Herman Melville
Life background
• Melville's childhood was happy to the age of eleven when his father died in debt. He had little education and began to work early. He was a bank clerk, a salesman, a farm-hand on his uncle's farm and a school teacher, and when these all failed to offer him a decent livelihood, he went to sea at about twenty. There are three things which deserve mention about his life.
• Melville was a voracious reader. Emerson, Hawthorne, Thomas Carlyle, Shelley, Thomas Browne, and Shakespeare were on the top of his reading list. Melville was a serious reader. He wrote glosses and commentaries as he raced through the volumes that came his way. His discovery of Shakespeare stirred him to the depths of his being. Carlyle and Hawthorne's symbolism fascinated him. For Emerson Melville had mixed feelings of respect and repulsion.
• The careers of some great nineteenth-century American authors were peculiarly interesting to talk about. Thoreau and Dickinson had few or no contemporary readers. Poe and Whitman were misunderstood. And Melville, apparently oblivious to the sensibility of his contemporaries because loyal to his own, suffered an agonizing neglect particularly painful to his soul, since he did care as Thoreau and Dickinson did not, and he suffered like Whitman without the kind of compensation that the latter lived to enjoy.
• To support her and their growing family, he had to write for money, which was difficult for any American about that time, and especially so for a devoted literary artist like him. Thus Melville was forever harassed by a pecuniary need and stopped worrying about it only when he was quite old.
• He often began a book with something like "a dish of roll and milk" which, with its flowering language and all that, promised well, but ended with a Shakespearean tragedy. So he sank further and further into oblivion, so much so that, when he died at 72, one reviewer was surprised that he had not died until then.
Moby Dick
• Melville is best known as the author of one book, Moby Dick which is, critics have agreed, one of the world's greatest masterpieces. To get to know the nineteenth-century American mind and America itself, one has to read this book. It is an encyclopedia of everything, history, philosophy, religion, etc. in addition to a detailed account of the operations of the whaling industry.
• For the last twenty years of his life Melville worked in the Custom House in New York, going off in the morning and coming home later in the day. Even while he was still living he was forgotten as an author. He had tried to write for his audience, and they did not seem to appreciate what he had to offer. They ended up with disappointment on both sides. The problem with Melville lies in the fact that he was unwilling to sacrifice his insights and artistic standards to cater to popular feeling and demand.
• No one saw his dilemma more accurately than Hawthorne who, after their last meeting, wrote, in his English Notebooks: "[He] will never rest until he gets hold of a definite belief. It is strange how he persists.... He can neither believe, nor be comfortable in his disbelief; and he is too honest and courageous not to try to do one or the other ... he has a very high and noble nature."
• The first three drew from his adventures among the people of the South Pacific islands; Redburn is an account of his voyage to England; White Jacket relates his life on a United States man-of-war. He was thus known for some time as a popular writer of exotic tales. But these, with the exception of Typee and Omoo which sold well, did not bring him the recognition he craved or the money he needed. The cool response of the public to his Moby Dick disgusted him so that he almost left off novel writing in his late forties.
• But it is first a Shakespearean tragedy of man fighting against overwhelming odds in an indifferent and even hostile universe. As he had indicated in Mardi, we should get to know the extent of evil in life and the human soul to help make life and man better. As he puts it, "The way to heaven is through hell."
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Herman Melville (1819-1891)
Contents
Life Background Major works Theme 1: alienation Theme 2: rejection and quest symbolism
Writing style
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Melville 麦尔维尔
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Masters influencing him
• He was deeply impressed by Hawthorne’s book. Hawthorne’s understanding of evil impacted Melville’s original design of Moby Dick. • They were philosophically closely related, and they represented a position of tragic humanism in their time.
Works
Moby Dick《白鲸》
• Moby-Dick, Herman Melville's 1851 novel, tells the story of obsessed Captain Ahab’s quest for revenge on the White Whale as observed by a common seaman who identifies himself only as Ishmael.
A whaling ship is my Yale College and my Harvard. ------Herman Melville
◆ 1847, married Elizabeth Shaw, the daughter of Lemuel Shaw, Chief Justice of Massachusetts. ◆ 1850-1863, bought a farm near Pittsfield, Mass., and became friends with his neighbor Nathaniel Hawthorne. ◆ 1851, Moby-Dick was published, but received little attention. ◆ died in 1891 in poverty and obscurity
Herman Melville赫尔曼.梅尔维尔简介
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Herman Melville was born in New York City on August 1, 1819. He was a descendent of English and Dutch colonial families. His father, once a successful dry-goods. Melville‘s education began when he was five years old, and then he read widely. When he was 12 years old, his farther died because of bankruptcy . Since Melville was no longer attending school, he had to face the hard time of his family. In order to get rid of poverty, he began to work on merchant ship. Sailing broadened his vision. Then he became a successful writer. Withdrawn from literary circles, back in New York, being a clerk in a customhouse. His death went unnoticed by the public in 1891.
