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Library of America #1
Typee, Omoo, Mardi
The inaugural volume of The Library of America presents one of America’s greatest writers, Herman Melville (1819–1891). These three early novels are stirring romances of the South Seas; many of their fictional details resemble some of the events in Melville’s own life in the early 1840s. Like the hero-narrator of Typee and Omoo, Melville shipped out on a whaler, jumped ship in exotic ports, was held captive by native tribes—though here he might have exaggerated his own exploits a bit—and escaped to find passage home in the service of the United States Navy.
Exuberant, highly pictorial, with a clear, swift narrative, Typee (1846) was his most popular work well into the 20th century, outselling all his others, including Moby-Dick. It offers a mostly idyllic account of life among the “cannibals” in which civilized innocence is contrasted with the corrosive effects of 19th-century industrial society.
A sequel to Typee, Omoo (1847) continues this inquiry into Pacific culture and those who intruded upon it, specifically in Tahiti. Melville details the misadventures of the unruly and overworked crew of the Australian trader Julia after they are imprisoned for insubordination; the story will perhaps surprise today’s readers with its humor.
With Mardi (1849), Melville abandons a literary Polynesia for a mythical one. “Mardi” is the Polynesian word for “the world,” and the voyage through imaginary South Sea archipelagoes stops off at Dominora (Britain), Porpheero (Europe), and Vivenza (the United States). Tracing the quest for the elusive and beautiful Yillah, it remains a timely political allegory and a thrilling adventure.
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.
Exuberant, highly pictorial, with a clear, swift narrative, Typee (1846) was his most popular work well into the 20th century, outselling all his others, including Moby-Dick. It offers a mostly idyllic account of life among the “cannibals” in which civilized innocence is contrasted with the corrosive effects of 19th-century industrial society.
A sequel to Typee, Omoo (1847) continues this inquiry into Pacific culture and those who intruded upon it, specifically in Tahiti. Melville details the misadventures of the unruly and overworked crew of the Australian trader Julia after they are imprisoned for insubordination; the story will perhaps surprise today’s readers with its humor.
With Mardi (1849), Melville abandons a literary Polynesia for a mythical one. “Mardi” is the Polynesian word for “the world,” and the voyage through imaginary South Sea archipelagoes stops off at Dominora (Britain), Porpheero (Europe), and Vivenza (the United States). Tracing the quest for the elusive and beautiful Yillah, it remains a timely political allegory and a thrilling adventure.
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.
1333 pages, Hardcover
Published May 6, 1982
89 people are currently reading
1260 people want to read
About the author
Herman Melville
1,754 books4,518 followersThere is more than one author with this name
Herman Melville was an American novelist, short story writer, and poet of the American Renaissance period. Among his best-known works are Moby-Dick (1851); Typee (1846), a romanticized account of his experiences in Polynesia; and Billy Budd, Sailor, a posthumously published novella. At the time of his death, Melville was no longer well known to the public, but the 1919 centennial of his birth was the starting point of a Melville revival. Moby-Dick eventually would be considered one of the great American novels.
Melville was born in New York City, the third child of a prosperous merchant whose death in 1832 left the family in dire financial straits. He took to sea in 1839 as a common sailor on a merchant ship and then on the whaler Acushnet, but he jumped ship in the Marquesas Islands. Typee, his first book, and its sequel, Omoo (1847), were travel-adventures based on his encounters with the peoples of the islands. Their success gave him the financial security to marry Elizabeth Shaw, the daughter of the Boston jurist Lemuel Shaw. Mardi (1849), a romance-adventure and his first book not based on his own experience, was not well received. Redburn (1849) and White-Jacket (1850), both tales based on his experience as a well-born young man at sea, were given respectable reviews, but did not sell well enough to support his expanding family.
Melville's growing literary ambition showed in Moby-Dick (1851), which took nearly a year and a half to write, but it did not find an audience, and critics scorned his psychological novel Pierre: or, The Ambiguities (1852). From 1853 to 1856, Melville published short fiction in magazines, including "Benito Cereno" and "Bartleby, the Scrivener". In 1857, he traveled to England, toured the Near East, and published his last work of prose, The Confidence-Man (1857). He moved to New York in 1863, eventually taking a position as a United States customs inspector.
