A Herman Melville Encyclopedia - by Robert L Gale (Hardcover)

About the Book

Herman Melville is one of the most challenging authors of American literature. Known primarily as the author of Moby-Dick, he wrote several other novels, short stories, and poems. With the rise of interest in Melville in the 20th century, critical and biographical studies of Melville continue to be published at an ever-increasing rate. This encyclopedia is a comprehensive guide to Melville's rich and complex literary career.

The volume includes several hundred alphabetically arranged entries for all of Melville's works and characters, and for his family members, friends, and acquaintances. Entries on the most important topics include bibliographies. The encyclopedia is more factual than critical, but scholarship from 1990 and beyond is emphasized throughout. The book also gives special attention to the 19th-century women who influenced Melville, for these women have often been overlooked. A chronology overviews the principal events in Melville's life, and a selected bibliography lists major studies.

Book Synopsis

Herman Melville is one of the most challenging authors of American literature. Known primarily as the author of Moby-Dick, he wrote several other novels, short stories, and poems. With the rise of interest in Melville in the 20th century, critical and biographical studies of Melville continue to be published at an ever-increasing rate. This encyclopedia is a comprehensive guide to Melville's rich and complex literary career.

The volume includes several hundred alphabetically arranged entries for all of Melville's works and characters, and for his family members, friends, and acquaintances. Entries on the most important topics include bibliographies. The encyclopedia is more factual than critical, but scholarship from 1990 and beyond is emphasized throughout. The book also gives special attention to the 19th-century women who influenced Melville, for these women have often been overlooked. A chronology overviews the principal events in Melville's life, and a selected bibliography lists major studies.

Review Quotes

.,."A Herman Melville Encyclopedia will prove equally useful to scholars and teachers who wish to review plots or check facts."-ARBA

?...A Herman Melville Encyclopedia will prove equally useful to scholars and teachers who wish to review plots or check facts.?-ARBA

?The hundreds of entries in Gale's volume are intended to provide the readers "an easy sorting out of plots, characters, relatives, friends and activities" of melville.?-American Literature

?This volume is suitable for a wide variety of audiences and should be found in all libraries that own even a small number of Melville's works.?-Choice

?With the difficulty many readers have reading Melville, this encyclopedia helps answer the need for a guide to Melville's fiction and characters as well as biographical maters. It also covers his poetry and helps to make it more accessible for the modern reader...This makes a good companion to reading Melville. Recommended for academic and main public libraries.?-Reference Book Review

..."A Herman Melville Encyclopedia will prove equally useful to scholars and teachers who wish to review plots or check facts."-ARBA

"The hundreds of entries in Gale's volume are intended to provide the readers "an easy sorting out of plots, characters, relatives, friends and activities" of melville."-American Literature

"This volume is suitable for a wide variety of audiences and should be found in all libraries that own even a small number of Melville's works."-Choice

"With the difficulty many readers have reading Melville, this encyclopedia helps answer the need for a guide to Melville's fiction and characters as well as biographical maters. It also covers his poetry and helps to make it more accessible for the modern reader...This makes a good companion to reading Melville. Recommended for academic and main public libraries."-Reference Book Review

About the Author

ROBERT L. GALE is Professor Emeritus of American Literature at the University of Pittsburgh./e His other books include A Henry James Encyclopedia (1989), A Nathaniel Hawthorne Encyclopedia (1991), The Gay Nineties in America: A Cultural Dictionary of the 1890s (1992), and A Cultural Encyclopedia of the 1850s in America (1993), all published by Greenwood Press.