Back Typee, Omoo, Mardi

Herman Melville: Typee, Omoo, Mardi

Edited by G. Thomas Tanselle

“This handsome volume contains the authoritative texts of the Northwestern-Newberry edition of Melville’s first three books. The text of Typee is particularly significant because the ‘revised’ excised passages with comments critical of missionaries and with sexual allusions too blatant for contemporary audiences.” — Choice

Overview

Overview

Story of the Week Herman Melville, “Jimmy Rose”
August 1, 2022

Interviews LOA celebrates Herman Melville’s 200th birthday with his Complete Poems
September 23, 2019

News Nathaniel Philbrick asks Why Read Moby-Dick? and many rise to the “cunning test”
August 8, 2019

This title is out of stock and a reprint has not yet been scheduled. Sign up here to receive news about forthcoming titles and reprints.

The inaugural volume of The Library of America presents one of America’s greatest writers, Herman Melville (1819–1891). These three early novels are stirring romances of the South Seas; many of their fictional details resemble some of the events in Melville’s own life in the early 1840s. Like the hero-narrator of Typee and Omoo, Melville shipped out on a whaler, jumped ship in exotic ports, was held captive by native tribes—though here he might have exaggerated his own exploits a bit—and escaped to find passage home in the service of the United States Navy.

Exuberant, highly pictorial, with a clear, swift narrative, Typee (1846) was his most popular work well into the 20th century, outselling all his others, including Moby-Dick. It offers a mostly idyllic account of life among the “cannibals” in which civilized innocence is contrasted with the corrosive effects of 19th-century industrial society.

A sequel to Typee, Omoo (1847) continues this inquiry into Pacific culture and those who intruded upon it, specifically in Tahiti. Melville details the misadventures of the unruly and overworked crew of the Australian trader Julia after they are imprisoned for insubordination; the story will perhaps surprise today’s readers with its humor.

With Mardi (1849), Melville abandons a literary Polynesia for a mythical one. “Mardi” is the Polynesian word for “the world,” and the voyage through imaginary South Sea archipelagoes stops off at Dominora (Britain), Porpheero (Europe), and Vivenza (the United States). Tracing the quest for the elusive and beautiful Yillah, it remains a timely political allegory and a thrilling adventure.

Together, these three romances give early evidence of the genius and daring that make Melville the master novelist of the sea and a precursor of modernist literature.

G. Thomas Tanselle, volume editor, has written on bibliography and publishing history, is an editor of the Northwestern-Newberry Edition of The Writings of Herman Melville, and serves on the board of directors for The Library of America.

This Library of America series edition is printed on acid-free paper and features Smyth-sewn binding, a full cloth cover, and a ribbon marker.

This volume is available for adoption in the Guardian of American Letters Fund.

Or buy from our partners

Buy the eBook

ISBN: 978-0-94045000-4 1333 pages

LOA books are distributed worldwide by Penguin Random House

N° 1 Library of America Series

Subscribers can purchase the slipcased edition by signing in to their accounts.

Related Books

Herman Melville: Pierre, Israel Potter, The Piazza Tales, The Confidence-Man, Billy Budd, Uncollected Prose LOA N°24

Richard Henry Dana, Jr.: Two Years Before the Mast & Other Voyages LOA N°161

Nathaniel Hawthorne: Collected Novels LOA N°10

Herman Melville: Redburn, White-Jacket, Moby-Dick LOA N°9

James Fenimore Cooper: Sea Tales LOA N°54

Library of America

CURATOR

A champion of America’s great writers and timeless works, Library of America guides readers in finding and exploring the exceptional writing that reflects the nation’s history and culture.

Learn More

PUBLISHER

From poetry, novels, and memoirs to journalism, crime writing, and science fiction, the more than 300 volumes published by Library of America are widely recognized as America’s literary canon.

Browse our books Subscribe

NON-PROFIT

With contributions from donors, Library of America preserves and celebrates a vital part of our cultural heritage for generations to come.

Support our mission

Herman Melville: Typee, Omoo, Mardi

Related Books

Get 10% off your first Library of America purchase.