![[Herman
Melville, 1885]](The Life and Works of Herman Melville_files/hmt.gif)
The Life and Works of Herman Melville
The Life and Works of
Herman Melville is a publication dedicated to disseminating information
about Herman Melville on the Internet and the World Wide Web. Another valuable
Internet resource is Ishmail, an electronic
mailing list devoted to the discussion of Melville, his works, and other related
subjects.
Moby-Dick
Marathon Fifth annual nonstop reading of the novel in New Bedford,
MA
- Breaking News:
Current Melville Events
- Biographical:
(Biographies, Melville and Hawthorne, Quotes by and about Melville, and more)
- The Works:
(Excerpts and Electronic Texts, Publishing History, Criticism, and more)
- The Gam: Other
Melville-Related Sites on the Web
- Postscript: Links
to Whales, Sailing, Literature, and more
- Credits: The
People and Sources behind these pages
- Moby Dick Marathon
The
Moby-Dick Marathon, a nonstop reading of the novel, will celebrate its
Fifth Annual read, starting Wednesday January 3rd at 12 noon and ending
Thursday January 4th at about 1 PM. The dates celebrate the anniversary of
Herman Melville's departure from the port of New Bedford aboard the Fairhaven
whaleship in 1841. About 150 readers will take part, including several in
non-English languages. If interested in reading, contact Laura at 508-997-0046
extension 34 or whaling@ma.ultranet.com
Submission courtesy of Mr. Irwin Marks.
- Book Announcement: "Moby-Dick and Peace: Melville's
'Gospel of the Century' Revisited"
An original study about the
influence of Orientalism on Melville and how Transcendentalists and
Orientalists were instrumental to Melville's writing of his classic novel. For
details, follow this link.
Many thanks to Dr. D.J. Ferrantello for providing this
announcement.
- Nantucket's Tried-Out "Moby-Dick"
Nantucket's Tried-Out
"Moby-Dick", by Robert diCurcio, is a chapter-by-chapter breakdown of
Melville's greatest work, intended to assist first-time readers on this long
and difficult, but fascinating, adventure. Mr. diCurcio has graciously offered
the 79 core chapters and the epilogue through this web site as a helpful
research tool for beginning Melville fans.
- Do you know of a Melville event that should be listed here? Send E-Mail to
jmadden@melville.org.
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"Some zealous
lovers of the general literature of the age, as well as declared devotees to his
own great genius, frequently petitioned him for the materials wherewith to frame
his biography. They assured him, that life of all things was most insecure. He
might feel many years in him yet; time might go lightly by him; but in any
sudden and fatal sickness, how would his last hours be embittered by the
thought, that he was about to depart forever, leaving the world utterly
unprovided with the knowledge of what were the precise texture and hue of the
first trowsers he wore. These representations did certainly touch him in a very
tender spot, not previously unknown to the schoolmaster." --Pierre, Book
XVII
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"Who shall tell all the thoughts and
feelings of Pierre in that desolate and shivering room, when at last the idea
obtruded, that the wiser and the profounder he should grow, the more and the
more he lessened the chances for bread; that could he now hurl his deep book out
of the window, and fall to on some shallow nothing of a novel, composable in a
month at the longest, then could he reasonably hope for both appreciation and
cash. But the devouring profundities, now opened up in him, consume all his
vigor; would he, he could not now be entertainingly and profitably shallow in
some pellucid and merry romance." --Pierre, Book XXII
Herman Melville Online
- Links to complete
electronic texts of Melville's works (at present only the more popular
novels and several short pieces are available). Many thanks to Heyward Ehrlich
of Rutgers University for his generous assistance with this section.
Publishing History, Excerpts, Contemporary Reviews
Criticism
Other Melvilleana
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The Gam: Other Melville-Related Sites on the Web
"If two strangers
crossing the Pine Barrens in New York State, or the equally desolate Salisbury
Plain in England; if casually encountering each other in such inhospitable
wilds, these twain, for the life of them, cannot well avoid a mutual salutation;
and stopping for a moment to interchange the news; and, perhaps, sitting down
for a while and resting in concert: then, how much more natural that upon the
illimitable Pine Barrens and Salisbury Plains of the sea, two whaling vessels
descrying each other at the ends of the earth -- off lone Fanning's Island, or
the far away King's Mills; how much more natural, I say, that under such
circumstances these ships should not only interchange hails, but come into still
closer, more friendly and sociable contact.... For not only would they meet with
all the sympathies of sailors, but likewise with all the peculiar congenialities
arising from a common pursuit and mutually shared privations and perils."
--Moby-Dick, Chapter 53 (The Gam)
Melville's Geography
Museums
Melville in the Arts
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Postscript: Of Related Interest
"...Resolve as one may to keep to the
main road, some bypaths have an enticement not readily to be withstood."
--Billy Budd, Chapter 4
Whales
The Age of Sail
Other Nineteenth-Century American Giants
Other Great Literary Sites
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"For though the naked soul of man doth
assuredly contain one latent element of intellectual productiveness; yet never
was there a child born solely from one parent; the visible world of experience
being that procreative thing which impregnates the muses; self-reciprocally
efficient hermaphrodites being but a fable." --Pierre, Book XVIII
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"For small erections may be finished by their first architects; grand ones,
true ones, ever leave the copestone to posterity." --Moby-Dick, Chapter 32
(Cetology)
Can you provide additional information on Melville, his works, or anything
else that belongs here? Let us know! Your contributions, comments, queries, and
suggestions are welcomed by jmadden@melville.org.
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Last revised July 25, 2000