Herman Melville
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STORY BY Herman Melville
Moby Dick
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Publié à New York en 1851, "Moby Dick" est le chef-d’œuvre de l"écrivain nord-américain Herman Melville et l"un des livres majeurs de la littérature romantique.Publié quand l"auteur était âgé de trente-deux ans, l"importance de "Moby Dick" ne devait être reconnue que beaucoup plus tard, et les principales études critiques qui lui furent consacrées, ainsi que les nombreuses traductions qui en furent faites, dans les différentes langues sont relativement récentes."Moby Dick" est l"histoire d"une importante expédition de chasse à la baleine, se déroulant aux alentours de 1840. Moby Dick, c’est la monstrueuse baleine blanche, l’incarnation du Mal, cette figure de l’obsession et du double qui, des profondeurs glacées, accompagne le capitaine Achab habitué en surface aux combats titanesques des océans. "Moby Dick" est ce chef-d’œuvre total que tout le monde peut lire comme le plus formidable des romans d’aventures ; la quête aussi d’une humanité embarquée de force à bord d’une histoire qui reste pour elle un mystère.Avec "Moby Dick", Melville a donné naissance à un livre-culte et inscrit dans la mémoire des hommes un nouveau mythe : celui de la baleine blanche. Fort de son expérience de marin, qui a nourri ses romans précédents et lui a assuré le succès, l"écrivain américain, alors en pleine maturité, raconte la folle quête du capitaine Achab et sa dernière rencontre avec le grand cachalot. Véritable encyclopédie de la mer, nouvelle Bible aux accents prophétiques, parabole chargée de thèmes universels, "Moby Dick" n"en reste pas moins construit avec une savante maîtrise, maintenant un suspense lent, qui s"accélère peu à peu jusqu"à l"apocalypse finale. L"écriture de Melville, infiniment libre et audacieuse, tour à tour balancée, puis hachée au rythme des houles, des vents et des passions humaines, est d"une richesse exceptionnelle. Il faut remonter à Shakespeare pour trouver l"exemple d"une langue aussi inventive, d"une poésie aussi grandiose.
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Benito Cereno
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Mistero e realtà nei mari del SudOltre Moby Dick, Melville ci ha lasciato un tesoro e questo Benito Cereno è solo uno di quei gioielli. Letteratura di mare, letteratura di un mistero che non si nasconde sotto le acque, ma che è lì, sul ponte di quella nave, sotto gli occhi di Amasa Delano, l’americano, che tutto vede, ma nulla riesce a comprendere.Benito Cereno, pubblicato per la prima volta nel 1855, è un altro romanzo in cui l"autore prende spunto dalla sua esperienza da marinaio. È un modello di sintesi e di stile, dove Melville dipinge con colori plumbei una storia fitta di mistero e ambiguità. Come sempre la scrittura di Herman Melville riesce ad incantare ogni lettore e a travolgere il significato di ciò che si legge.In questo breve romanzo, nulla è come realmente sembra. Ciò che è preda diventa in realtà il predatore e lascia a bocca asciutta fino all"ultima pagina, fino a quando viene spiegata la verità con tratti crudi e senza senso. E" davvero giusto realizzare qualcosa anche se il mezzo è il più sbagliato? Dove inizia la follia e termina la ragione? Melville ci imprigiona in una gabbia stretta dove si ha la necessità solo di riflettere su quello che abbiamo letto pur di uscirne.Da leggere e assaporarne ogni parola, nella bellissima e intensa traduzione che ne fece Cesare Pavese.
