Chapter2-2-5HermanMelville.ppt

American Romanticism  Herman Melville （1819-1891） Contents 1 Life and Career 2 Major Works 3 Moby Dick 4 Questions 1 Life and Career Father died early; little education; began working early (different jobs) Sea life (sources of his works) (Question?) Marriage (unavoidable hackwork; unhappy; unlucky) Friendship with Hawthorne Customs inspector for the City of NY,19-20years (professional writing career ended) Novels shifted to poems in the later life. His reading was voracious and serious His writing acceptance: Popular—Out in the Cold– Forgotten– Revived 2 Major Works Novels Typee (1846) A peep at Polynesian Life made him famous instantly. Omoo (1847) A Narrative of Adventures in the South Seas Mardi (1849) A Voyage Redburn (1850) His First Voyage. It is about his voyage and what he saw in the slum of Liverpool. 2 Major Works White Jacket (1850) Sea life and stories. It is about his life on a United States warship. He cries out against the injustice for seaman. Mobydick(1851) The Confidence Man (1857) Canterbury Tales-Style Billy Budd (1924) his disgust with capitalism civilization. 2 Major Works Short Story Collections: The Piazza Tales (1856) Short Stories: (185=) Poetry: (after1866)John Marr and Other Sailors (1888) 3. Moby Dick It is a thrilling adventure story, the world’s greatest sea novel. It is regarded as an encyclopedia of whale hunting. 3.1 The Story （P83-84） Ishmael, the narrator, having little money and finding life on shore grim, went to sea on a whaling ship. The captain is Ahab, a man wit one leg. Moby Dick, the white whale, had broken his leg on a previous voyage, and Ahab resolves to hunt him to the kill. Although they make a good catch of whales, Ahab refuses to turn back until he has killed his enemy. Eventually, the white whale appears and the ship begins to fight with it. Unfortunately, the white whale overturns the ship. All of them get drowned except the narrator 3.2Theme: 1.? ?One of the major