Herman Melville

Herman Melville (1819–1891) was an American novelist and poet, born in New York City. His family's financial collapse sent him to sea as a young man, on merchant ships and then on a whaler, from which he deserted in the Marquesas; the books he drew from these years, Typee and Omoo, made him briefly popular. Moby-Dick, published in 1851, confused his readers and sold poorly, and the novels that followed ended his popular career. He spent nineteen years as a customs inspector in New York, writing poetry, and died almost forgotten. Billy Budd was found in manuscript after his death, and his reputation was rebuilt in the 1920s.