From that point, Melville focused his creative powers on poetry. Battle-Pieces and Aspects of the War (1866) was his poetic reflection on the moral questions of the American Civil War. In 1867, his eldest child Malcolm died at home from a self-inflicted gunshot. Melville's metaphysical epic Clarel: A Poem and Pilgrimage in the Holy Land was published in 1876. In 1886, his other son Stanwix died of apparent tuberculosis, and Melville retired. During his last years, he privately published two volumes of poetry, and left one volume unpublished. The novella Billy Budd was left unfinished at his death, but was published posthumously in 1924. Melville died from cardiovascular disease in 1891.
Herman Melville was an American novelist, short story writer, and poet of the American Renaissance period. Among his best-known works are Moby-Dick (1851); Typee (1846), a romanticized account of his experiences in Polynesia; and Billy Budd, Sailor, a posthumously published novella. At the time of his death, Melville was no longer well known to the public, but the 1919 centennial of his birth was the starting point of a Melville revival. Moby-Dick eventually would be considered one of the great American novels.
Melville was born in New York City, the third child of a prosperous merchant whose death in 1832 left the family in dire financial straits. He took to sea in 1839 as a common sailor on a merchant ship and then on the whaler Acushnet, but he jumped ship in the Marquesas Islands. Typee, his first book, and its sequel, Omoo (1847), were travel-adventures based on his encounters with the peoples of the islands. Their success gave him the financial security to marry Elizabeth Shaw, the daughter of the Boston jurist Lemuel Shaw. Mardi (1849), a romance-adventure and his first book not based on his own experience, was not well received. Redburn (1849) and White-Jacket (1850), both tales based on his experience as a well-born young man at sea, were given respectable reviews, but did not sell well enough to support his expanding family.
Melville's growing literary ambition showed in Moby-Dick (1851), which took nearly a year and a half to write, but it did not find an audience, and critics scorned his psychological novel Pierre: or, The Ambiguities (1852). From 1853 to 1856, Melville published short fiction in magazines, including "Benito Cereno" and "Bartleby, the Scrivener". In 1857, he traveled to England, toured the Near East, and published his last work of prose, The Confidence-Man (1857). He moved to New York in 1863, eventually taking a position as a United States customs inspector.
From that point, Melville focused his creative powers on poetry. Battle-Pieces and Aspects of the War (1866) was his poetic reflection on the moral questions of the American Civil War. In 1867, his eldest child Malcolm died at home from a self-inflicted gunshot. Melville's metaphysical epic Clarel: A Poem and Pilgrimage in the Holy Land was published in 1876. In 1886, his other son Stanwix died of apparent tuberculosis, and Melville retired. During his last years, he privately published two volumes of poetry, and left one volume unpublished. The novella Billy Budd was left unfinished at his death, but was published posthumously in 1924. Melville died from cardiovascular disease in 1891.
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May 26, 2023
The Growth Of A Seeker
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 Melville'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 received for a verity." (Little likelihood of that)
The book is written 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, mythical 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, villains, 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, Daumal, which fits quite compactly into just a few chapters of Mardi. Mardi is a long, maddeningly difficult book but worth the effort.
Americans can learn about themselves by learning about their literature and this book is a fitting place to start (or continue). For those with the patience, it is worth reading these books in order (perhaps with other reading sandwiched in between) to discover the growth of a great and troubled American writer and chronicler of the inward life, as well as of sea journeys.
Robin Friedman
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 Melville'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 received for a verity." (Little likelihood of that)
The book is written 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, mythical 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, villains, 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, Daumal, which fits quite compactly into just a few chapters of Mardi. Mardi is a long, maddeningly difficult book but worth the effort.
Americans can learn about themselves by learning about their literature and this book is a fitting place to start (or continue). For those with the patience, it is worth reading these books in order (perhaps with other reading sandwiched in between) to discover the growth of a great and troubled American writer and chronicler of the inward life, as well as of sea journeys.