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Herman Melville – The Complete Collection
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15 Complete Works of Herman MelvilleBartleby, The ScrivenerBattle-Pieces and Aspects of the WarI and My ChimneyIsrael PotterJohn Marr and Other PoemsMardi and A Voyage Thither, Vol. IMardi and A Voyage Thither, Vol. IIMoby DickOmooPierre; or The AmbiguitiesRedburnThe Confidence-ManThe Piazza TalesTypeeWhite Jacket
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Moby Dick or the Whale
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Moby-Dick; or, The Whale is an 1851 novel by American writer Herman Melville. The book is the sailor Ishmael's narrative of the obsessive quest of Ahab, captain of the whaling ship Pequod, for revenge on Moby Dick, the giant white sperm whale that on the ship's previous voyage bit off Ahab's leg at the knee. A contribution to the literature of the American Renaissance, Moby-Dick was published to mixed reviews, was a commercial failure, and was out of print at the time of the author's death in 1891. Its reputation as a "Great American Novel" was established only in the 20th century, after the centennial of its author's birth. William Faulkner said he wished he had written the book himself, and D. H. Lawrence called it "one of the strangest and most wonderful books in the world" and "the greatest book of the sea ever written". Its opening sentence, "Call me Ishmael", is among world literature's most famous. Melville began writing Moby-Dick in February 1850, and finished 18 months later, a year longer than he had anticipated. Melville drew on his experience as a common sailor from 1841 to 1844, including several years on whalers, and on wide reading in whaling literature. The white whale is modeled on the notoriously hard-to-catch albino whale Mocha Dick, and the book's ending is based on the sinking of the whaleship Essex in 1820. His literary influences include Shakespeare and the Bible. The detailed and realistic descriptions of whale hunting and of extracting whale oil, as well as life aboard ship among a culturally diverse crew, are mixed with exploration of class and social status, good and evil, and the existence of God. In addition to narrative prose, Melville uses styles and literary devices ranging from songs, poetry, and catalogs to Shakespearean stage directions, soliloquies, and asides. In August 1850, with the manuscript perhaps half finished, he met Nathaniel Hawthorne and was deeply moved by his Mosses from an Old Manse, which he compared to Shakespeare in its cosmic ambitions. This encounter may have inspired him to revise and expand Moby-Dick, which is dedicated to Hawthorne, "in token of my admiration for his genius". The book was first published (in three volumes) as The Whale in London in October 1851, and under its definitive title in a single-volume edition in New York in November. The London publisher, Richard Bentley, censored or changed sensitive passages; Melville made revisions as well, including a last-minute change to the title for the New York edition. The whale, however, appears in the text of both editions as "Moby Dick", without the hyphen. Reviewers in Britain were largely favorable, though some objected that the tale seemed to be told by a narrator who perished with the ship, as the British edition lacked the Epilogue recounting Ishmael's survival. American reviewers were more hostile. About 3,200 copies of the book were sold during the author's life. From Wipikedia.
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Typee
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Typee, aka A Peep at Polynesian Life, is Herman Melville's first book, partly based on his actual experiences as a captive on the island Nuku Hiva in the South Pacific. It was Melville's most popular work during his lifetime, and made him known as the man who lived among the cannibals. The novels is considered one of the greatest classics in the literature of travel and adventure.
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Moby Dick
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First published as Moby-Dick; or, The Whale in 1851, Herman Melville’s epic tale about obsession and greed shows no signs of losing popularity in the digital age. The book begins as a straightforward narrative in realistic prose. After the first fifteen chapters, it becomes a complex combination of cetology, philosophy, and adventure narrative written in rhapsodic metaphorical style. A profound symbolic study of good and evil, Moby Dick is widely regarded as one of the great American novels. This new digital edition of Moby Dick includes a newly corrected text and an image gallery showcasing original illustrations from early editions of the novel, as well as several portraits of author Melville. "One of the strangest and most wonderful books in the world." - D. H. Lawrence.
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Benito Cereno
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Melville"s controversial 1855 novella Benito Cereno follows sea captain Amasa Delano and his crew on the Bachelor"s Delight as it is approached by another, rather battered-looking ship, the San Dominick. Upon boarding the San Dominick, Captain Delano is immediately greeted by white sailors and black slaves begging for supplies. An inquisitive Delano ponders the mysterious social atmosphere aboard the badly bruised ship and notes the figurehead which is mostly concealed by a tarpaulin revealing only the inscription "Follow your leader..." Delano soon encounters the ship"s noticeably timid but polite Spanish captain, Don Benito Cereno. Delano believes Cereno"s assertion that he and his crew have recently gone through a debilitating series of troubles, having been at sea now for an unsettingly long time. Cereno tells of these tribulations, including horrendous weather patterns and the fate of the slaves" master, Alexandro Aranda, who Cereno claims took fever aboard the ship and died. Gradually, however, Delano"s suspicions increase, based on his noting Cereno"s sudden waves of dizziness and anxiety, the crew"s awkward movements and whisperings, and the unusual interaction of the ship"s white and black residents...
