
PRINCIPAL WORKS
The following is a list of Herman MelvilleÆs works: Typee: A Peep at Polynesian Life (novel) 1846; Omoo: A Narrative of Adventures in the South Seas (novel) 1847; Mardi: And a Voyage Thither (novel) 1849; Redburn: His First Voyage (novel) 1849; White Jacket (novel) 1850; Moby-Dick; or The Whale (novel) 1851; Pierre; or, The Ambiguities (novel) 1852; Israel Potter: His Fifty Years in Exile (novel) 1855; The Piazza Tales (short stories) 1856; The Confidence-man: His Masquerade (novel) 1857; Battle-Pieces and Aspects of the War (poetry) 1866; Clarel: A Poem and Pilgrimage in the Holy Land (poetry) 1876; John Marr and Other Sailors (poetry) 1888; Timoleon (poetry) 1891; Billy Budd and Other Prose Pieces (novel and short stories) 1924 (Harris 325).
SOURCES CONSULTED
Hillway, Tyrus. Herman Melville. New York: Twayne, 1963. 13, 14, 21, 22.
Herzberg, Max J. "Herman Melville." The ReaderÆs Encyclopedia. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell Co, 1962. 727.
Hom-Par. "Herman Melville." Critical Survey of Short Fiction.. New Jersey: Salem Press Inc., 1981. 1913,1941.
SoftKey Multimedia Inc. Infopedia 2.0. Source: Funk and Wagnales New Encyclopedia . New Jersey: Merriam-Webster, Inc. 1996.
Kalasky, Drew, ed. "Bartleby, The Scrivener." Short Story Criticism. Vol. 1,17. Michigan: Gale Research Co., 1995.
Harris, Laurie Lanzen, ed. "Herman Melville," and "Bartleby, The Scrivener." Nineteenth- Century Literature Criticism, Vol. 13,49. Michigan: Gale Research Co., 1995.
