The Author Herman Melville Herman Melville was born in New York City in 1819, the third of eight children of a prosperous merchant. Both his parents were descended from the early settlers1 in New York. In 1832, the family went bankrupt and Herman s father died suddenly. Melville tried to support his family by taking on various jobs, from banking to teaching. In 1839, at the age of 20, he made his first voyage across the Atlantic Ocean as a cabin boy. Then, in 1841, he joined the crew of the whaling 2 ship Acushnet. The thrilling adventure that occurred during the next three years would provide him with material for his first novels. When they arrived in Polynesia, he was captured by local cannibals and held for several months. When he returned, friends encouraged Melville to write about his experience. Typee: A Peep at Polynesian Life (1846) became his first literary success; the continuation of his adventures appeared in his second book, Omoo (1847). After ending his seafaring3 career, Melville started to read voraciously. In 1847, he married Elizabeth Shaw. At first, they settled in New York, then they moved to the Berkshire Mountains. He lived near writer Nathaniel Hawthorne, who became a close friend and confidant. In 1849, Melville wrote Mardi and a Voyage Thither, a philosophical allegory, and Redburn: His First Voyage, a humorous novel. In 1850, White Jacket, based on the author s fourteen months service in the United States Navy, was published. In 1851, he completed his masterpiece, Moby Dick, or the Whale. Hawthorne provided Melville with precious feedback on his manuscript, and encouraged him to change the first draft a detailed account of whaling into an allegorical novel. 1. settler: a person who arrives, especially from another country, in a new place in order to live there and use the land. 2. whaling ship: a ship that hunts whales. 3. seafaring: connected with traveling by sea. 4