Herman Melville was an American writer who lived from 1819 to 1891. He is best known for his novels Moby-Dick and Typee, which were written during the American Renaissance period. Moby-Dick, published in 1851, is considered one of the great American novels and tells the story of a whaling ship's quest for a giant white whale. Typee, published in 1846, is a romanticized account of Melville's experiences in Polynesia. At the time of his death, Melville was not widely known to the public, but his work experienced a revival in the early 20th century, with the centennial of his birth in 1919 marking the start of a renewed interest in his writing.