I. Herman Melville

1. life

2. works

(1) Typee

(2) Omio

(3) Mardi

(4) Redburn

(5) White Jacket

(6) Moby Dick

(7) Pierre

(8) Billy Budd

3. point of view

(1) He never seems able to say an affirmative yes to life: His is the attitude of “Everlasting Nay” (negative attitude towards life).

(2) One of the major themes of his is alienation (far away from each other).

Other themes: loneliness, suicidal individualism (individualism causing disaster and death), rejection and quest, confrontation of innocence and evil, doubts over the comforting 19c idea of progress

4. style

(1) Like Hawthorne, Melville manages to achieve the effect of ambiguity through employing the technique of multiple view of his narratives.

(2) He tends to write periodic chapters.

(3) His rich rhythmical prose and his poetic power have been profusely commented upon and praised.

(4) His works are symbolic and metaphorical.

(5) He includes many non-narrative chapters of factual background or description of what goes on board the ship or on the route (Moby Dick)