The Passages of H.M.: A Novel of Herman Melville

by Axinn Professor of English Jay Parini

0 ratings • 0 reviews • 0 shelved
Book cover for The Passages of H.M.
Shelve It

Bookhype may earn a small commission from qualifying purchases. Full disclosure.

With the same masterly touch that made The Last Station so powerful, Jay Parini penetrates the mind and soul of another literary titan.
 
Through the eyes of his long-suffering wife, Lizzie, we are introduced to an aging, angry, and drunken Herman Melville. He is decades past his flourishing career as a writer of bestselling tales of seagoing adventures. His epic but ungainly Moby-Dick was meant to make him immortal, but critics scoffed and readers fled. He spends his days trudging the docks of New York as a customs inspector and contemplating his malign literary fate. But within him is stirring, perhaps, one great work yet. . . . In a narrative that shifts seamlessly between Lizzie’s personal account and evocative snapshots of Melville’s crowded life, Parini manages to humanize a giant of letters, while illuminating the source of his matchless creativity.
  • ISBN10 0307386198
  • ISBN13 9780307386199
  • Publish Date 1 November 2011
  • Publish Status Active
  • Publish Country IN
  • Imprint Random House USA Inc