Journey through the works of Herman Melville-2

Today I will begin to look at the ten novels of Herman Melville. I will rank them in order of my own preference, because everybody loves a list. These rankings are not carved in stone, especially the works in the middle of the set (#4-7). So here we go.

#10. Mardi (1849). Melville's novels usually are divided into two major classes: sea-romances and philosophical discovery. Mardi has feet in both of these classes, and comes up short. It begins with a compelling story of sailors escaping a ship, the kind of story Melville excels at writing. And then the story changes, and it becomes almost as if Melville is writing about a dream. Descriptive narrative gives way to philosophy then to Polynesian mythology then to the nature of human life. The protagonist is driven to explore, looking for peace, and is haunted by his actions. It is Melville's longest work, and shows glimpses of the philosophical depth to come in Melville's classics. But I find so much of the dialogue tiring, and eventually I just wanted the book to end. That said, if I was to read it again, the sharp change in tone from seafaring story to philosophical treatise would not come as such a shock, so this one could move up a couple of spots.

#9. Israel Potter (1855). Loosely based on a pamphlet biography of the real Israel Potter, this book tells the story of a farmer who goes to fight the British at Bunker Hill, joins the navy, is captured and spends his life away from the land of his birth. There is really not much to say about this book, but I would compare Potter to an 18th-century Forrest Gump, always crossing paths with famous people in his day. This one I would probably not read again.

#8. Redburn (1849). Melville's work is so often autobiographical, it becomes difficult to separate the man from his work. Redburn is one such book, that tells the story of a young man, Wellingborough Redburn, deciding to go to sea. This story is based on Melville's first sea voyage, and is about his adapting to life on the sea. Redburn is almost naive in the beginning about what it takes to survive on the sea, and he grows into a more hardened sailor. A second act of the book finds Redburn in Liverpool, trying to walk in his father's footsteps, using an old (and outdated) travel book. Redburn wants to know his late father, and this travel book has stoked his imagination for years. The tragedy is that the book describes a place that no longer exists, and so you feel Redburn's disappointment. The book shows that life on the sea has no place for sympathy, and the book doesn't let us forget that sailing is a business. Redburn is the type of story Melville could write in his sleep, because it was the life he lived as a young man.