Herman Melville

Herman Melville's professional career as a writer was short-lived, spanning only eleven years. It was between the ages of twenty-five and thirty-six that he published nine novels and a collection of short fiction (Madans vii). The tragedy of his life is that at the end of this period, he appears to have totally given up his writing career and ultimately would work as a customs house inspector, for approximately twenty (20) years, on the docks in New York City. While he merited an obituary in The New York Times, at the time of his death in 1891, he was essentially forgotten. Even his obituary erred in calling him "Henry" Melville.

Melville was born into a middle-class family and had the burden of the support foisted upon him at the age of sixteen (16) due to the death of his father. The need to support a debt-ridden family ultimately would lead him to working as a sailor, the second stint lasting approximately four (4) years. While his record as a sailor was far from stellar (Madans viii), it would provide him the basis of experience that would allow him to write five (5) of his novels, one of which was Moby Dick which was published in 1851. It was neither critically acclaimed nor was it economically successful.

What Moby Dick does represent is a combination of sea adventure, textbook on whaling, a discussion on human obsession, and in part, a look at "man's need to question the boundaries of his existence and do battle, however hopelessly, agai

Related Essays

Herman Melville Herman Melville was truly a rugged individual. Desiring .... New York Times. 16 Oct. 1999 Wikipedia. Herman Melville. Wikimedia Commons. Accessed .... (538 2 )

Herman Melville Herman Melville's creation Bartleby, who appears in his story "Bartleby the Scrivener" is a man who lives in a highly straightened world. .... (874 3 )

Herman Melville's Moby Dick Herman Melville's tale of the quest for the "Great White Whale" provides a vehicle for the author to explore the larger themes such as man's place in the .... (2433 10 )

"Benito Cereno" by Herman Melville In the story "Benito Cereno" by Herman Melville, the author tells a story that had been told before, a true story reported in a book by the real Amasa Delano. .... (1088 4 )

"Benito Cereno" by Melville In the story "Benito Cereno" by Herman Melville, the author tells a story that had been told before, a true story reported in a book by the real Amasa Delano. .... (1088 4 )

Category: Literature - H