Robin Friedman
February 3, 2019
I have reviewed each of the three books in this volume separately, but inasmuch as the texts I read were the very ones used in this volume, I thought I'd review it. (I have it to hand, anyway, so I'll also comment on the packaging, font, etc.) The Library Of America is unrivaled in its textual authority, and the editors who worked on the Melville are Harrison Hayford, Hershel Parker and G. Thomas Tanselle. These texts are the Northwestern-Newberry texts, so, if you read any single novel by Herman Melville, make sure the copyright page says its the Northwestern-Newberry text. You won't have any trouble finding a Library Of America edition through your local library or the library system of which it is a part.
The look of the book: Unless your library has snipped to a nub the bookmark ribbon and chucked the dustjacket, you'll have found a very attractive book. The ribbon bookmark is incredibly handy, if, like me, you tend to tear only the smallest portion of a White Castle receipt to use as a bookmark most of the time. You won't risk the piece of paper fluttering away as you walk around proudly with your tome. You probably won't lose place with the ribbon, but if you do, it's attached to the binding. You can find your place again and put that ribbon in the right spot. The font is small but not extravagantly small, and it is a clear, distinct one. The pages are thin but not transparent. The binding is nice and tight but not the kind of binding which makes the inner margins hard to observe. This is old-fashioned book-binding of a sort not often seen post-1980. Thank the Haddon Craftsmen. On the inside of the jacket are lists of other Library Of America selections. After the main text are a chronology telling you the landmarks in the life of Herman Melville and pages of notes on the text. There is no editorializing or criticism in these volumes. That is very wise and, given the sheer intellect of the scholars who worked to issue as definitive a text as possible, proof of their humility.
The novels themselves: TYPEE, Melville's first, written in his mid-twenties (roughly 1846) is a very detailed, colorful and flowing narrative of a sailor's adventure after abandoning his ship off a Polynesian island. He winds up living with a cannibal tribe. While it reads like a novel it is largely an autobiographical account, as is its follow-up, OMOO, from 1848 or so. Melville specifically addressed doubters in the preface to his third book, MARDI. In effect, he said to his readers that if they didn't believe what he told them in his first two memoirs, perhaps they would believe the fiction which was MARDI. As well-written as TYPEE is, MARDI is light years more elegant. As threadbare as OMOO is, MARDI is as bountiful a story as has ever been put between covers.
One thing I noticed is that the chapters of TYPEE are long and don't wind down until Melville has had his say. In OMOO, he seems to have had an idea of giving the reader brief portions. A typical chapter in TYPEE is about twelve pages. An average chapter in OMOO is about three and a half. But by the time MARDI came along in 1849 Melville managed to write very short chapters which, nevertheless, were so rich in ideas that the brevity of the chapters was a revelation.
I suggest reading these books in order. You will see Melville working on his craft. You may, like me, think he faltered somewhat with OMOO, but I think you'll agree he had to write it to get to MARDI. TYPEE is really enjoyable. OMOO has some great observation, the best chapter being one on hunting wild cattle. (Arguably Melville anticipates today's thinking on animal cruelty, but the sheer realism of that chapter is the stand-out feature.) MARDI is an epic satire. Melville channels Swift, especially in chapters dealing with countries of Melville's invention which mirror the United States, Britain and Ireland. MARDI is also a real meditation on belief. It is harrowing in places. Overall it echoes A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM, GULLIVER'S TRAVELS and DON QUIXOTE. It also anticipates James Joyce. A lot of the book involves a group of friends discussing poetry, philosophy and history. In this respect it reminds me of the library scene in Joyce's ULYSSES. I'll also point out that, while the characters talk about real figures in history and the arts, Melville has also created a world of writers, philosophers and historical figures. That is, he invents several figures the main characters talk about and quote. Throughout the book the subject of an author's purpose is discussed. Melville is clearly laying out his view of himself as an artist. Joyce had yet to do so: He wasn't born yet.
The look of the book: Unless your library has snipped to a nub the bookmark ribbon and chucked the dustjacket, you'll have found a very attractive book. The ribbon bookmark is incredibly handy, if, like me, you tend to tear only the smallest portion of a White Castle receipt to use as a bookmark most of the time. You won't risk the piece of paper fluttering away as you walk around proudly with your tome. You probably won't lose place with the ribbon, but if you do, it's attached to the binding. You can find your place again and put that ribbon in the right spot. The font is small but not extravagantly small, and it is a clear, distinct one. The pages are thin but not transparent. The binding is nice and tight but not the kind of binding which makes the inner margins hard to observe. This is old-fashioned book-binding of a sort not often seen post-1980. Thank the Haddon Craftsmen. On the inside of the jacket are lists of other Library Of America selections. After the main text are a chronology telling you the landmarks in the life of Herman Melville and pages of notes on the text. There is no editorializing or criticism in these volumes. That is very wise and, given the sheer intellect of the scholars who worked to issue as definitive a text as possible, proof of their humility.
