Herman Melville : Typee, Omoo, Mardi (Library of America)

Book Description

This first volume of The Library of America's complete prose works of Herman Melville includes three romances of the South Seas. "Typee" and "Omoo," based on the young Melville's experiences on a whaling ship, are exuberant accounts of the idyllic life among the "cannibals" in Polynesia. They remained his most popular works well into the 20th century. "Mardi" ("the world" in Polynesian) is a mixture of love story, adventure, and political allegory, set on a mythical Pacific island, that looks forward to the complexities of "Moby-Dick." Together, these three romances give early evidence of the genius and daring that make Melville the master novelist of the sea and a precursor of modernist literature. Two companion volumes--"Herman Melville: Redburn, White-Jacket, Moby-Dick" and "Herman Melville: Pierre, Israel Potter, The Piazza Tales," "The Confidence Man, Uncollected Prose, and Billy Budd" complete this edition of Melville's prose.

Customer Reviews:

The first Library of America book I read.......2007-08-29

Back a few years ago, I bought the entire series of Library of America books, some 173 books, each with as many as 1,600 small-print pages. Typically, each volume contains several books (say novels) by an author.

The quality of the writing they have selected is marvelous. There are very few "dogs". Below are my ratings of all the stuff I've read so far (a miniscule fraction of the total library), along with, of course, my completely nonsensical (often sports or pop culture) author nicknames.

And they keep sending me new books faster than I can read the existing ones...

Practically all that I've read ranges from good to fantastic, and I stop reading ones I don't like, so almost all of the books cited below are worthy by my standards. No stars means good, * means especially good, ** means great, and I think I also gave one or two books ***. The numbers are the series # of the book out of the 173 published so far.

A book of Henry James' fiction (not in the LOA series) that I read about 3 years ago got me started on this quest, a supplement to my quest of playing the entire history of baseball via APBA.

1. Herman "Franks" Melville: Typee* ("Idyllic") 316 pps
1. Herman "Franks" Melville: Omoo ("Picks up where Typee left off") 330 pps

2. Nathaniel "Nate the Skate" Hawthorne: Assorted Stories ("Some hard to follow") 301 pps

4. Harriet "and Ozzy" Beecher Stowe: Uncle Tom's Cabin** ("Uncle Tom is no 'Uncle Tom'") 520 pps

5. Mark "Shania" Twain: The Adventures of Tom Sawyer* ("Hilarious moments for a different kind of Tom") 216 pps

10. Nathaniel "Nate the Skate" Hawthorne: Fanshawe* ("Young scholar, romance, skullduggery") 114 pps

6. Jack "Gene" London: The Call of the Wild ("Savage") 86 pps
6. Jack "Gene" London: White Fang* ("Roger Vick-type dog-fighting
action") 198 pps

8. William Dean "Bailey" Howells: A Foregone Conclusion* ("Gripping, intricate romance") 172 pps
8. William Dean "Bailey" Howells: A Modern Instance ("Marriage gone awry in repressed times") 418 pps

11. Francis "Shibe" Parkman: Pioneers of France in the New World** ("What it was REALLY like") 330 pps
11. Francis "Shibe" Parkman: The Jesuits in North America* ("More of these accurate depictions") 382 pps

14. Henry "Don" Adams: Democracy** ("Real politics 1800's-style")

16. Washington "Dr. J" Irving: Early writings ("Boring at times") 87 pps

18. Stephen "Whooping" Crane: Maggie: A Girl of the Streets ("Fascinating but grim") 74 pps
18. Stephen "Whooping" Crane: The Red Badge of Courage* ("True face of war") 134 pps

19. Edgar "Teletubbie" Poe: Assorted Stories ("Truly weird") 188 pps

29. Henry "Edgeron" James: Washington Square* ("Plain woman trapped") 190 pps

30. Edith Wharton "School": The House of Mirth* ("Reese Witherspoon plays role in movie") 348 pps

33. Frank "Chuck" Norris: Vandover and the Brute ("Wolf-man emerges") 260 pps
33. Frank "Chuck" Norris: McTeague** ("Greed prevails") 312 pps

