1. Herman Melville American novelist, short story writer, essayist, and poet

2. Biography of Born in NYC on August 1, 1819 Third child of Allan and Maria Melvill When Allan Melvill died, Maria added an “e” to their last name Grandson of Major Thomas Melvill, an honored survivor of the Boston Tea Party, and the subject of Oliver Wendell Holmes’s poem, “The Last Leaf”.

3. Education and Poverty New York Male School, now known as Columbia Preparatory School Melville’s father couldn’t afford NYMS, and moved his family to Albany to go into the fur business Because of the strain of the War of 1812, Melville’s father had to declare bankruptcy At the age of 12, Melville’s father died and left his family penniless Ended up at Albany Academy

4. Acushnet On January 3, 1841, he sailed from New Bedford, Massachusetts on the whaler, Acushnet Melville notes that his life began the day he set sail on Acushnet Moby Dick tells many of Melville’s stories while on Acushnet Melville deserted the Acushnet, and lived among Typee cannibals, which inspired the story, “Typee” “Typee” had a hard time getting published, but once it did, it became an overnight sensation Due to the popularity of “Typee”, he wrote the sequel “Omoo”

5. Marriages Melville married Elizabeth Shaw, daughter of chief justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Court Their anniversary is August 4, 1847 The couple honeymooned in Canada They had four children Purchased a farm house called Arrowhead

6. Melville’s BFF While at Arrowhead, Melville befriended Nathaniel Hawthorne, author of The Scarlet Letter Hawthorne served as Melville’s only friend Melville even went as far as dedicating Moby Dick to Hawthorne

7. HERMAN MELVILLE CRAZY On September 8, 1852, The New York Day Book published the above headline and attacked Melville’s work He was called a raving madman and deranged Supposedly was placed under treatment for his mental illness and has his pen and paper taken away from him Harper & Brothers stopped publishing his work

8. After Writing He lectured on the South Seas His wife got him a job as customs inspector for the city of New York, where he stayed for 19 years He became known as the only honest man working in customs

9. His last shot Melville’s last effort was a 16,000-line poem, entitled “Clarel” “Clarel” is about his trip to the Holy Land His uncle paid for the publication of the poem due to Melville’s pleas Not only did the poem fail miserably, but the unsold copies were burned, because no one, including Melville, could and/or would buy it

10. Family Drama He was in an unhappy marriage He was a rumored to be an alcoholic, mentally ill, and a wife-beater His oldest son shot himself and his second son died at a young age as well He was severely depressed

11. Death Before he died, he was working on a novella, but unfortunately, left it unfinished. Literary scholar, Raymond Weaver, finished the novella and published on Melville’s behalf, posthumously He died on September 28, 1891 due to cardiac dilation He is buried in the Bronx

12. Moby Dick A story of a sailor out to get revenge on a whale Melville’s most famous work and thought to be one of the greatest literary works of all time The book brought in minimal revenue ($556.37) The original publication produced 3,000 copies, which a majority never sold