The novels themselves: TYPEE, Melville's first, written in his mid-twenties (roughly 1846) is a very detailed, colorful and flowing narrative of a sailor's adventure after abandoning his ship off a Polynesian island. He winds up living with a cannibal tribe. While it reads like a novel it is largely an autobiographical account, as is its follow-up, OMOO, from 1848 or so. Melville specifically addressed doubters in the preface to his third book, MARDI. In effect, he said to his readers that if they didn't believe what he told them in his first two memoirs, perhaps they would believe the fiction which was MARDI. As well-written as TYPEE is, MARDI is light years more elegant. As threadbare as OMOO is, MARDI is as bountiful a story as has ever been put between covers.
One thing I noticed is that the chapters of TYPEE are long and don't wind down until Melville has had his say. In OMOO, he seems to have had an idea of giving the reader brief portions. A typical chapter in TYPEE is about twelve pages. An average chapter in OMOO is about three and a half. But by the time MARDI came along in 1849 Melville managed to write very short chapters which, nevertheless, were so rich in ideas that the brevity of the chapters was a revelation.
I suggest reading these books in order. You will see Melville working on his craft. You may, like me, think he faltered somewhat with OMOO, but I think you'll agree he had to write it to get to MARDI. TYPEE is really enjoyable. OMOO has some great observation, the best chapter being one on hunting wild cattle. (Arguably Melville anticipates today's thinking on animal cruelty, but the sheer realism of that chapter is the stand-out feature.) MARDI is an epic satire. Melville channels Swift, especially in chapters dealing with countries of Melville's invention which mirror the United States, Britain and Ireland. MARDI is also a real meditation on belief. It is harrowing in places. Overall it echoes A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM, GULLIVER'S TRAVELS and DON QUIXOTE. It also anticipates James Joyce. A lot of the book involves a group of friends discussing poetry, philosophy and history. In this respect it reminds me of the library scene in Joyce's ULYSSES. I'll also point out that, while the characters talk about real figures in history and the arts, Melville has also created a world of writers, philosophers and historical figures. That is, he invents several figures the main characters talk about and quote. Throughout the book the subject of an author's purpose is discussed. Melville is clearly laying out his view of himself as an artist. Joyce had yet to do so: He wasn't born yet.
July 7, 2013
Reading Mardi, very excited about it so far.
Typee was pastoral and exotic, but run through with tension fear and violence. Some great pithy passages about savagery vs. civilization. Stranger and sadder than I expected, with disturbing suggestions underneath a simple story.
Omoo, continuing the story, displays a 'civilized' island world, in ferocious contrast to that described in Typee. Some incredibly funny moments, as the colonizers and missionaries (mainly absent in Typee) are exposed to Melville's incindiary barbed gaze.
Typee and Omoo- four stars each. Edition- 5 stars.
Typee was pastoral and exotic, but run through with tension fear and violence. Some great pithy passages about savagery vs. civilization. Stranger and sadder than I expected, with disturbing suggestions underneath a simple story.
Omoo, continuing the story, displays a 'civilized' island world, in ferocious contrast to that described in Typee. Some incredibly funny moments, as the colonizers and missionaries (mainly absent in Typee) are exposed to Melville's incindiary barbed gaze.
Typee and Omoo- four stars each. Edition- 5 stars.
March 5, 2009
As with other Library of America editions, this book is excellent if all you need is the primary text(s); LoA editions do not include much in the way of scholarly notes or commentary (sometimes there will be a "note on the text" but, generally, nothing more). LoA editions being uniform, I have always found them to be of high quality, meaning the paper is a nice, bright white; the font is clear and pleasant; and, of course, each book is hardbound.
