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Melville: His World and Work

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Herman Melville (1819 -- 1893) is one of the writers I have returned to again and again over the course of years. Thus, I was gratified to receive this new book by Andrew Delbanco, "Melville: His Life and Work" (2005) as a gift and to have the opportunity to read it, think again about Melville, and share my thoughts on this site with other readers. Delbanco is Levi Professor in the Humanities and Director of American Studies at Columbia University. He has published widely on American literature, including a book titled "Required Reading: why our American Classics matter now." Before reading Professor Delbanco's Melville study, I also read the lengthy review by Frederick Crews in the December 1, 2005, "New York Review" which is both laudatory and critical.

The literature on Melville continues to grow, and in recent years biographies have been published that are longer and far more detailed than Professor Delbanco's. But Delbanco's study is accessible, engagingly written, and concentrates, as the subtitle to his book implies, in placing Melville in the historical context of Nineteenth Century America, and on the works themselves. I will discuss each of these factors briefly.

As to Nineteenth Century America, Professor Delbanco discusses Melville's roots as the descendant, on both sides of his family, of heroes of the Revolutionary War. He gives a revealing picture of pre-Bellum America and of the seafaring life. He gives a detailed historical discussion, for a literary biography, of the tumults which split the United States and lead to the Civil War, including the War with Mexico, the compromises of 1850, and the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854. Professor Delbanco shows how Melville responded to both the literary and political events of his time. He also gives a good, if briefer, treatment of the Civil War and of Melville's life thereafter, as the United States expanded and a crude materialism became dominant. But most vividly, Professor Delbanco gives a picture of New York City, both before and after the Civil War, and argues convincingly for the strong formative influence that the city exerted on Melville's writings.

As to Melville's writings, Professor Delbanco devotes a great deal of space to Melville's four widely-recognized masterpieces: Moby Dick, Bartelby, Benito Cereno, and Billy Budd. He offers textual exposition, compositional background, and a good literary sense of the complexities and ambiguities in each of these works. He offers shorter yet rewarding discussions of several of Melville's more controversial efforts, including Pierre, The Confidence Man, his collection of Civil War Poetry called Battle Pieces, and the long poem Clarel. I think that Delbanco undervalues some of the poetry, particularly Battle Pieces which I have found over the years a provocative literary guide to the Civil War.

The treatment of Melville's life is interrelated well with a study of his works, as Professor Delbanco gives succint discussions of Melville's early years, his decision to go to sea, his marriage, the question of his sexual orientation, the friendship with Nathaniel Hawthorne, his travels and wanderings, the tragic deaths of two of his sons, and the long reclusive years Melville spent as a customs inspector in New York City. We see Melville with all his difficulties and as a great but in his lifetime forgotten writer. Readers interested in a good novelistic portrayal of Melville may wish to read Frederick Busch's "The Night Inspector", to which Professor Delbanco refers.

(...)
I came away from Professor Belbanco's book with the desire to revist some of the Melville works that I have read in the past and, perhaps, to read some of the works that I don't know for the first time. I think it is the purpose of a study such as Delbanco's to return to reader to the words of the author, in this case Melville. Delbanco's book succeeds in doing so admirably.

(...)

Andrew Delbanco has given us an accessible and meaningful account of the writing, life, and world of Herman Melville. This is by no means an exhaustive biography, but Delbanco successfully gives us a good background on his life and times. He weaves literary interpretation, biography, and history into one poetic yarn. He draws on a lot of sources, including letters to or from Melville, but these sources are by no means a crutch to lean on. It was a very enjoyable read, and would be worthwhile to a literary scholar or to educated laypersons, regardless of having previously read a Melville biography or not. It is recommended that one have at least a cursory knowledge of American literature before diving into this word-storm, and I say that approvingly.