35. Willa "Thrilla" Cather: Assorted stories ("Oblique") 76 pps

36. Theodore "Early" Dreiser: Sister Carrie** ("Young lives go opposite directions") 456 pps

37. Benjamin "Joe" Franklin Assorted Writings* ("Brilliant satire") 87 pps

39. Flannery "Father" O'Connor: Wise Blood ("Liked better at 25") 132 pps

55. Richard "Gary" Wright: Lawd Today!** ("Unforgettable humor, violence") 220 pps

59. Sinclair "Jerry" Lewis: Main Street* ("Small-town USA") 486 pps

69. "Ornery" Sarah Orne Jewett: Deephaven* ("Atmospheric")

72. John "Franken" Steinbeck: The Pastures of Heaven** ("Modern Gothic") 170 pps

74. Zora Neale "Zorro" Hurston: Jonah's Gourd Vine ("Black preacher")

97. James "I think I'm going" Baldwin: Go Tell it on the Mountain ("Conversion experience") 216 pps

101. Eudora "The Explorer" Welty: The Robber Bridegroom ("Ridiculous fairy tale") 88 pps

103. Brockden "Les" Brown: Wieland* ("Early Gothic chills") 228 pps

111. Henry "Etta" James: Assorted Stories 1864-74** ("Consistently compelling") 430 pps

117. F. Scott "Ella" Fitzgerald: This Side of Paradise* ("Ultimately sublime") 252 pps

126. Dawn "Boog" Powell: Dance Night* ("Small-town romance in 1920's") 204 pps

134. Paul "Super" Bowles: The Sheltering Sky* ("Sophisticates lost in Africa") 252 pps

148. James T. "Turk" Farrell: Young Lonigan* ("Coming of age in tough streets") 176 pps

164. William Faulkner "Pontiac, Buick, GMC Trucks": Soldier's
Pay*** ("Unique, gripping") 256 pps
164. William Faulkner "Pontiac, Buick, GMC Trucks": Mosquitos** ("Indescribable romp") 284 pps
164. William Faulkner "Pontiac, Buick, GMC Trucks": Flags in the Dust ("Doomed family") 336 pps
164. William Faulkner "Pontiac, Buick, GMC Trucks": The Sound and the Fury ("Bewildering") 268 pps

The Growth of a Seeker.......2000-11-18

Among the early products of the wonderful Library of America Series were three volumes devoted to the novels of Herman Melville. This volume consists of Melville's first three novels, Typee(1846), Omoo(1847) and Mardi (1849)

Melville's novels are based, more or less loosely, on his life at sea. The first two novels describe voyages to the Marquesas and to Tahiti. They are filled with lush descriptions of scenery, and tales of adventure. Of the two, Typee is filled with encounters with cannibals and Polynesian maidens while Omoo presents a wider canvas of characters and scenes. Both books emphasize the sexual openness and relative simplicity of Polynesian life as compared to life in the United States and both books are critical as well of attempts to Christianize the islanders. These are not unusual themes today and probably were not as radical in the 1840s as one might suppose. The stories are well told and the descriptions alluring. These books made Mellville's reputation as a young writer.

Mardi, however, is the gem of this collection. Its relationship to the earlier novels can be analogized, say, to the relationship between the young Beethoven's first symphony on the one hand and the growth of language and thought in the second and third symphonies on the other hand. Melville prefaces the book with the note that his first two books were fact-based but were received with "incredulity" while Mardi was pure romance and "might be recieved for a verity." (Little likelihood of that)

The book as in a baroque, ornate, and bravado style that Melville would bring to completion in Moby Dick. It is an allegory involving the search for Yillah, a strange, mthical maiden, through the seas of Mardi -- Polynesian for "the world". The narrator is accompanied by King Media, by the philosopher Babbalanja, the singer Yoomi, and the historian Mohi. There are many wonderfully exasperating discussions. They wander far and wide in search of Yillah and in there wandering we here many religious allegories and many depictions of the Europe and United States of Melville's own time. There are shadowy maidens, villans, long scenes in the empty wide ocean, and pages of Melvillian thought and bluster.