Typee and Omoo, the first two novels Melville wrote, are quite readable for the average reader. If you find Moby Dick difficult or tedious, fear not, these two stories are much more accessible. Both stories possess details of historical interest, well-woven with the main stories and numerous short episodes. Typee has a bit more suspense, a bit more drama than Omoo (Omoo may have more humor), but both stories keep you interested with a suspense natural to a story of a man marooned amongst a strange island culture. Scholars and the erudite may recognize both stories as quasi-idealized test cases for Rousseau's 'natural man', and similar philosophical theories.
Mardi is a very different matter, having been Melville's first attempt at literature of high seriousness. The moral criticisms Melville levelled at Christian missionaries in his first two books, in Mardi became a broader critique of Christianity and religion in general. The story of Mardi is really a thin skin stretched over a -- rather didactic for a novel -- sprawling dialogue of metaphysics, peppered with allusions to all kinds of literature. The structure is not unlike Canterbury Tales or the Decameron, but the dialogue is far more didactic. Mardi is a must-read for Melville scholars, as it prefigures much of the religio-philosophical concerns raised in Moby Dick and virtually all other stories he wrote.
On the whole, these are three very fine stories, and well presented in the Library of America edition.
Typee and Omoo, the first two novels Melville wrote, are quite readable for the average reader. If you find Moby Dick difficult or tedious, fear not, these two stories are much more accessible. Both stories possess details of historical interest, well-woven with the main stories and numerous short episodes. Typee has a bit more suspense, a bit more drama than Omoo (Omoo may have more humor), but both stories keep you interested with a suspense natural to a story of a man marooned amongst a strange island culture. Scholars and the erudite may recognize both stories as quasi-idealized test cases for Rousseau's 'natural man', and similar philosophical theories.
Mardi is a very different matter, having been Melville's first attempt at literature of high seriousness. The moral criticisms Melville levelled at Christian missionaries in his first two books, in Mardi became a broader critique of Christianity and religion in general. The story of Mardi is really a thin skin stretched over a -- rather didactic for a novel -- sprawling dialogue of metaphysics, peppered with allusions to all kinds of literature. The structure is not unlike Canterbury Tales or the Decameron, but the dialogue is far more didactic. Mardi is a must-read for Melville scholars, as it prefigures much of the religio-philosophical concerns raised in Moby Dick and virtually all other stories he wrote.
On the whole, these are three very fine stories, and well presented in the Library of America edition.
January 6, 2013
October 5, 2006 - Typee:
Sure he took some liberties with the story - that's why it's fiction and not a "memoir". And yet, the great themes he would wrestle with forever are in here, waiting to be explored in greater depth later. A little sluggish at times, but a great first attempt.
May 30, 2009 - Omoo:
Clearly "part two" of his great south seas adventures. On the one hand, you can see him growing weary of the strict non-fictional narrative (paving the way for the more overtly "fictionalized" Mardi). On the other hand, since he jumped ship again in Hawaii before eventually making his way back to America after being at sea for 4 years, you rather wish there was a "part three".
as for the book itself, it drags a bit in the second half, as he tries to relay factual data about Tahiti, and you can see Melville struggling with some sort of arc for his story. but, as with Typee, you can see the great themes here - civilized man v. natural man, truth, honesty, morality, religion. all waiting for him to expand upon.
January 5, 2013 - Mardi:
In "Moby Dick" Ishmael says that "A whale-ship was my Yale College and my Harvard"; Mardi was Melville's. The book is - and i say this as a fan of Melville - an unorganized mess in which you can see a writer learning how to write, falling in love with language, experimenting with forms and structures, and discovering what really interests him and how we can explore it. It is far more ambitious than "Typee" and "Omoo", a type of story that he was clearly bored with during "Omoo" and which he begins this book with and abandons about a third of the way in - but it absolutely outstrips his ability at this point and thus is, at times, almost unreadable as he struggles to keep up with his dreams.
If you love Melville, it's worth reading. If you're interested in watching a writer try to find himself in real time, it might be worth digging into as well (though at nearly 700 pages you might want to see if there are other similar exercises elsewhere that are shorter). If you're not interested in either, you might want to go elsewhere. And that's from someone who, as i said, considers himself a fan.
