The Life and Works of Herman Melville

The Life and Works of Herman Melville is a publication dedicated to disseminating information about Herman Melville on the Internet and the World Wide Web. Another valuable Internet resource is Ishmail, an electronic mailing list devoted to the discussion of Melville, his works, and other related subjects.

Moby-Dick Marathon Fifth annual nonstop reading of the novel in New Bedford, MA


Breaking News: Current Melville Events
Biographical: (Biographies, Melville and Hawthorne, Quotes by and about Melville, and more)
The Works: (Excerpts and Electronic Texts, Publishing History, Criticism, and more)
The Gam: Other Melville-Related Sites on the Web
Postscript: Links to Whales, Sailing, Literature, and more
Credits: The People and Sources behind these pages
Breaking News


Nantucket's Tried-Out "Moby-Dick"
Nantucket's Tried-Out "Moby-Dick", by Robert diCurcio, is a chapter-by-chapter breakdown of Melville's greatest work, intended to assist first-time readers on this long and difficult, but fascinating, adventure. Mr. diCurcio has graciously offered the 79 core chapters and the epilogue through this web site as a helpful research tool for beginning Melville fans.

What is it about Vermeer's art? Why are his images so gripping and memorable? Visit Bob's new site at: www.VermeersRiddleRevealed.com.


Do you know of a Melville event that should be listed here? Send E-Mail to jmadden@melville.org.

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Biographical: Herman Melville (1819 - 1891)"Some zealous lovers of the general literature of the age, as well as declared devotees to his own great genius, frequently petitioned him for the materials wherewith to frame his biography. They assured him, that life of all things was most insecure. He might feel many years in him yet; time might go lightly by him; but in any sudden and fatal sickness, how would his last hours be embittered by the thought, that he was about to depart forever, leaving the world utterly unprovided with the knowledge of what were the precise texture and hue of the first trowsers he wore. These representations did certainly touch him in a very tender spot, not previously unknown to the schoolmaster." --Pierre, Book XVII


Bibliography of Melville biographies
Melville and Nathaniel Hawthorne
Observations on Melville by friends, family members, and celebrities
Melville's reflections on his works, life, and other topics
Melville's obituary notices

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The Works"Who shall tell all the thoughts and feelings of Pierre in that desolate and shivering room, when at last the idea obtruded, that the wiser and the profounder he should grow, the more and the more he lessened the chances for bread; that could he now hurl his deep book out of the window, and fall to on some shallow nothing of a novel, composable in a month at the longest, then could he reasonably hope for both appreciation and cash. But the devouring profundities, now opened up in him, consume all his vigor; would he, he could not now be entertainingly and profitably shallow in some pellucid and merry romance." --Pierre, Book XXII
Herman Melville Online
Links to complete electronic texts of Melville's works (at present only the more popular novels and several short pieces are available). Many thanks to Heyward Ehrlich of Rutgers University for his generous assistance with this section.

The Gam: Other Melville-Related Sites on the Web"If two strangers crossing the Pine Barrens in New York State, or the equally desolate Salisbury Plain in England; if casually encountering each other in such inhospitable wilds, these twain, for the life of them, cannot well avoid a mutual salutation; and stopping for a moment to interchange the news; and, perhaps, sitting down for a while and resting in concert: then, how much more natural that upon the illimitable Pine Barrens and Salisbury Plains of the sea, two whaling vessels descrying each other at the ends of the earth -- off lone Fanning's Island, or the far away King's Mills; how much more natural, I say, that under such circumstances these ships should not only interchange hails, but come into still closer, more friendly and sociable contact.... For not only would they meet with all the sympathies of sailors, but likewise with all the peculiar congenialities arising from a common pursuit and mutually shared privations and perils." --Moby-Dick, Chapter 53 (The Gam)