Herman Melville
1) Moby Dick
4) Typee
Best known for producing one of the masterworks of American literature, the novel Moby-Dick, Herman Melville also branched out into many other genres of writing over the course of his career. The novella Israel Potter: His Fifty Years in Exile was initially published in serial form in a magazine. It offers a fictionalized account of an American-born man whose remarkable life included time spent as a soldier, sailor, prisoner, spy,
...Omoo: A Narrative of the South Seas is the sequel to Melville's Typee, both fictional yet highly autobiographical. The narrator ships on a whaling vessel to Tahiti, where the crew mutinies and are imprisoned. The narrative is full of his observations of the Tahitian customs and way of life. Omoo is based on Melville's experiences in the Society Islands.
The itinerant sailor Ishmael begins a voyage on the whaling ship Pequod whose captain, Ahab, wishes to exact revenge upon the whale Moby-Dick, who destroyed his last ship and took his leg. As they search for the savage white whale, Ishmael questions all aspects of life. The story is woven in complex, lyrical language and uses many theatrical forms, such as stage direction and soliloquy. It is considered the exemplar of American Romanticism,
...Long before penning Moby-Dick, which many regard as the quintessential American novel, author Herman Melville was captivated by life on the open sea. White Jacket adopts a different perspective, focusing on the brutal treatment that many sailors received at the hands of their superiors. In particular, it has been noted that this novel proved to be instrumental in banning the practice of flogging in several branches of the U.S. military.
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