| About the Book | |||
The grandson of revolutionary war heroes, Herman Melville was born into a family that in the fledgling republic had lost both money and status. Toughened at sea as a young man and quintessentially American - half New Yorker, half New Englander - heMoreThe grandson of revolutionary war heroes, Herman Melville was born into a family that in the fledgling republic had lost both money and status. Toughened at sea as a young man and quintessentially American - half New Yorker, half New Englander - he returned home to chronicle the deepest crises of his time while forever shaping our literature with Moby Dick, Bartleby the Scrivener, Benito Cereno and Billy Budd. Delbanco traces Melvilles growth from the bawdy storytelling type, through the spiritual preoccupations building up to Moby Dick, and the profound disillusionment of later works, even as he charts a life that left little evidence in its wake and was, long before Melvilles death, consigned to obscurity. He uncovers autobiographical traces throughout Melvilles writing, shows the relentless financial pressure and declining critical and popular esteem that plagued his career, and, above all, illuminates the stunning achievements of his oeuvre. | |||