Sure he took some liberties with the story - that's why it's fiction and not a "memoir". And yet, the great themes he would wrestle with forever are in here, waiting to be explored in greater depth later. A little sluggish at times, but a great first attempt.
May 30, 2009 - Omoo:
Clearly "part two" of his great south seas adventures. On the one hand, you can see him growing weary of the strict non-fictional narrative (paving the way for the more overtly "fictionalized" Mardi). On the other hand, since he jumped ship again in Hawaii before eventually making his way back to America after being at sea for 4 years, you rather wish there was a "part three".
as for the book itself, it drags a bit in the second half, as he tries to relay factual data about Tahiti, and you can see Melville struggling with some sort of arc for his story. but, as with Typee, you can see the great themes here - civilized man v. natural man, truth, honesty, morality, religion. all waiting for him to expand upon.
January 5, 2013 - Mardi:
In "Moby Dick" Ishmael says that "A whale-ship was my Yale College and my Harvard"; Mardi was Melville's. The book is - and i say this as a fan of Melville - an unorganized mess in which you can see a writer learning how to write, falling in love with language, experimenting with forms and structures, and discovering what really interests him and how we can explore it. It is far more ambitious than "Typee" and "Omoo", a type of story that he was clearly bored with during "Omoo" and which he begins this book with and abandons about a third of the way in - but it absolutely outstrips his ability at this point and thus is, at times, almost unreadable as he struggles to keep up with his dreams.
If you love Melville, it's worth reading. If you're interested in watching a writer try to find himself in real time, it might be worth digging into as well (though at nearly 700 pages you might want to see if there are other similar exercises elsewhere that are shorter). If you're not interested in either, you might want to go elsewhere. And that's from someone who, as i said, considers himself a fan.
January 8, 2017
Many years ago, a man I really respect told me I should really read Moby Dick. For many years, I tried, and just couldn't hack it. I decided towards the end of last year that I'd try again, but adopt a different approach. I'd read all of Melville, starting with his first novel. I'm not sorry I decided to do that.
Typee was wonderful, light and diverting. Omoo offered lots of food for thought, but the sprawling expanse of Mardi thwarted me for a while. I picked it back up this year, and just breezed on through. Once you catch your stride, it's really an easy read. I found it to be challenging in the sense that I just couldn't process how all the pieces fit together, and I really can't offer any theories at this point. Perhaps the best thing to say is that when I finished Mardi, I felt the strong urge to start again and read the 800+ pages all over again to figure out what I missed along the way. That, in my mind, makes for a fine book.
This is volume 1 in the Library of America series, and a great edition of these books. Highly recommended.
Typee was wonderful, light and diverting. Omoo offered lots of food for thought, but the sprawling expanse of Mardi thwarted me for a while. I picked it back up this year, and just breezed on through. Once you catch your stride, it's really an easy read. I found it to be challenging in the sense that I just couldn't process how all the pieces fit together, and I really can't offer any theories at this point. Perhaps the best thing to say is that when I finished Mardi, I felt the strong urge to start again and read the 800+ pages all over again to figure out what I missed along the way. That, in my mind, makes for a fine book.
This is volume 1 in the Library of America series, and a great edition of these books. Highly recommended.
May 15, 2013
Not Melville's best. It is no Moby Dick.
June 27, 2019
Forget Typee and Omoo, they are mere travelogues. Read only Mardi, Melville's prequel to Moby-Dick.
February 25, 2022
Great Journey of a man pursuing his own illusions...
August 9, 2023
interesting
March 15, 2024
A great travel story that made Melville famous at first. Truly enjoyable.
April 1, 2024
Funny! Interesting! Informative!
December 30, 2025
Library of America #1: The first three works by Melville were unique and show promise with some early skill. Favorite was Typee followed by Mardi then Omoo. Worth reading for sure though it is long.
February 13, 2019
Moby-Dick, or, the Whale is much, much better in my personal opinion, HOWEVER, you can see from these novellae a hint of maybe where Herman Melville got his ideas from. (I may be a biased commentator since that was my very first big thick novel. I got it out from the library when I was the littlest of girls, and I looked up every single word I didn't understand.)
I just hung up the phone from discussing these three books which Library of America combined into an omnibus.
I don't know if I am glad that publishing company did or whether I would have preferred if they would have split them into separate tales to consider individually...
