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On November 14, 1851, "Moby-Dick" by Herman Melville was first published by Harper and Brothers in the United States. From the article:
"Herman Melville publishes “Moby-Dick”
Moby-Dick is now considered a great classic of American literature and contains one of the most famous opening lines in fiction: “Call me Ishmael.” Initially, though, the book about Captain Ahab and his quest to catch a giant white whale was a flop.
Its author, Herman Melville was born in New York City in 1819. As a young man, he spent time in the merchant marines, the U.S. Navy and on a whaling ship in the South Seas. In 1846, he published his first novel, Typee, a romantic adventure based on his experiences in Polynesia. The book was a success and a sequel, Omoo, was published in 1847. Three more novels followed, with mixed critical and commercial results.
Melville’s sixth book, Moby-Dick, was first published in October 1851 in London, in three volumes titled The Whale, and then in the U.S. a month later. Melville had promised his publisher an adventure story similar to his popular earlier works, but instead, Moby-Dick was a tragic epic, influenced in part by Melville’s friend and Pittsfield, Massachusetts, neighbor, Nathaniel Hawthorne, whose novels include The Scarlet Letter.
After Moby-Dick‘s disappointing reception, Melville continued to produce novels, short stories (Bartleby) and poetry, but writing wasn’t paying the bills. In 1865, he returned to New York to work as a customs inspector—a job he held for 20 years.
Melville died in 1891, largely forgotten by the literary world. By the 1920s, scholars had rediscovered his work, particularly Moby-Dick, which would eventually become a staple of high school reading lists across the United States. Billy Budd, Melville’s final novel, was published in 1924, 33 years after his death."
"Herman Melville publishes “Moby-Dick”
Moby-Dick is now considered a great classic of American literature and contains one of the most famous opening lines in fiction: “Call me Ishmael.” Initially, though, the book about Captain Ahab and his quest to catch a giant white whale was a flop.
Its author, Herman Melville was born in New York City in 1819. As a young man, he spent time in the merchant marines, the U.S. Navy and on a whaling ship in the South Seas. In 1846, he published his first novel, Typee, a romantic adventure based on his experiences in Polynesia. The book was a success and a sequel, Omoo, was published in 1847. Three more novels followed, with mixed critical and commercial results.
Melville’s sixth book, Moby-Dick, was first published in October 1851 in London, in three volumes titled The Whale, and then in the U.S. a month later. Melville had promised his publisher an adventure story similar to his popular earlier works, but instead, Moby-Dick was a tragic epic, influenced in part by Melville’s friend and Pittsfield, Massachusetts, neighbor, Nathaniel Hawthorne, whose novels include The Scarlet Letter.
After Moby-Dick‘s disappointing reception, Melville continued to produce novels, short stories (Bartleby) and poetry, but writing wasn’t paying the bills. In 1865, he returned to New York to work as a customs inspector—a job he held for 20 years.
Melville died in 1891, largely forgotten by the literary world. By the 1920s, scholars had rediscovered his work, particularly Moby-Dick, which would eventually become a staple of high school reading lists across the United States. Billy Budd, Melville’s final novel, was published in 1924, 33 years after his death."
Herman Melville publishes “Moby-Dick”
Posted from history.com
World History
American History
Literature
Writer
Posted 5 y ago
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This time WITH SOUND to the very end! The truth is sometimes NEATER than fiction!
Thank you, my friend SGT (Join to see) for reminding us that on November 14, 1851 American novelist, short story writer, and poet Herman Melville's classic seafaring adventure tale "Moby-Dick" was published by Harper and Brothers.
1. Melville's 'Moby Dick' is a wonderful classic novel which captures the imagination of teenage boys as well as children ands their parents read it to them.
2. Melville’s first published book of poems was Battle-Pieces and Aspects of the War (1866), a meditation. He wrote this a trip to the Union Civil War front with his brother in 1864 {siege of Petersburg/Richmond.
Sadly in his lifetime,. like many great authors and artists, his writings were not recognized until after his death.
Rest in peace Herman Melville
The True Story Of Moby Dick
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=71sn-WDQoXI
Images:
1. younger Herman Melville
2. 1984 20 cent Literary Arts: Herman Melville postage stamp Scott # 2094
3. Moby Dick or the Whale by Herman Melville - First Edition
4. Herman Melville 'He who has never failed somewhere, that man can not be great.
Background from poets.org/poetsorg/poet/herman-melville
"Herman Melville
Born on August 1, 1819, into a once-prominent New York family, Herman Melville was raised in an atmosphere of financial instability and genteel pretense. After his father’s death, Melville attempted to support his family by working various jobs, from banking to teaching school. However, it was his adventures as a seaman in 1845 that inspired Melville to write. On one voyage, he was captured and held for several months by the Typees; when he returned unscathed, friends encouraged Melville to write the escapade down. Typee: A Peep at Polynesian Life became his first literary success; the continuation of his adventures appeared in his second book, Omoo.
After ending his seafaring career, Melville’s concern over his sporadic education inspired him to read voraciously. In 1847, he married Elizabeth Shaw and moved first to New York and then the Berkshires. There he lived near the reclusive writer Nathaniel Hawthorne, who was to become a close friend and confidant. Intoxicated by metaphysics, Melville penned Mardi and a Voyage Thither, a philosophical allegory. The book failed, and though discouraged, Melville dashed off Redburn, a comedy. Although the book proved a financial success, Melville immediately returned to the symbolic in his next novel, White-Jacket; or, the World in a Man-of-War. In 1851, he completed his masterpiece, Moby-Dick, or the Whale. Considered by modern scholars to be one of the great American novels, the book was dismissed by Melville’s contemporaries and he made little money from the effort. The other two novels that today form the core of the Melville canon—Pierre; or the Ambiguities and The Confidence Man—met with a similar fate.
