Herman Melville: An Anti- Transcendentalist or Not? :: Essays Papers

Herman Melville An Anti- Transcendentalist or Not? Melville, Herman (1819-91), American novelist, a major literary figure whose exploration of psychological and metaphysical themes foreshadowed 20th-century literary concerns but whose works remained in obscurity until the 1920s, when his genius was lastly recognized. Melville was born August 1, 1819, in New York City, into a family that had declined in the world. The Gansevoorts were solid, stable, eminent, palmy people the (Hermans Fathers side) Melvilles were somewhat less successful materially, possessing an unpredictable. erratic, mercurial strain. (Edinger 6). This difference among the Melvilles and Gansevoorts was the beginning of the trouble for the Melville family. Hermans mother tried to work her way up the social ladder by moving into bigger and better homes. darn borrowing money from the bank, her husband was spending more than he was earning. It is my polish that Maria Melville never committed herself emotionally to he r husband, but remained primarily disposed to the well off Gansevoort family. (Humford 23) Allan Melville was also attached financially to the Gansevoorts for support. There is a lot of evidence concerning Melvilles relation to his mother Maria Melville. Apparently the ripened son Gansevoort who carried the mothers maiden name was distinctly her favorite. (Edinger 7) This was a sense of frenzy the Herman Melville felt from his mother. This was one of the first symbolists to the Biblical Ishamel. In 1837 he shipped to Liverpool as a cabin boy. Upon returning to the U.S. he taught school and then sailed for the reciprocal ohm Seas in 1841 on the whaler Acushnet. After an 18 month pilot he deserted the ship in the Marquesas Islands and with a companion lived for a month among the natives, who were cannibals. He escaped aboard an Australian trader, leaving it at Papeete, Tahiti, where he was imprisoned temporarily. He worked as a field diddlyshit and then shipped to Honolulu, Hawa ii, where in 1843 he enlisted as a seaman on the U.S. Navy frigate United States. After his discharge in 1844 he began to relieve oneself novels out of his experiences and to take part in the literary life of capital of Massachusetts and New York City. Melvilles first five novels all achieved quick popularity. Typee A peek at Polynesian Life (1846), Omoo, a Narrative of Adventures in the southerly Seas (1847), and Mardi (1849) were romances of the South Sea islands. Redburn, His First Voyage (1849) was based on his stimulate first trip to sea, and White-Jacket, or the World in a ship of the line (1850) fictionalized his experiences in the navy.