by Newton Arvin
First published 2002
Newton Arvin chronicles the tumultuous life of Herman Melville, America's most puzzling literary figure. Born into privilege as the grandson of two Revolutionary War heroes, Melville enjoyed a comfortable New York City childhood until his father's sudden bankruptcy in 1830 forced the family upstate. After his father's death, young Melville sought escape at sea, voyaging first to England and then to Polynesia. There he fled cannibals, participated in mutiny, and cavorted with island natives. These maritime experiences became the foundation for his fiction, though his novels met with commercial failure and critical misunderstanding. Nathaniel Hawthorne remained his sole intimate friend, earning the dedication of Moby Dick. Financial pressures later forced Melville into mundane work as a customs agent to provide for his family. Arvin captures the contradictions of this reclusive man who produced Typee, Omoo, Bartleby the Scrivener, and Billy Budd alongside his whale epic.
Genres: biography, literary-fiction, american-fiction, 20th-century, american, biography-memoir, 19th-century
Vibes: emotional-atmospheric, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: reclusive-protagonist, unreliable-narrator
Setting: England, New York City, Polynesia
Period: 1830s, 19th-Century
320 pages · Paperback · Grove Press