书记员巴特尔比 The story of Bartleby is simply about a man losing his will to live.
(2) Benito Cereno 《贝尼托•塞莱诺》 The story centers on a slave rebellion on board a Spanish merchant ship in 1799. It is regarded by many as Melville's finest short story.
赫尔曼.梅尔菲尔 介绍
• There seems, also, to be a background of gloom in his nature, making itself felt even in the midst of his sunshine: and now and then his speculations and rhapsodies have a tinge almost of insanity.
• All the stories are told in the first person, and there is a fascination and mystery in the narrator's personality that much enhances the interest of the tale. But Melville's imagination has a tendency to wildness and metaphysical extravagance; and when he trusted to it alone, he becomes difficult and sometimes repulsive.
• Melville is less well known as a poet and did not publish poetry until later in life. After the Civil War, he published Battle Pieces and Aspects of the War, which did not sell well; of the Harper & Bros. printing of 1200 copies, only 525 had been sold ten years later. Again tending to outrun the tastes of his readers, Melville's epic length verse-narrative Clarel, was also quite obscure, even in his own time.
麦尔维尔简介
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Moby Dick (1851)
Herman Melville Moby Dick is regarded as the first American prose epic（散文叙事诗）. Although it is presented in the form of a novel, at times it seems like a prose poem.
The major events influencing Melville’s literary career
• There are three things which deserve to be mentioned about his life. • Going out to sea is one of them, the other two being his marriage and his friendship with Hawthorne.
• His experience and adventure on the sea furnished him with abundant material for fiction. • Melville had to do hackwork for the money he needed to keep his wife in her extravagant（奢 侈的） style . • Melville saw in Hawthorne the one American who was expressively aware of the evil at the core of American life.He found Hawthorne's understanding of evil, that blackness of vision, unusually fascinating.
Herman-Melville-(1819----1891)PPT课件
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• Chief works
Redburn (1849)
A romantic and harrowing description of Melville’s voyage to Liverpool in 1839 as cabin boyfor sea.
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Melville’s style
His writing is consciously literary. His rich rhythmical prose and poetic power show his high craftsmanship. He made many references to former authors in their works, the Bible and Shakespeare in particular. In Moby Dick, for example, there are many allusions to classical myths. Therefore, Moby Dick is regarded as the first American prose epic, a Shakespearean tragedy of man fighting against overwhelming odds in indifferent and even hostile world. The literary quality of Melville’s style makes him extremely difficult to understand.
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• Moby-Dick (1851)
Melville’s masterpiece, which is regarded as the first American prose epic and one of the world classics. It gives a detailed account of the operation of the whaling industry and illustrates the tragedy of man fighting against the overwhelming odds in an indifferent and even hostile world. The novel can be interpreted in the following perspectives.
Herman Melville简介
《白鲸》（ 《莫比· 迪克》）
About the book
• When the novel Moby Dick was first published, reviewers and readers alike were, at best, puzzled by its density and, at worst, offended by its religious and sexual allusions. (Three main characters in the book is from different places and have different religions. And two man seems had fall in love with each other.) • If you want to get to know the nineteenth-century American mind and America itself, you has to read Moby Dick.
• It is an encyclopedia of everything: history, philosophy, religion, in addition to a detailed account of the operations of the whaling industry, etc. • It is first a Shakespearean tragedy of man fighting against overwhelming odds in an indifferent and even hostile universe.
The story
• Ishmael, feeling depressed, seeks escape by going out to sea on the whaling ship, Pequod. The captain is Ahab, the man with one leg. Moby Dick, the white whale, had sheared off his leg on a previous voyage, and Ahab resolves to hunt him to the kill. He hangs a doubloon(古西班牙金币） on the mast as a reward for anyone who sights the whale first. The Pequod makes a good catch of whales but Ahab refuses to turn back until he killed his enemy. • Eventually the white whale appears, and the Pequod begins its doomed fight with it. On the first day the whale overturns a boat; on the second it swamps another. When the third day comes, Ahab and his crew manage to plunge a harpoon into it, but the whale carries the Pequod along with it to its doom. All on board the whaler get drowned, expect one, Ishmael, who survives to tell the tale.
Herman_Melville_作家及作品介绍
5.Artistic features
1) Language features Moby-Dick is regarded as the first American epic. Although it is presented in the form of a novel, at times it seems like a prose poem. It is difficult to read because much of the talk in the novel is sailors talk and much of the language is purposely old-fashioned and Elizabethan.
