Herman Melville An Introduction

This unique introduction explores Herman Melville as he described himself in Billy Budd-a writer whom few know. Moving beyond the recurring depiction of Melville as the famous author of Moby-Dick, this book traces his development as a writer while providing the basic tools for successful critical reading of his novels. Using the extraordinary Agatha correspondence with Nathaniel Hawthorne as a key to Melville's writing practices, beliefs and inclinations, the volume introduces Melville as a writer who constantly reflected on his craft and experimented with new forms and genres.Arranged chronologically, the volume focuses on Typee, Moby-Dick, and Billy Budd, as well as other novels, short fiction, and poems as appropriate, to explore Melville's distinctive narrative style. A biography, summaries of key works, interpretation, commentary, and an extensive bibliography are all included.

Wyn Kelley is a Senior Lecturer in the Literature Faculty at MIT. She is the author of Melville's City: Literary and Urban Form in Nineteenth-Century New York (1996) and editor of A Companion to Herman Melville (Blackwell, 2006) and an edition of Benito Cereno 2006, and has also written a number of essays on Melville. She is Associate Editor of the Melville Society journal Leviathan.