| Notes |
- Note: NOVELIST, POET
AUTHOR OF "MOBY DICK" (1851)
WROTE THE SHORT STORY, "BARTLEBY THE SCRIVENER" (1853)
CLOSE FRIEND OF AUTHOR NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE
At the age of 20, Herman went off to sea as a cabin boy. He returned
to the U.S. and taught school for a while then shipped off on a
whaling vessel for the South Seas. He jumped ship in the Marquesas
Islands and encountered a tribe of cannibals. In 1843, he enlisted as
a seaman aboard the U.S. Navy frigate "United States." Discharged in
1844, Melville turned to writing and completed his famous novel MOBY
DICK in 1851, though it was not received well and made little money.
In fact, most of Melville's work went almost completely unrecognized
until after his death. Today he is considered one of America's
greatest writers. His last work BILLY BUDD, FORETOPMAN was completed
just before his death in 1891, but was not published until 1924. It
was later turned into an opera by Benjamin Britten.
"Call me Ishmael. Some years ago--never mind how long
precisely--having little or no money in my purse, and nothing
particular to interest me on shore, I thought I would sail about a
little and see the watery part of the world. It is a way I have of
driving off the spleen, and regulating the circulation." --Herman
Melville, from MOBY DICK.
Melville
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1819 - 1891 (72 years)