Though this book received several awards for biography, and mentioned as "first rate biography' by the New York Times I can't agree. I indeed purchased Mr. Delbanco's 2006 work looking forward to reading a first rate biography on this great writer.
Instead, what I got was a long tome with complex and highly subjective psychoanalytical criticism about the Melville canon. I read little about his life, somewhat more about his times and world, and by far more about Mr. Delbanco's parsing the root behavioral causality of Melville's creations.
It was, indeed, aptly pointed out by Mr. Delbanco that Melville left a light biographical record; hence, it is difficult for the scholar to research his life at depth. Actually, a book that is by-in-large just biography would be much shorter than this work's 325 pages of text.
So there are gaps that raise constructive temptations for the scholar. As one of my graduate professors once said about a project paper, "I see some very heavy carpentry going on in this work."
And throughout Delbanco's book, there is, in my view, some heavy carpentry that is conspicuously top heavy. He does this often in Melville. Worse yet, he seemed to be primarily of the Freudian persuasion, and once that takes hold of a critic's soul, it can get very wild. There are few sexual spins that Mr. Delbanco's avoids. On the contrary, each of Melville's works is thoroughly soaked in this dubious vat.
In presenting the historical and sociological context, Mr. Delbanco's does good work, but it could have been better. Since Melville's foundational works were so tied to the South Seas and Polynesia, I thought he might have shown a more accurate historical light on it, but he did not.
By the time Melville came upon the scene , contact was nearly a century old. Depopulation was more than halfway there. The expatriate Polynesians that populated the pages of Richard Henry Dana's Two Years Before the Mast were an accurate account of the time, and Dana's travels preceded Melville's.
The Marquesas, one of the root sources for Hawaii's Polynesian people, preceded Hawaii regards the travails of contact. Fact is, Typee was and remains entirely a work of fiction by a young, ambitious writer bent on writing a successful work, and he succeeded. Nothing wrong with that--and as a writer of fiction, I can relate to it absolutely.
All the spins and conjectures regards Melville's romping with Polynesian beauties with white, flashing teeth made good fiction but bad scholarship. To see a scholarly spin off on these popular myths regards serious textual issues - well, that is not impressive. By 1800, there weren't many white, gleaming teeth in Polynesia, nor, sadly, clear skins.
It was far more interesting--if you did have to get serious about psychological elements regards Melville--why he would write positively--even reinforcingly-- about carefree sexual license. Then, after returning home, he married into such a hidebound, uptight New England tradition. As Mr. Delbanco pointed out, in this culture even anatomical structures (e.g. legs, waists, etc.) weren't considered mentionable in mixed company.
One cannot feature Mr. and Mrs. New Englander chasing each other around from window seat to window seat during major sexual frolicking. For one thing was absolutely true about Polynesian culture, it was vigorous and sensual, regardless of health issues.
So, if you get this book understand what lies ahead of you. Herman Melville was a creative power of such wide scope and magnitude, that Mr. Delbanco's efforts fall way short of doing him justice.

Is there anything quite like a great biography? A great novel, you say, and I'd agree, but where are they? Meanwhile, we have these marvelous pieces of writing: Ellmann's biography of Joyce, Edel's biography of James, Holroyd on Shaw. This is not a multi-volumed immortal masterpiece but it has all of the characteristics of such a work, save exhaustiveness. This is an introduction, really, more than a complete life, but it serves its purpose as well as can be imagined. The prose style is inviting and easy, the illustrations amusing and pointedly relevant and revealing. The author's point of view is strikingly original. He begins not with Melville's birth, but with his reputation, from his death to the present. American's do not have a great dramatist, so we have made the drama of Melville's life a kind of literary drama surrounding a masterpiece, "Moby Dick." Those who know and love it see it as one of the great pieces of literature of all time. Melville is cast in the role of the likable genius, the sympathetic artist, the neglected and scorned master of American prose. We've been taught to love him, as we have been instructed to hate Hemingway and other dead white male authors. My professor said that Melville wasn't worth reading and recommended in its stead a collection of slave testimony and the lost poems of a female mill worker. I ventured that perhaps I could read him myself and make up my own mind. We live in an odd age that resents greatness. Let's applaud Delbanco's effort to set the record straight.

Not that by saying that I'm strongly recommending it or anything.

I read this recently on a road trip through Iran, which made it a bit more interesting than I think it otherwise would have been, but also made it harder to pay attention to. In fact, I was in Tehran when I read (on p. 8) that "as far away as Tehran there is a popular kebab place called `Moby Dick.'" Incredulous, I made my way over there, and sure enough! I managed to finish the next couple of chapters there.

I was particularly looking forward to this book after having read Andre Delbanco's famous classic essay "The Death of Literary Criticism," with which I agreed wholeheartedly. I liked his spirit and his outlook, so it was with eager fingers that I got a hold of a volume in which he harpoons my favorite author.

Really, though, I don't think there's been a better biography of Melville than the one Newton Arvin did in the 50s. Sure, it's out of date, but even at this remove it gives you all you need to know to get going on his books. It strikes the right balance between literary criticism and biography.

This latest job may use more recent scholarship, but unfortunately it also falls prey to pop psychology a bit much, not really struggling with Melville on his own terms so much as on ours. There's no sexual innuendo that isn't made much of for pages on end. Sheesh. If Melville had known the trouble he would be getting into on account of Ishmael and Queequeg sharing a bed, he would have had that harpooner sleep in the hall!

To Delbanco, Melville is a closet case pure and simple. If you aren't in the mood to constantly hear that, don't pick this book up. Delbanco is the kind of critic that will shape his entire understanding of a work of fiction on a few lewd references.

In fact, I would say that my most common emotion reading this book was revulsion. Despite my love for all things Melvillean, it was a struggle to get through. Here's a sample of what I'm talking about:

"The young Pierre may have felt `more than cousinly attachment' for his male cousin Glen, but the older Pierre is aroused by the sight of Isabel's nestled `ear' and craves the sensation of being enveloped by the throbbing walls of her `guitar.'"

Brother!