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Taïpi
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Herman Melville, du haut de ses vingt-cinq ans, nous raconte la rencontre avec un peuple étonnant du Pacifique Nuku-Hiva, une île de l'archipel des Marquises, Pacifique. Deux tribus y vivent, l'une douce et pacifique, l'autre cannibale. Après avoir fui le navire baleinier, deux fugitifs sont recueillis par l'une des tribus. Taïpi est la relation d'une aventure qu'a connue Herman Melville avec l'un de ses coéquipiers après une campagne éprouvante de chasse à la baleine. Ils sont très bien accueillis et vivent en harmonie avec leurs hôtes sur cette île paradisiaque. Un récit documentaire qui nous fait explorer la Polynésie, ses autochtones et sa splendeur d’antan ! EXTRAIT Six mois en mer ! Oui, six mois sans avoir vu la terre, à courir après la baleine, sous le soleil brûlant de l’Équateur, ballottés par les vagues du Pacifique avec le ciel au-dessus de nos têtes, l’Océan autour de nous et rien d’autre ! Depuis des semaines nos provisions de denrées fraîches sont épuisées, nous n’avons pas un légume ; les beaux régimes de bananes qui décoraient autrefois l’entrepont ont disparu ; disparues aussi les oranges délicieuses qui pendaient à nos vergues ! Il ne nous reste plus que des conserves et des biscuits. Oh ! revoir un brin d’herbe tendre, humer les senteurs du sol ! N’y a-t-il rien de frais autour de nous, rien de vert sur quoi reposer nos yeux ? Si, l’intérieur des flancs du navire est peint en vert mais d’une couleur si terne qu’elle ne peut évoquer l’idée des feuilles d’arbres ou des prairies ; même l’écorce du bois qui nous sert de combustible a été dévorée par le porc du capitaine…, d’ailleurs, depuis lors, le porc a été mangé. CE QU'EN PENSE LA CRITIQUE On va, d'îles en îles, on tombe amoureux de ces polynésiens, on admire l'eau écarlate, on nage dans ces eaux chaudes, on vit sur ces plages qui n'existent plus et quand la dernière page arrive, c'est le dernier rivage qui s'estompe. On sait qu'on rentre au port, que s'en est fini de l'exil, du périple en mer du sud. On regrette alors que le voyage n'ait pas été plus long... - Tolbiac, Babelio Finalement, Melville nous en dit bien plus sur l'Occident, et le regard eurocentriste (qui comprend aussi l'Amérique, qu'on se le dise) au XIXe siècle que sur la Polynésie. Un chef-d'oeuvre. - Usurpateur, Babelio À PROPOS DE L’AUTEUR Herman Melville, né le 1er août 1819 à Pearl Street, au sud-est de Manhattan (New York), mort le 28 septembre 1891 à New York, est un romancier, essayiste et poète américain. Pratiquement oublié de tous à sa mort, Melville est redécouvert dans les années 1920 à travers son œuvre maîtresse Moby Dick. Il est désormais considéré comme l'une des plus grandes figures de la littérature américaine.
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Moby Dick; Or, The Whale
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An exhilarating whaling yarn, an apocalyptic theodicy, a tragic confessional, and a profound allegory, Moby Dick encompasses all that it means to be human—from the physical and metaphysical to the spiritual and emotional. Full of strange wisdom and wild digressive energy, it’s a singular literary performance universally regarded as one of the great American novels.
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Moby Dick or The White Whale
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"Moby-Dick or The Whale" is an 1851 novel by American writer Herman Melville. The book is sailor Ishmael"s narrative of the obsessive quest of Ahab, captain of the whaling ship Pequod, for revenge on Moby Dick, the giant white sperm whale that on the ship"s previous voyage bit off Ahab"s leg at the knee. A contribution to the literature of the American Renaissance, the work"s genre classifications range from late Romantic to early Symbolist. Moby-Dick was published to mixed reviews, was a commercial failure, and was out of print at the time of the author"s death in 1891. Its reputation as a "Great American Novel" was established only in the 20th century, after the centennial of its author"s birth. William Faulkner said he wished he had written the book himself, and D. H. Lawrence called it "one of the strangest and most wonderful books in the world" and "the greatest book of the sea ever written". Its opening sentence, "Call me Ishmael", is among world literature"s most famous.
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