A comprehensive exploration of Melville squo;s formative years, providing a new biographical foundation for today squo;s generations of Melville readers
Herman Melville: A Half Known Life, Volumes 1 and 2, follows Herman Melvillewsquo;s life from early childhood to his astonishing emergence as a bestselling novelist with the publication of Typee in 1846. These volumes comprise the first half of a comprehensive biography on Melville, grounded in archival research, new scholarship, and incisive critical readings. Author John Bryant, a distinguished Melville scholar, editor, critic, and educator, traces the events and experiences that shaped the many-stranded consciousness of one of literature squo;s greatest writers. This in-depth and innovative biography covers Melville squo;s family history and literary friendships, his father-longing, god-hunger, and search for the hidden nature of Being, the genesis of his liberal politics, his empathy for African Americans, Native Americans, Polynesians, South Americans, and immigrants.
Original perspectives on Melvillecsquo;s earliest identitiesydash;orphaned son, sibling, farmer, teacher, debater, lover, actor, sailoridash;provide the context for Melvillensquo;s evolution as a writer. The biography presents new information regarding Melvilleesquo;s reading, his early orations and acting experience, his life at sea and on the road, and the unsettling death of his older, rival brother from mercury poisoning. It provides insights on experiences such as Melville
