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Melville, Ishmael, teaching, and whaling.(Herman Melville's works)(Biography)

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From: ANQ
Date: 20050922
Author:Thompson, Corey Evan

Scholars have long and duly noted that many of Herman Melville's works--his novels Typee (1846), Omoo (1847), Redburn (1849), and White-Jacket (1850), for instance--were largely influenced by Melville's own personal experiences. In one regard, Moby-Dick (1851) is no exception: it is common knowledge among Melville scholars that both Melville and, subsequently, Moby-Dick's narrator, Ishmael, were crew members on board whaling vessels. Perhaps, however, due to the views first presented by Charles Olson, who refuses to accept any biographical link between Melville and Ishmael (57), ...

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