Moby-Dick

About Herman Melville

Herman Melville (18191891) was an American novelist short story writer essayist and poet. His first two books gained much attention though they were not bestsellers and his popularity declined precipitously only a few years later. By the time of his death he had been almost completely forgotten but his longest novel Moby-Dicklargely considered a failure during his lifetime and most responsible for Melville's fall from favor with the reading publicwas rediscovered in the 20th century as one of the chief literary masterpieces of both American and world literature.