Herman Melville

The whaler-turned-writer whose Pacific adventures became the American novel nobody read until fifty years after his death.

Specifications & Metrics

era

1819 – 1891

language

English

region

New York and the Pacific whaling grounds

notable works

Moby-Dick, Typee, Billy Budd

Core Principles & Analysis

• Eighteen months captive in the Marquesas supplied his first bestseller, Typee.
• Moby-Dick (1851) sank his career; he died working as a customs inspector.
• The 1920s centenary rediscovery made him the American canon's core.

Sources

• Wikipedia: Herman Melville