This biography of Melville is as balanced, accessible, and thoroughly entertaining as a biography of a literary figure can get while still being considered "serious." Delbanco has a great skills as a writer himself, skillfully juggling the story of Melville's life, critical discussions of his writing, and finally the social and historical context of the works.

The discussions of the books are excellent, particularly Delbanco's readings of the novels Moby Dick, Typee, and Pierre. But where this biography particularly stands out is the intermeshing the books with aspects of 19th century American literary culture. There are, for instance, interesting discussions of the dominance of English publishing houses, of copyright issues, of publishing in general. Delbanco situates Melville's work before a backdrop of a nation in transition (for example the story "Benito Cereno" is published in midst of the debate about the expansion of slavery into Kansas territory), and before a backdrop of the city of New York under transition too.

Finally, Delbanco discusses the unusual trajectory of Melville's own career and reputation - from almost being forgotten at the time of his death to the towering position he holds in American letters today.

This biography is a great summary of Melville's life, and also in a broader sense, of 19th century literary culture.

Herman Melville (1819-1891) was a strange chap. In this new biography by Professor Andrew Delbanco we go in search of the Great White Dead Male Author of American literature. Delbanco relates the known facts of the New York's author's sad life but is best at exegeting his great works in understandable language for the student or Melvillian fan.
Melville's father Allen was a failed businessman and he was dominated by his mother Marie. The family suffered genteel poverty in upstate New York prior to moving to New York City. Melville shipped out as a seaman sailing to the South Seas and seeing a good deal of London and other European ports. He returned home to marry Elizabeth Shaw the daughter of the famous Lemuel Shaw who was a noted judge in Boston. Melville had four children, two girls and two boys. The oldest boy Malcolm committed suicide at 18 while the second son Stanwick died young. Melville never got over these horrible deaths. His relationship with his wife Elizabeth was always rocky. At times he may have beaten her. The couple did remain wed until Herman's death. The author was rejected by the literary community and ended his life in obscurity as a Custom Inspector on the New York City docks. He had been friends with Nathaniel Hawthorne to whom he dedicated Moby Dick but the friendship waned.
Melville's greatest work is the monumental "Moby Dick" written in 1850 which had only modest success with the public. Delbanco is insightful in exploring the novel's themes. Melville was opposed to slavery and may have based Captain Ahab on the South Carolina defender of slavery John C. Calhoun. Other literary sources for Ahab include the Devil. Though a non-believer Melville used countless biblical allusions in his novel. His prose is rich with allusion and metaphor heralding the despair and existentialistic nothingness of life so prominent among great twentieth century masters as James Joyce and T.S. Eliot.
Dr. Delbanco also examines in detail such other Melville works as:
Typee, Omoo, Pierre or the Ambiguities, Clarel his poem of the Holy Land and his final short but classic novella "Billy Budd." Melville wrote great short stories such as "Benito Cerito" which explores slavery and black-white relations. He also wrote two novels based on his experiences as a sailor: Redburn and White-Jacket.
Delbanco is good at showing us how Melville related to the big problem of slavery in ante-bellum society. He was a reclusive man who may have been bipolar. Melville died poor and obscure with his novels not becoming popular until their renaissance in the 1920s. Today he is a staple of college courses on American Literature.
Anyone who turns to this book with the expectation that it will be a
chronological accounting of Melville's life will be disappointed. Anyone who reads it to understand Melville's major themes and personality will be rewarded. This is a good introduction to a great and hard to understand American literary giant.

Melville is something of an enigma, as if his brief and quickly declining career were a stage for the apparition called Moby Dick, most likely the Great American Novel, and one of the few novels ever written to approach the tragic mode in the true sense. This brisk and not overly detailed biography is a good lean introduction to the life, or what's known of it, and thus a fitting portrait of the secret intensity of the man behind his sluggish career as a writer. None of which matters beside the magnificence of the greatest of all sea yarns.

This thorough and quite readable biography focuses on setting Melville and his work within the milieu of his times. Delbanco's work doesn't have the emotional intensity of Laurie Robertson-Lorant's "Melville, A Biography," or the extensive detail of Hershel Parker's two-volume "Herman Melville: A Biography," but is more the length a reader might want to tackle.

Delbanco's extensive analysis of Melville's major works (from a Freudian viewpoint) is fairly routine, but his interweaving of events around the country and world with the themes and content of each novel opens new perspectives on Melville's writing and life.

- Lynn Michelsohn, author of "In the Galapagos Islands with Herman Melville"

I was in Munich in 2008 and I brought one book with me--Delbanco's wonderful biography of Melville. I've read many biographies of writers, philosophers and statemen. Without any other worthwhile book to read and out of boredom I read and reread his biography and as a far traveler, it seemed as if Melville became a distant uncle, someone I knew or someone who was a good friend. Please read the section about the difference between a pipe smoker and a cigar smoker. Delbanco is writing neither out of passion nor is he writing to impress; he's presenting a great American writer like he would a favorite wine or an inexpensive dish from his favorite local haunt. Indulge and imbibe. Such wonderful biographies are quite rare.