Tag: Herman Melville

Herman Melville (1819 – 1891) was an author of the American Renaissance, or Romantic, period. Born in New York City, he was the third child of a merchant dealing in imported French goods. Shortly after the death of his father in 1832, his schooling came to an abrupt end and Melville worked as a schoolteacher before going to sea, signing on for a voyage on a merchant vessel to Liverpool in 1839. He then joined the crew of a whaler, but a year and a half into the voyage, in 1842, he jumped ship in the Marquesas Islands and spent a month living among the natives. His first novel, Typee (1846) was purportedly based on his experiences in the South Pacific. The book was hugely successful, and was quickly followed by a sequel, Omoo in 1847. The same year Melville, now a successful novelist, married Elizabeth Knapp Shaw. They would have four children, all born between 1849 and 1855. Continue reading “Herman Melville and Moby Dick”