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Herman Melville

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Herman Melville


Born
in New York City, New York, The United States
August 01, 1819

Died
September 28, 1891

Genre
Fiction, Poetry, Short Stories

Influences
Thomas Browne, Nathaniel Hawthorne, John Milton, Edgar Allan Poe, Will ...more


There is more than one author with this name

Herman Melville was an American novelist, short story writer, essayist, and poet. His first two books gained much attention, though they were not bestsellers, and his popularity declined precipitously only a few years later. By the time of his death he had been almost completely forgotten, but his longest novel, Moby Dick — largely considered a failure during his lifetime, and most responsible for Melville's fall from favor with the reading public — was rediscovered in the 20th century as one of the chief literary masterpieces of both American and world literature. ...more

Combine Editions

Average rating: 3.58 · 677,670 ratings · 32,130 reviews · 1,615 distinct works • Similar authors
Moby-Dick or, the Whale
3.53 avg rating — 536,375 ratings — published 1851 — 11987 editions
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Bartleby, the Scrivener: A ...
3.93 avg rating — 59,518 ratings — published 1853 — 47 editions
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Billy Budd, Sailor
3.16 avg rating — 17,185 ratings — published 1924 — 541 editions
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Benito Cereno
3.56 avg rating — 8,343 ratings — published 1855 — 56 editions
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Typee: A Peep at Polynesian...
3.56 avg rating — 5,203 ratings — published 1846 — 3164 editions
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Billy Budd and Other Stories
by
3.58 avg rating — 3,907 ratings — published 1853 — 9 editions
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The Confidence-Man
by
3.63 avg rating — 3,073 ratings — published 1857 — 1926 editions
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Bartleby and Benito Cereno
by
3.79 avg rating — 2,546 ratings — 48 editions
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Pierre; or, The Ambiguities
by
3.63 avg rating — 1,280 ratings — published 1852 — 645 editions
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Redburn / White-Jacket / Mo...
by
4.21 avg rating — 1,063 ratings — published 1851 — 8 editions
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More books by Herman Melville…

Series by Herman Melville

Moby Dick, czyli biały wiel... Moby Dick II
(2 books)
by
3.83 avg rating — 442 ratings

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Quotes by Herman Melville  (?)
Quotes are added by the Goodreads community and are not verified by Goodreads. (Learn more)

“It is better to fail in originality than to succeed in imitation.”
― Herman Melville
tags: success
5228 likes
Like

“I know not all that may be coming, but be it what it will, I'll go to it laughing.”
― Herman Melville, Moby-Dick or, the Whale
tags: adventure, laughter
2569 likes
Like

“A smile is the chosen vehicle of all ambiguities.”
― Herman Melville, Pierre; or, The Ambiguities
1205 likes
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Polls

September 2022 Revisit the Shelves Poll

Villette by Charlotte Brontë (1853) 573 pages, Last read in April 2017
 
  48 votes, 22.1%

Perfume: The Story of a Murderer by Patrick Süskind (1985) 263 pp., last read July 2015
 
  40 votes, 18.4%

Breakfast at Tiffany's and Three Stories by Truman Capote (1958) 142 pages - only the title story - last read Oct. 2016
 
  36 votes, 16.6%

Beowulf by Unknown (900) 160 pages, last read April 2015.
 
  29 votes, 13.4%

The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood (1985) 314 pages, last read Feb. 2017.
 
  27 votes, 12.4%

The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne (1850) 279 pp. last read in 2017
 
  23 votes, 10.6%

Moby-Dick or, the Whale by Herman Melville (1851), 654 pages, last read as a long-read April-June 2017
 
  14 votes, 6.5%

217 total votes
More...

Topics Mentioning This Author

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