What I liked most from this text was seeing some of the GRE vocabulary used in different contexts than how my study books offer.
The names Melville came up with are inventive as well. In the context of the 19th century, there are some really bizarre nouns in there to consider.
So, Typee is the monologue of a lost sailor among the people he labels as "savages."
Omoo has some basic illustration but I didn't get to contemplate it or Mardi fully in time before this book had to return to the library, so I will come back to it later because I do like the premise (and learning the words better). Honestly, it was from Melville that I first learned the convention of summarising what I meant to accomplish in a chapter before going about it, rather than any writing teacher.
I mean to come back to this one after done taking my test.
I just hung up the phone from discussing these three books which Library of America combined into an omnibus.
I don't know if I am glad that publishing company did or whether I would have preferred if they would have split them into separate tales to consider individually...
What I liked most from this text was seeing some of the GRE vocabulary used in different contexts than how my study books offer.
The names Melville came up with are inventive as well. In the context of the 19th century, there are some really bizarre nouns in there to consider.
So, Typee is the monologue of a lost sailor among the people he labels as "savages."
Omoo has some basic illustration but I didn't get to contemplate it or Mardi fully in time before this book had to return to the library, so I will come back to it later because I do like the premise (and learning the words better). Honestly, it was from Melville that I first learned the convention of summarising what I meant to accomplish in a chapter before going about it, rather than any writing teacher.
I mean to come back to this one after done taking my test.
August 7, 2021
Typee and Omoo are relatively straightforward and enjoyable travel romances. Interestingly, Melville's first two novels take place largely on land.
Mardi is the more enigmatic third in this series. Beginning as a straightforward sea romance it quickly becomes something else. Mardi is - so far as I can tell - the eaglet of Melville's genius first pecking at the eggshell of the travel romance format that had previously constrained it. There are moments where, however clumsily, the shell is penetrated and the sublime exterior is realized in new forms and styles. This experience clearly influenced Redburn and White-jacket - the books wherein Melville once and for all perfect this format in preparation for Moby Dick which becomes something new entirely. The book ends enigmatically - after surveying and surviving all of Mardi (the World) in search of Yilla - Melville has appeased his maddened faculty of Reason (in the form of Babbalanja) by reconciling it with the word of God. Finally, he casts off both History (Mohi / Braid beard) and Poetry (Yooma) and sails beyond the bounds of Mardi (The World) into the endless sea of Eternity pursued by Death.
There's much to marvel over in these three books and they bear witness to Melville's ambition and early development as a writer.
Mardi is the more enigmatic third in this series. Beginning as a straightforward sea romance it quickly becomes something else. Mardi is - so far as I can tell - the eaglet of Melville's genius first pecking at the eggshell of the travel romance format that had previously constrained it. There are moments where, however clumsily, the shell is penetrated and the sublime exterior is realized in new forms and styles. This experience clearly influenced Redburn and White-jacket - the books wherein Melville once and for all perfect this format in preparation for Moby Dick which becomes something new entirely. The book ends enigmatically - after surveying and surviving all of Mardi (the World) in search of Yilla - Melville has appeased his maddened faculty of Reason (in the form of Babbalanja) by reconciling it with the word of God. Finally, he casts off both History (Mohi / Braid beard) and Poetry (Yooma) and sails beyond the bounds of Mardi (The World) into the endless sea of Eternity pursued by Death.
There's much to marvel over in these three books and they bear witness to Melville's ambition and early development as a writer.
Want to read
November 25, 2018I want to reread this book because it is referred to in the nov. 25, 2018 NYT article by Jeffrey Gettleman, writing about the young missionary ( John Allen Chau) killed by native islanders when he invaded them trying to convert them to christianity.
I am curious about Omoo, too. There was an old story about one island w a reputation of benignity and peace and its neighbor with a reputation for fierceness and bloodthirstiness in war -when in reality the actuality was flipped. (It might have been Greenland vs Iceland -distant voyagers knew that one of them was uninhabitable but with little go on except words - I am sure that Iceland avoided many invasions!)
And a scifi story about two creatures - one large and threatening, on distracted, sad and meek. The Large threatening one is full of bluster because it is terrified - and the small one is sad and withdrawn because it knows it will be guilty of violence.