The book is high American romanticism and presents a religious and personal quest by the narrator that resounds of similar quests by many in our own day. For example, there is a famous unfinished novel of the religious quest called Mount Analogue by a French writer, Duhamel, which fits quite compactly into just a few chapters of Mardi. Mardi is a long, maddenlingly difficult book but worth the effort.

Book Description

This is the first edition of Typee to place its most riveting features—the highly charged and complicated accounts of sexuality, tattooing, cannibalism, and taboo—in a broad historical context. Twelve rich selections from the writings of Melville's predecessors and contemporaries, along with eight illustrations, will help readers develop a fuller sense of where Melville's treatment of these topics is unconventional and why it matters. The volume also includes a complete list of the excisions and revisions insisted on by Melville's American publisher, further proof of how much his text was pushing the boundaries of acceptable literature of the day. Typee offers an alternative for instructors wishing to teach briefer Melville fiction.

Download Description

At one time the most popular of Melville's works, Typee was known as a travelogue that idealized and romanticized a mysterious South Sea island for readers in the ruthless, industrial, "civilized" world of the nineteenth century. But Melville's story of Tommo, the Yankee sailor who enters the flawed Pacific paradise of Nuku Hiva, is also a fast-moving adventure tale, an autobiographical account of the author's own Polynesian stay, an examination of the nature of good and evil, and a frank exploration of sensuality and exotic ritual. This edition of Typee, which reproduces the definitive text and the complete, never-before-published manuscript reading text, includes invaluable explanatory commentary by John Bryant.

Customer Reviews:

"Too Romantic to Be True" .......2007-08-18

Melville's famed magnus opus, "Moby Dick" should not be tackled without this adequate introduction to his work and dazzling literary adroitness. Do not have any apprehensions animated by a seemingly simplistic or bromide plot, for once a reader foreign to Melville's work grasps the exquisite prose and sincere romanticism ingrained in all of his novels, you're soon to become a captive of it's pages bound by an aroused imagination. Soon to learn the fame and notoriety surrounding Herman Melville is certainly not without reason and like many noble literary giants that have gone before us, his masterpieces withstand the test of time deservingly of the title, "Classic."

The quixotic idea of emerging as a castaway on a dissolute tropical island hidden from the world, deep in paradise with only the company of an exotic but mysterious native people should not deter you from believing "Typee" is of any similarity to other inferior postdating stories of the like. Melville combines a brilliantly adventurous travelogue accompanied by earnest philosophical reflections balancing it all out with anthropological observations of the Island's primitive peoples, as well as recollections of his own home. This famed novel was an ebullient endeavor during it's day which hints the emprise of such modern films as "Castaway" while engrossing the empathy of multiculturalism found in "Dances With Wolves." It is feasibly the first accurate portrait painted of South Pacific life through the eyes of a Westerner, influencing many travelogues to follow focusing on the region in the same fashion of Stevenson and Becke.

Numerous editions have been published since the original. The Penguin Classics Edition provides an introduction by author John Bryant who puts the story into context and Melville's conclusion of the supporting character's fate, written two years prior to the first edition in "Sequel: The Story of Toby."

When first published in 1846, "Typee" was an immediate hit. Readers of the era in the US and even in Europe already knew to expect stupendous things from the then obscure author. This is exemplified by the book's quantum leap to stardom. The original draft was submitted to be published in New York but was rejected supposedly because it was "too fantastic" to be true. The apparent fact that after more than a century and a half of being published readers still have an appetite for Melville's original work, must persuade even the most discriminating of literary tastes of the caliber of his writing. Do not be deceived by the age of "Typee." You needn't be a diehard classical literature enthusiast nor scholar to appreciate this very readable, gracefully written novel. Which is contrary to the sometimes unfathomable rhetoric of the bygone antebellum era. It remains still just as amusing and captivating to readers today.

"Typee" was the first of a trilogy of autobiographical novels set in the South Pacific dealing with Polynesian life. Readers of the author's lifetime couldn't get enough of his masterpieces still acclaimed today. Although not quite as well known as "Moby Dick" is to modern day readers, "Typee" is no less gripping or eloquent.

