Herman Melville (1819 – 1891) was an American novelist, short story writer, essayist and poet. He is best known for his huge novel Moby Dick which I must confess never to having even attempted. His first three books gained much contemporary attention (the first Typee became a bestseller), but after a fast-blooming literary success in the late 1840s, his popularity declined precipitously in the mid-1850s and never recovered during his lifetime. When he died he was almost completely forgotten. Only a "Melville Revival" in the early 20th century restored his reputation. In 1919, the unfinished manuscript for his novella Billy Budd was discovered by his first biographer and this I have read along with his Bartleby the Scrivener. He published a version in 1924, which was quickly acclaimed by notable British critics as another masterpiece of Melville's.
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