The Genius of Herman Melville - Research Paper Example

Herman Milville Herman Melville was an American ingenious born on the 1st of August, 1819 in the of New York. He was later to become an accomplished Novelist, short story writer and a poet with most of his work being published in the time period 1846-157. Melville wrote a number of books and later in life also wrote poetry. Two of his works i.e. Typee (1846) and Moby-Dick saw him become widely acknowledged as an author but for almost 30 years of his later life, Melville nearly became forgotten. It was on his death on 28th of September, in the year 1891 when he died that many acknowledged and remembered him for being among the greatest writers in America during the time he was alive. Library of Congress would then honor him for he actually was the library’s first writer to collect and publish material. Herman Melville’s Early Live. The great author was born in the city of New York as the third born child of Maria and Allan Gansevoort Melville. The letter e was added to his family name to making it Melville in the year 1832 by Maria on the death of his father. While growing up, young Melville was attacked by scarlet fever in the mid 1820s which adversely affected his health. Whereas he regained back his health after a short period, the disease permanently impaired Millville’s eyesight. The father was a very accomplished and successful merchant & importer and as such the family led a very good life when Melville was growing. However things changed in the year 1830 when Allan unsuccessfully attempted to enter fur trade. This failure spelt doom for the family’s fortune on his death in the year 1832, Allan left the family in an extremely desperate financial situation. Following the father’s demise, Herman Melville’s oldest brother Gansevoort took over their family business in New York City. Soon after, Melville joined Gansevoort in the business as a partner and later some of their brothers came on board. Melville would enrol with Albany Classical School in the mid 1830s to study literature and while at Albany he participated in the student debates. At the same time he had started his writing career; he wrote some proems short stories and essays. After a period of studies at the Albany Classical School Melville left and took up a job as a teacher in Massachusetts. The teaching job was not fulfilling and therefore after just three months of work, Melville quit his position and returned to New York City. The year 1837 was another bad one for the family, Gansevoort’s business of fur and cap went down again this time round putting the family in a situation of dire financial need. The entire family would soon relocate to Lansingburgh with many of his siblings taking up odd jobs just to make ends meet. Melville again joined the Lansingburgh Academy and took a course in surveying with the hope of securing an employment on the Erie Canal Project that had just been initiated. Things did not work again as Melville did not eventually secure the job. His situation and that of the entire family remained bad and thus Melville knew he had to get something to do so as to help the family. His elder brother arranged for him to get a job as a view member with the St. Lawrence, a merchant ship that which had been scheduled to travel to Liverpool from the city of New York. Melville personally had interest travelling the sea and therefore he accepted the hob very gladly. The subsequent stint on the job as well as his initial voyage in the sea was not only fulfilling but was also later to become a valuable influence to his literary works (Parker, 2002). Redburn: His First Voyage whereas was written many years later, is to a larger extent based on his life as a member of crew with the vessel St. Lawrence. Redburn which was published in the year 1849 is actually Melville’s romanticised version of his real-life personal experiences. This is characteristic of his other novels and literary works which are largely influenced by personal experiences in life. Melville went on his second voyage on see in the year 1841. This time round he had been to work on the Acushmnet. The subsequent journey lasted close to three good years inspired his debut novel which was titled Typee. As per the novel, Acushnet docked at Marquesas islands of Polynesia in the year 1842 and here Melville and a another crew member deserted the vessel. They were soon captured by some local cannibals thus spent close to four months captive after which they escaped and boarded a different whaling ship, the Lucy Ann and worked as part of the vessel’s crew team. This experience largely influenced his literary life and is captured in the book Typee (Delbanco, 2005). Melville’s most popular work of literacy was is the Moby-Dick which had been initially titled The Whale. This literary work published in the year 1851 which became categorised as American Romanticism reminisces not only the years of Melville’s work as a crewman on whaleships but also the actual sinking of a whaleship called the Essex. The Essex sunk right at the middle of the Pacific Ocean while on a two and a half year voyage from the Nantucket area of Massachusetts heading for South America. The fateful incident came as a result of an attack on the vessel by a sperm whale. The crew team aboard the Essex were faced with storms, excruciating thirst, diseases and long starvation which reduced them into cannibalism for the sake of survival. Nevertheless, it became the successful and greatest open-boat journey of all time. A few of the surviving members would be picked up the South America. The stories of survivors spread in the Americas during the nineteenth century and