Eden Gone Bad.......2007-05-04

(This review is based on the Library of America edition)

Melville's first book - and you can call it a novel, because it is - is quite an impressive work. I have to admit that during my reading of it, I didn't know how much was non-fiction and how much was fiction. In the case of a non-fiction book, I would have been rather astonished by Melville's work. But the fact is that this isn't a non-fiction book, and that as a reader you should think more of a literary work. But do not be sad!

For what Melville does remains awesome. The book begins like a novel; the narrator seeks to escape his whaler and remain some time on one of the Marquesan Islands. After numerous adventures, he's eventually caught by the Typees, and from that point on, the book becomes close to an anthropological study of the exotic habits of the tribe. Melville is very insightful and witty, and more often than not, funny. His prose is rich and wonderful. A pure pleasure to read.

"Typee" is a peek at some kind of long lost Eden, where no one has to work for a living - fruits can be plucked any time - and where there seems to be no evil. The Typees all have perfect beautiful skin, due to countless bathings during the day, and they're seldom seen to either cause or receive any harm. However, things aren't so dream-like, and the narrator is constantly haunted by the ghost of cannibalism, especially as he has no clear idea of why his captors detain him and yet treat him kindly.

The author manages to produce some very interesting comparisons between the exotic "savages" and the Western Man, and this reminds me of many a sociologic book. Society, culture, humanity, all of these - and more - are considered from a very unique perspective in "Typee". Life among the cannibals, in an Eden of sorts, that is, in short, what the novel is about. Excellent read from a master of literature.

No Metaphysics, Just a Review.......2007-01-28

Realizing that at least some people might want to know if the book is a good read or not, I'll write a review that hopefully wont read like the opener to a thesis on early american literature: Here goes...

I liked it! I thought this Mellville guy writes and interesting and egageing story. Perhaps he does go into details that the story doesn't need, but even his tangents on trees and fruits, etc. are well written.

Worth the money, worth the time, and worth the attention. Plus, there is the added benefit of acting like a literature snob on a review.:)

Its a book, people. Relax, and enjoy.

Typee.......2006-09-12

Typee was a difficult book to read but worth the effort. There isn't much plot beyond "Tommo's" rehabilitation at the hands of the Typee and his fears that they might be cannibals. Is he being nursed back to health or fattened for a future supper? As with Moby Dick, the bulk of the text is in the form of essay and commentary. There are lengthy discussions on the language, the architecture, the music (or lack thereof), taboos and tatoos, and diet of the Typee. These extra chapters though don't have the humor that is present in Moby Dick. They are still an interesting observation on one subset of Polynesian culture.

Symbolism and Imagery........2006-01-17

All things considered, Typee is an excellent book considering it was Melville's first. The themes hidden inside a simple voyage onto the Nukuheva island are utterly breath-taking. Although Meliville states that "He has stated such matters just as they occurred, and leaves every one to form his own opinion concerning them,"(xx), we all know that the truth was stretched out such as the fact that, in reality, he was only on the Islands for four weeks, not four months. But his imagery, symbolism, and entire demise of the meaning of "civilization," is what makes this novel, a remarkable one.

The magnificent scenery and what it stands for is the readers first see as Melville's first main themes in Typee. Melville's imagery is what catches the attention of his readers. They delve deep within the picture he displays with the words he selects. The entire island that is described constantly through the story gives a sort of reference to the garden of Eden, but of course has a hidden meaning. Some critics interpret the reference to the garden of Eden as a symbol for innocence. But when Tommo first hears of the dreaded Typees, he only believes in their cannibalism. After living with them for four months, he always has that first reaction of the Typees in the back of his mind. Other critics would argue that the injured leg that Tommo is mysteriously diagnosed of only comes and goes according to his true feeling of the Typees at that moment. The Garden of Eden is known for it's beauty, it's tranquility, and it's innocence. All these things are attributes of the island but yet they also show that there cannot be innoncence without violence. The Typees are figured out in the end and the sayings are true but not how the rumors are spread. Tommo figures out that the "savages" are more civilized than the white men are back at home. Those French that landed to come take over are not helping the savages; they are destroying their villages and culture, like "savages." Ever since the beginning, Tommo notices that the savages are probably the truly more humane of the two. "'Yet, after all,' I quoth to myself, 'insensible as he is to a thousand wants, and removed from harassing cares, may not the savage be the happier man of the two?'" (29) This quote demonstrates two things. The undoubtable influence Shakespeare had on Melville and the remarkable foreshadowing that was to display the complete way of life, even of those most "savage," the Typees.

