Herman melville biography book newton arvin
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The bibliography is brief, and there’s a near total absence of ‘theory’. It is the same inconsistency, the same maddening inscrutability.
A certain acknowledgment of domestic discomfort is the closest he comes to the problem of reconciling Melville’s home life with the dream life of his writing. We know today various things about this: that he was at the very least unpleasant to be around; probably he was violent towards his wife.
I had to wince when he describes ‘the mincing marivaudage of conversation at Miss Anne Lynch’s, where he sometimes turned up at this period’. But at the same time, what is there to disagree with here?
Herman Melville - Softcover
Synopsis
This compelling biography of Herman Melville, one of America's most enigmatic literary figures, recounts a life full of adventure, hardship, and moral conflict.
For a while, he was institutionalised. Newton Arvin's eminently readable biography beautifully captures the troubled, often reclusive man whose major works include Typee, Omoo, "Bartleby the Scrivener," Billy Budd, and his indisputable masterpiece, Moby-Dick. Much of his writing was based on his nautical adventures, but his novels were, for the most part, unsuccessful and misunderstood.
Herman Melville
This compelling biography of Herman Melville, one of America's most enigmatic literary figures, recounts a life full of adventure, hardship, and moral conflict. I’ve read 'Moby-Dick' a couple of times, and lately I’ve been reading his stories. Later in life, Melville had to accept work as a low-level customs agent to support his wife and children.
Years are spanned in vague asides. I want to quibble — I want to underline phrases like ‘soberly truthful and precise’ and call upon the author to explain exactly what he means by this. Opinionated, conversational, vaguely irresponsible with regard to the truth, and sometimes downright offensive. Much of his writing was based on his nautical adventures, but his novels were, for the most part, unsuccessful and misunderstood.
Perhaps none of this matters, though.)
Arvin’s book covers a lot of ground in a breezy fashion, and it’s written in a style that leans heavily on its own authority. Later in life, Melville had to accept work as a low-level customs agent to support his wife and children. It provides a condensed biography alongside an assessment of all his major works, plus some of his stories.
It seems both share an ISBN in some listings; anyway, given my temperament, and the fact that both seem equally difficult to obtain, I kept the Arvin book and didn’t complain.
I don’t know that Arvin is much read these days.
(Regular followers of this blog might be sensing a theme here. I feel embarrassed to admit that I’ve always felt an affinity for his work — he’s not emblematic of much that’s admirable these days — but until recently I never knew much about his life.
The whole thing is richly speculative. But it perfectly encapsulates, even replicates, that sense of constant flux that we find in Melville’s own writing.