Representative selections

Introduction. Formative influences ; Melville as artist ; The trilogy : Mardi, Moby-Dick, Pierre ; Melville's poetry ; Melville's social ideas ; Melville's reputation -- Chronological table -- Selected bibliography -- Typee. The head of the valley ; Improvement in health and spirits ; History of a day as usually spent in the Typee Valley ; Preparations for a grand festival in the valley ; The Feast of Calabashes ; The social condition and general character of the Typees ; A professor of the fine arts ; The escape -- Omoo. Some account of the ship ; A glance at Papeetee ; They take us ashore ; The Calabooza Beretanee ; We receive calls at the Hotel de Calabooza ; Life at the Calabooza ; Visit from an old acquaintance ; We are carried before the consul and captain ; The French priests pay their respects ; Little Jule sails without us ; Tahiti as it is ; Tamai ; A dance in the valley ; A dealer in the contraband ; Queen Pomaree ; We visit the court ; Which ends the book -- Mardi. Chiefly of King Bello ; Dominora and Vivenza ; They land at Dominora ; Through Dominora, they wander after Yillah ; They visit the great central temple of Vivenza ; They hearken unto a voice from the gods ; They visit the extreme south of Vivenza -- White-Jacket. Jack Chase ; Jack Chase on a Spanish quarter-deck ; A flogging ; Some of the evil effects of flogging ; The surgeon of the fleet ; A consultation of man-of-war surgeons ; The operation ; White-Jacket arraigned at the mast ; The last of the Jacket -- Moby-Dick. Knights and squires ; Knights and squires ; Ahab ; The quarter-deck ; Moby Dick ; The whiteness of the whale ; Cutting in ; The blanket ; The funeral ; The grand armada ; The candles ; The Pequod meets The Rachel ; The symphony ; The chase : first day ; The chase : second day ; The chase : third day ; Epilogue -- Criticism. Browne's Etchings of a whaling cruise and Ringbolt's Sailor's life and sailor's yarns ; "Hawthorne and his mosses" -- Poems. To Daniel Shepherd ; From Battle-pieces (The portent ; Lyon ; A utilitarian view of the Monitor's flight ; Malvern Hill ; Sheridan at Cedar Creek ; On the grave of a young cavalry officer ; A requiem ; A meditation) ; From John Marr and other sailors (John Marr ; Far off-shore ; The enviable isles) ; From Timoleon (After the pleasure party ; Lone founts ; Art ; The age of the Antonines ; The great pyramid) -- Letters.