ultimately served to inspire Melville in his work titled Moby-Dick. The novel Moby­-Dick would receive not only commercial but also critical applause the lasted for close to a whole century. Unfortunately, Herman Melville never lived long to witness his literary success in the work. In fact, he never received any wealth or even literary respect while he was alive. Early critics never got impressed by the work but with time his rightful respect was given. The work was later described as his last, best and most wild story of imagination. It attested to the Melville’s recklessness in terms of the power of imagination. The work earned Melville a lot of literary respect for his charm and originality in philosophical speculation. This however could often degenerate into ecstasy extravagance which lack purpose sometimes. Readers were either not enamoured; the book reportedly sold only five hundred copies in the UK on its launch. This represented approximately 25% lesser sales as compared to the earlier work titled Typee. Genres and Themes. Melville Herman as a literary scholar is known for writing in three genres of literature. He began off his early writing work with essays and short stories and later wrote novels such as Typee, Redburn, Moby-Dick, Billy Budd and others. While at Albany Classical School, Melville also wrote some poems but his work of poetry was recognised after he ventured into it later in life following his little success as a novelist. His literary work therefore spans the three literary genres of novel, short stories and poetry. His work also covered different themes; Redburn: His First Voyage is partly influenced by his experiences in the sea. Moby-Dick and Typee also recount his experiences as a member of crew on vessels in the sea. A lot o social criticism and romanticism can also be seen in most of his works especially the Typee. He also wrote on things happening in society such the American Civil war in the poetic collection known as Battle Pieces and Aspects of the War. In another poem Clarel: A Poem and a Pilgrimage Melville was largely influenced by his trip to the Holy Land in the year 1956. The theme of Gender and sexuality has also been explored in some of Melvines works (Talley, 2007). His short story titled The Paradise of Bachelors and the Tartarus of Maids particularly explores some elements of impotency through portroyal of a yong man who retreats to a child-hood of all males so as to evade encounters with sexual manhood. In the Moby-Dick another example of his interest in sexuality can be seen episode Marriage bed and an entire chapter in Squeeze of the Hand taking about sailors tring to extract spermaceti fro whale that was dead. The theme of law and literature has also been explored in his works to a large extent especially in Billy Budd. Death and Legacy of Herman Melville. Herman Melville succumbed to heart attack in dying on morning of the 28th day of September, 1891 in his birth city of New York. The death occurred at his home, at the age of 72 years and no his death certificate the doctor indicate cardiac dilation as cause for his death. His remains were interred at the Woodlawn Cemetery of New York’s The Bronx area. There was a common story that his obituary in the New York Times referred to him as Henry Melville. This implied that the author was little known and appreciated by the time he died. The story was however untrue. An article was later to be published by the same paper on the 6th of October in the same year in which the late author was referred to as Hiram Melville but was clarified as a typo error. It was after his death that his literary ingenuity came to be recognised widely in the America and the entire sphere of literature. Many years after death, most of his Books were reprinted and sold including the Moby-Dick and this saw his name gradually gain traction in the world of literature. By Mid 1920s, Herman Melville’s name had grown to become a renowned figure among his readers and critics equally. He is recognised among the greatest writers that ever lived in America his work Moby-Dick is not only regarded as classic novel of the America but also a literary work of genius. In the year 1985,the New York City Herman Melville Society came together and dedicated the intersection of Park Avenue South as well as the 26th street to the writer, hence the area was named The Herman Melville Square. Melville lived on the street between the years 1863 & 1891 and it is from here that wrote Billy Budd among other literary works. Just in the recently in the year 2010, a decision was made to name a newly discovered extinct species of giant sperm whales Livyatan Melvillei in his honor. This was because palaeontologists that discovered the fossil for the species were great fans of the book Moby-Dick. They therefore unanimously reached of naming the after species as well as dedicating the discovery to Herman Melville. Works Cited. 1. Cheever, Susan. “American Bloomsbury: Louisa May Alcott, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Margaret Fuller, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Henry David Thoreau; Their Lives, Their Loves, Their Work.” Detroit: Thorndike Press, 2006. ISBN 0-7862-9521-X 2. Delbanco, Andrew. “Melville, His World and Work.” New York: Knopf, 2005. ISBN 0-375-40314-0. 3. "Herman Melville." Bio. A&E Television Networks, 2015. Web. 06 May 2015. 4. Parker, Hershel . “Herman Melville: A Biography Volume II, 1851–1891.” Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2002. ISBN 0-8018-8186-2. 5. Talley, Sharon. “Student Companion to Herman Melville.” Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 2007. ISBN 0-313-33499-4 Read More