How to transform what we see around us to literature?
I am curious about Omoo, too. There was an old story about one island w a reputation of benignity and peace and its neighbor with a reputation for fierceness and bloodthirstiness in war -when in reality the actuality was flipped. (It might have been Greenland vs Iceland -distant voyagers knew that one of them was uninhabitable but with little go on except words - I am sure that Iceland avoided many invasions!)
And a scifi story about two creatures - one large and threatening, on distracted, sad and meek. The Large threatening one is full of bluster because it is terrified - and the small one is sad and withdrawn because it knows it will be guilty of violence.
How to transform what we see around us to literature?
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 13, 2009
Let's face it, Melville's can be a bit boring. However, these 3 stories (if actually true) are quite amazing. Warning though: EACH OF THESE BOOKS CAN SEEM TO BE A VERY LONG READ and holding all 3 in 1 hand makes them seem even longer. So I recommend buying the individual novels.
On Typee: A great starter story to Mardi and you must read this first. Melville gives an incredible detail of how Polynesians lived in perfect harmony. So, if you are at all interested in their culture and the story of a man who, although was a captive, was embraced and treated like a king by the island dwellers. A good read.
On Omoo: The continuing story... plus. (I can't say more).
On Mardi: I can't say too much here as I was a bit bored and tired after finishing the 1st 2. So I need to revisit this one again before I make any review.
On Typee: A great starter story to Mardi and you must read this first. Melville gives an incredible detail of how Polynesians lived in perfect harmony. So, if you are at all interested in their culture and the story of a man who, although was a captive, was embraced and treated like a king by the island dwellers. A good read.
On Omoo: The continuing story... plus. (I can't say more).
On Mardi: I can't say too much here as I was a bit bored and tired after finishing the 1st 2. So I need to revisit this one again before I make any review.
November 1, 2008
These books feel both archaic and 100 years before their time. All three are nominally South Seas adventure stories, but the plot quickly takes a back seat to other concerns, whether it's a anthropological study of the Marquesan Islands in Typee or an extended essay on the effect of civilizing missions on so-called primitive societies in Omoo. Mardi is by far the longest novel in this collection, around 650 pages in this edition. Halfway through the novel, Melville pretty much abandons the story altogether and gives us page after page of historical, philosophical, political, and theological speculations. Alternatively brilliant and frustrating.
January 31, 2016
Interesting book based on fact of man in 1800's, early visitor who abandoned his ship and flees inland. Ends up staying with the Tyee tribe renown as cannabals. Explains his journey inland, finding the tribe and living with them for approx 4 months where they refuse to let him try to leave, but feed and treat him with respect. Very interesting to read about this type of culture who at that time had rarely seen white English or French men. He observes and explains many customs, waits, religious practices and also touches on the cannabalism.
May 9, 2015
Typee--adventure story only read because Melville did better later. Here are the basics: jumped ship on Pacific isle, horrendous idols, savage cannibals, and half-clad nymphs. Titillation and adrenalin for the 1800's. And speculations on the good life, too (good life = piles of breadfruit, nymphs, and bananas).
February 3, 2013
5 stars for Typee & Omoo, 2 for Mardi (read 2/13). Mardi's only real interest is as Melville's first attempt at imaginative, allegorical/symbolical fiction. He failed miserably, and Mardi probably won't be of interest to any but Melville diehards.
February 8, 2019
It wanders some but the imagery is beautiful and you just have to fall in love with the language. The philosophy slipped into Mardi is thought provoking without messing with the story line. A good read.
November 3, 2007
Review available at The Taze Files.
First novel was strong, last one was over-long.
November 6, 2009
Finished Typee and Omoo. I love Mardi!
August 28, 2010
Finished Typee and Omoo, now onto Mardi.
July 25, 2011
Too many digressions around a not so interesting (at least for me as many gave a favorable rating to the book) story.
May 13, 2013
If you like this type of writing, you will enjoy it. Not as good or interesting as Moby Dick, but a good set of stories from the era.
May 20, 2013
Surprisingly accessible, readable, engaging.
November 30, 2013
I haven't read this book (though now I'm curious). Have no idea how this got here!
July 3, 2016
Didn't get to "Mardi," which everyone derides.
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