Another main part of Typee is the theme of forbidden romance. Tommo falls in love with the beautiful Fayaway and in the end, he could not even console her as she sobbed while he escaped in a row boat home. Melville proves in his writing that even though Tommo was entirely happy at times, there was always a moment of doubt. Here he demonstrates that even though this is "paradise" or "utopia," man will always miss his own culture no matter how violent they can be. Even though Tommo degraded the white man at every sign of native compassion to each other, he still wanted to go back. Don't forget that he was a prisoner in this peaceful place, and he escapes the island through the one thing that he feared, violence. Was it that he had learned the way of the Typees or had it always been there?

Marquesan Encounters: Melville and the Meaning of Civilization

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Marquesan Encounters: Melville and the Meaning of Civilization
Jr, T. Walter Herbert
Manufacturer: Harvard University Press
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Billy Budd

Billy Budd and Typee (Cliffs Notes)
Mary Ellen Snodgrass
Manufacturer: Cliffs Notes
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Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0764539507

Book Description

Explore two lively classic tales of adventure on the high seas with CliffsNotes Billy Budd & Typee, the study guide that can raise your insight as well as your test scores! Meet Billy Budd, the sailor that everyone likes . . . or do they? And then set sail through the wild side of the South Seas in Typee. You’ll be up to speed on all the plot details and more with in-depth character analysis, critical essays, and insight into the novel's literary devices. You'll also discover background information on the life of Herman Melville and his place in American literature.

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Forty years separate the writing of these books, and Melville's moral concerns are highly visible in Billy Budd, in which a young sailor willingly accepts his punishment after accidentally killing an evil man.

In Typee, Melville romanticized his own adventures as a merchant seaman on a Polynesian island. Typee is generally considered nothing more than adventure and travel writing.

Billy Budd is open to interpretation and is considered a much more literary work than Typee.

Customer Reviews:

Billy Budd.......2000-10-29

Billy Budd is a short story in which it tells about the life of a young sailor. It mainly focuses upon the life onboard the Indomitable. It tells how he ticks and what makes him work. The words and usage of language describe the story as a college or older high school type of literature. It is very hard to understand at first, but after a few tries you will understand.

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Typee
Herman Melville
Manufacturer: Quality Paperback Book Club
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Moby-Dick or, The Whale (Penguin Classics)

ASIN: B000KDVQ2I

Product Description

389 pages. edition especially created for Quality Paperback Book Club.

Selected Writings of Herman Melville : Complete Short Stories, Typee--And--Billy Budd, Foretopman.

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Selected Writings of Herman Melville : Complete Short Stories, Typee--And--Billy Budd, Foretopman.
Herman Melville
Manufacturer: Random House Inc (T)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Classics | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

3 Books/ 4 Titles By Melville - Billy Budd and Typee (One Book) - Moby Dick - Redburn

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3 Books/ 4 Titles By Melville - Billy Budd and Typee (One Book) - Moby Dick - Redburn
Herman Melville
Manufacturer: various
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

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Multiple books shipped as one item. Save on Shipping/Handling charges.

The Best of Moby Dick and Typee, also Billy Budd complete

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The Best of Moby Dick and Typee, also Billy Budd complete

Manufacturer: Platt and Munk
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

The Best Of Moby Dick and Typee, Also Billy Budd Complete - Platt & Munk Great Writers Collection, Abridged

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The Best Of Moby Dick and Typee, Also Billy Budd Complete - Platt & Munk Great Writers Collection, Abridged
Herman; Foreword by Ellsberg, Rear Admiral Edward; Melville
Manufacturer: Platt & Munk
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000IY7MHM

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