During the 1850s, Melville supported his family by farming and writing stories for magazines. He later traveled to Europe, where he saw his friend Hawthorne for the last time. During that visit in 1856, it was clear to Melville that his novel-writing career was finished. In 1857, after returning to New York still unnoticed by the literary public, he stopped writing fiction. He became a customs inspector, a job he held for twenty years. And he began to write poetry.
The Civil War made a deep impression on Melville and became the principal subject of his verse. With so many family members participating in various aspects of the war, Melville found himself intimately connected to events, and also sought out conflict for himself. He observed the Senate debating secession during a visit to Washington D.C. in 1861, and made a remarkable trip to the front with his brother in 1864. The volume is regarded by many critics as a work as ambitious and rich as any of his novels. Unfortunately, Melville’s remains relatively unrecognized as a poet.
Herman Melville died of a heart attack on September 28, 1891, at the age of 72. At that time, he was almost completely forgotten by all but a few admirers. During the week of his death, The New York Times wrote: “There has died and been buried in this city…a man who is so little known, even by name, to the generation now in the vigor of life that only one newspaper contained an obituary account of him, and this was but of three or four lines.” It wasn’t until the 1920s that the literary public began to recognize Melville as one of America’s greatest writers."
FYI COL Mikel J. Burroughs Lt Col John (Jack) Christensen LTC Greg Henning LTC Jeff Shearer Maj Bill Smith, Ph.D. Maj William W. "Bill" Price Maj Marty Hogan CPT Scott Sharon CWO3 Dennis M. SFC Joe S. Davis Jr., MSM, DSL SSG William JonesSGT John " Mac " McConnell SP5 Mark Kuzinski PO1 H Gene Lawrence PO2 Kevin Parker PO3 Bob McCord Cynthia Croft Maj Kim Patterson SMSgt Lawrence McCarter
1. Melville's 'Moby Dick' is a wonderful classic novel which captures the imagination of teenage boys as well as children ands their parents read it to them.
2. Melville’s first published book of poems was Battle-Pieces and Aspects of the War (1866), a meditation. He wrote this a trip to the Union Civil War front with his brother in 1864 {siege of Petersburg/Richmond.
Sadly in his lifetime,. like many great authors and artists, his writings were not recognized until after his death.
Rest in peace Herman Melville
The True Story Of Moby Dick
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=71sn-WDQoXI
Images:
1. younger Herman Melville
2. 1984 20 cent Literary Arts: Herman Melville postage stamp Scott # 2094
3. Moby Dick or the Whale by Herman Melville - First Edition
4. Herman Melville 'He who has never failed somewhere, that man can not be great.
Background from poets.org/poetsorg/poet/herman-melville
"Herman Melville
Born on August 1, 1819, into a once-prominent New York family, Herman Melville was raised in an atmosphere of financial instability and genteel pretense. After his father’s death, Melville attempted to support his family by working various jobs, from banking to teaching school. However, it was his adventures as a seaman in 1845 that inspired Melville to write. On one voyage, he was captured and held for several months by the Typees; when he returned unscathed, friends encouraged Melville to write the escapade down. Typee: A Peep at Polynesian Life became his first literary success; the continuation of his adventures appeared in his second book, Omoo.
After ending his seafaring career, Melville’s concern over his sporadic education inspired him to read voraciously. In 1847, he married Elizabeth Shaw and moved first to New York and then the Berkshires. There he lived near the reclusive writer Nathaniel Hawthorne, who was to become a close friend and confidant. Intoxicated by metaphysics, Melville penned Mardi and a Voyage Thither, a philosophical allegory. The book failed, and though discouraged, Melville dashed off Redburn, a comedy. Although the book proved a financial success, Melville immediately returned to the symbolic in his next novel, White-Jacket; or, the World in a Man-of-War. In 1851, he completed his masterpiece, Moby-Dick, or the Whale. Considered by modern scholars to be one of the great American novels, the book was dismissed by Melville’s contemporaries and he made little money from the effort. The other two novels that today form the core of the Melville canon—Pierre; or the Ambiguities and The Confidence Man—met with a similar fate.
During the 1850s, Melville supported his family by farming and writing stories for magazines. He later traveled to Europe, where he saw his friend Hawthorne for the last time. During that visit in 1856, it was clear to Melville that his novel-writing career was finished. In 1857, after returning to New York still unnoticed by the literary public, he stopped writing fiction. He became a customs inspector, a job he held for twenty years. And he began to write poetry.
The Civil War made a deep impression on Melville and became the principal subject of his verse. With so many family members participating in various aspects of the war, Melville found himself intimately connected to events, and also sought out conflict for himself. He observed the Senate debating secession during a visit to Washington D.C. in 1861, and made a remarkable trip to the front with his brother in 1864. The volume is regarded by many critics as a work as ambitious and rich as any of his novels. Unfortunately, Melville’s remains relatively unrecognized as a poet.
Herman Melville died of a heart attack on September 28, 1891, at the age of 72. At that time, he was almost completely forgotten by all but a few admirers. During the week of his death, The New York Times wrote: “There has died and been buried in this city…a man who is so little known, even by name, to the generation now in the vigor of life that only one newspaper contained an obituary account of him, and this was but of three or four lines.” It wasn’t until the 1920s that the literary public began to recognize Melville as one of America’s greatest writers."
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LTC Stephen F.
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LTC Stephen F.
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LTC Stephen F. - Thanks for passing on this interesting information. By the way did you see the movie, The Heart of The Sea. It supposedly is a story about Herman Melville attempt to wrote his novel “Moby Dick” about a surviving young lad aboard the Essex from Nantucket. Interesting movie.
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I know it is a classic; I've read it and can recite parts of it and I still cannot stand this book, LOL
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