JOHN S. HART: MELVILLE.
FROM A MANUAL OF AMERICAN LITERATURE, 1872

Melville is the author of several exciting works based upon his adventures. The following are the principal: Typee, or Four Months in the Marquesas; Omoo; Mardi, and Voyage Thither; Redburn, or the Confessions of a Gentleman's Son in the Merchant Service; White Jacket, or the World in a Man-of-War; the Piazzi Tales, a series of stories published in Putnam's Magazine; The Confidence Man. His two best works are, perhaps, Typee and Redburn. In the former, life among the savages is described in an almost idyllic style, too idyllic, it has been observed, to be wholly accurate. At least one may be permitted to doubt whether the savages of Typee were quite as interesting as Melville has represented them. The work itself and its successors attracted great attention at the time of their appearance, and although interest in them has since abated, they are still excellent in point of style. Melville is a writer of forcible and graceful English, although in some of his works he lapses into mysticism.

Return to Contemporary Estimates
Return to Melville Home Page


Please address all correspondence on this Site to jmadden@mail.multiverse.com
The Life and Works of Herman Melville is brought to you by Multiverse.