Moby- Dick

Herman Melville (1819-91) faced financial hardship and loss early in life, shaping his unconventional worldview. He worked as a teacher and sailor before embarking on a Pacific whaling voyage. He deserted in the Marquesas Islands, lived briefly with the Typee natives, and later found himself in Tahiti, jailed for mutiny. After escaping, he spent time as a beachcomber before sailing to Hawaii and eventually returning home. His experiences inspired popular travel romances, including Typee (1846), Omoo (1847), Mardi (1849), Redburn (1849), White-Jacket (1850), and Moby-Dick (1851). Melville married in 1847. His later, less popular works led him to work as a customs inspector in New York for twenty years. Billy Budd, written late in his life, was published posthumously in 1924, contributing to a revival that has cemented his status as a major American writer.

Elizabeth Renker teaches English at Ohio State University. She is the author of Strike through the Mask: Herman Melville and the Scene of Writing.

Christopher Buckley is an essayist and the author of fifteen books, including Thank You for Smoking and Losing Mum and Pup. He worked as a deckboy and has sailed the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. His first book was Steaming to Bamboola: The World of a Tramp Freighter.

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