Herman Melville (1819–1891) was an American novelist, short story writer, and poet, best known for his masterpiece Moby-Dick. Born in New York City, Melville had a tumultuous early life marked by financial hardship and the death of his father. His early experiences working on whaling ships in the Pacific provided the foundation for much of his later work. Melville's time at sea deeply influenced his writing, offering both literal and metaphorical inspiration for his exploration of human nature and the natural world.
Melville's first novel, Typee (1846), was a semi-autobiographical account of his time in the Marquesas Islands, which gained him immediate popularity. However, it was Moby-Dick (1851), a complex narrative about obsession and revenge, that would become his most famous work. At the time of its publication, the novel was not widely appreciated, but it later came to be regarded as one of the greatest works of American literature.
Despite the early commercial failure of his works, Melville continued to write, producing novels, short stories, and poetry, but his literary output declined toward the end of his life. He worked as a customs inspector in New York for many years, largely forgotten by the public. It was only after his death that Melville's writing, particularly Moby-Dick, was fully recognized for its artistic and philosophical depth. Today, Melville is celebrated as a central figure in American literature.