1.The story
Eventually the whale appears, the Pequod begins its doomed fight with it. On the first day, the whale overturns a boat; on the second it swamps another. Ehen the third day comes, Ahab and his crew manage to plunge 使插入 a harpoon into it, but the whale carries the Pequod along with it to its doom. All on board the whale ship get drowned, except one, Ishmael, who survives to tell the tale.
realism
4. Symbolism and allegory 5. Artistic features: 1) Language style; 2) writing style 6. The excerpt
Herman Melville 作家及作品介绍.PPT
Puritanism (Calvinism), Transcendentalism,
Symbolism, Individualism
1
Herman Melville (1819-1891)
2
Herman Melville (1819-1891)
1) Novelist 2) Symbolism + allegory 3) Moby-Dick (a white whale):
Pierre;
Billy Budd
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Melville’s viewpoints
1. Apart from Hawthorne, whose black vision regarding the evil of human beings had in some way changed Melville’s outlook on life and whose allegorical way of exposition had affected his writing techniques, Shakespearean tragic vision and Emersionian Transcendentalism also produced some positive effect of his writing.
youth Ishmael, feeling depressed, seeks escape
by going out to sea on the whaling ship, Pequod.
The captain is Ahab, the man with one leg.
Moby-Dick, the white whale, had sheared off折断
Symbolism, Individualism
1
Herman Melville (1819-1891)
2
Herman Melville (1819-1891)
1) Novelist 2) Symbolism + allegory 3) Moby-Dick (a white whale):
Pierre;
Billy Budd
4
Melville’s viewpoints
1. Apart from Hawthorne, whose black vision regarding the evil of human beings had in some way changed Melville’s outlook on life and whose allegorical way of exposition had affected his writing techniques, Shakespearean tragic vision and Emersionian Transcendentalism also produced some positive effect of his writing.
youth Ishmael, feeling depressed, seeks escape
by going out to sea on the whaling ship, Pequod.
The captain is Ahab, the man with one leg.
Moby-Dick, the white whale, had sheared off折断
麦尔维尔英文简介
● Moby Dick
◆ To readers
◆ To Ishmael
● Although neglected for many years, he was rediscovered around 1920 and has been enthusiastically studied by critics and scholars ever since. Soon after his death, there was a short revival of interest in Melville’s work. Many of his works were published again and so were many appreciative scholarly evaluations.
◆ For Melville, he needed badly sb. to understand and sympathize with his literary work, especially the companionship of the older writer could reawaken his creative energy, as neither understanding nor sympathy was forthcoming from his own family. ◆ They were philosophically closely related, and they represented a position of tragic humanism in their time. (P80-81)
◆ His discovery of Shakespeare stirred him to the depths of his being. Carlyle and Hawthorne’s symbolism fascinated him. For Emerson he had mixed feelings of respect and repulsion.
Herman_Melville.ppt2
麦尔维尔的小说作品还有《皮埃尔》 (1852)和《伊斯雷尔· 波特》 (1855)。他 的短篇小说和散文有《代笔者巴特贝》 (1853)、《迷惘的岛屿》(1854)、《 班尼托· 西兰诺》 (1855)等，后来集成《广场故事》于1856年出版。1857年 出版的长篇小说《骗子的化装表演》 。他去世前所写的一部长篇小说是《毕 利· 伯德》 (1924)，在他死后30多年才出版。麦尔维尔晚年转而写诗。1866年 他自费印行第1部诗集《战事集》 。1876年又自费出版以宗教为题材的18000 行长诗《克拉瑞尔》 ，1888年和1891年自费出版诗集《约韩· 玛尔和其他水 手》和诗集《梯摩里昂》 ，各印25册。
航海生涯 麦尔维尔作品 1837年，18岁的麦尔维尔怀着满腔的忿懑和对社会的抵触，逃 上了一艘帆船，开始了他的航海生涯。第一次的航海只是激起了他更 强烈的愿望，1839年，到一艘往返于美国纽约和英国利物浦之间的轮 船上当服务员，开始了5年海上生活。其间曾在几艘捕鲸船和邮轮上 当过渔叉手和普通水手，足迹踏遍四大洋，还曾流落到塔希提岛和马 克萨斯岛上，在有食人风气的土著部落中生活过一个时期，并作为水 兵在美国号战舰上服过役。从1841年起，他开始登上捕鲸船做水手了 。在随后的3年间，麦尔维尔随着捕鲸船到了世界上的很多地方，大 大开阔了眼界。不仅如此，他还和捕鲸船上的其他伙伴一起，同捕鲸 船上的专制行为做了一定的斗争，并且还曾因暴动等原因被监禁。后 来，麦尔维尔加入了美国军舰“美国号”，在舰上服役，直到1844年 他在波士顿上岸，结束自己的航海生涯。这些经历为日后他的创作提 供了丰富的素材。
Education
He died soon afterward, leaving his family penniless, when Herman was 12. Although Maria had well-off kin, they were concerned with protecting their own inheritances and taking advantage of investment opportunities rather than settling their mother's estate so Maria's family would be more secure. Herman's younger brother, Thomas Melville, eventually became a governor of Sailors Snug Harbor.