HERMAN MELVILLE
American author (1819-1891)
Biography:
Herman Melville was born in new York in 1819. The ocean has left its mark on his life and his work. His father died in 1832, leaving the family in a very difficult finantial situation. Herman Melville has to earn some money and he works everywhere. He enrolls in a whaler for 23 years in the South Seas. In 1846 he narrates his adventures in Taipi and in 1847 he publishes Omoo. Although this two books were really successful, Melville felt not at all satisfied, for people admired his adventurous nature but not his talent as writer.
In his next book Mardi, he tries to build a good plot and give some symbolism to its characters but neither this book nor the following ones were successful. From 1857 on, after having written Moby Dick, he decides to devote himself to poetry.
Almost blind by an illness, Melville does not give up his two dreams: the sea and literature. In 1888, at the age of 69, he writes the wonderful Billy Bud Sailor, examining justice, law, male bondings, father figures and fear of love. This was his only posthumously published book.
He died on 28 September 1891.
Critical analysis on Moby Dick:
Herman Melville and Moby Dick
By borrowing images from the sea world, Melville managed to write Moby Dick or The White Whale (1851) and to give an apocalyptic and haunting character to the novel. The whole book was dedicated to another American writer, Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804-1864), who wrote The Scarlet Letter in 1850, for they very quite close friends.
The tale recalls Captain Ahab's deranged chase after the White Whale. Eventually his whaler sinks.
The mixture of realistic passages and symbolic figures like Moby Dick, embodiment of Evil, make this epic the struggling centre of the novel. Just as in Pierre or the Ambiguities (1852), Melville recalls the battle between Good and Evil forces.
The 20th century has rediscovered Melville, forgotten although being quite successful during his lifetime, thanks to the modernity of his wotks. In 1851, readers were confused by the epic character of Moby Dick. Indeed, the writer's quest was to give a metaphisic message to his gripping novel of adventures. For all that, Melville is considered to be a forerunner for many present writers.