Le paradis des celibataires

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.

Taipi, Omou, Mardi

Le mot Taïpi désigne à la fois une région de l'île Nuku-Hiva, de l'archipel des Marquises, et la population qui l'habite. C'est ce pays et ces hommes que le jeune matelot Herman Melville, évadé du navire baleinier la Dolly, fut, vers 1843, amené à connaître. Les Taïpis ont une horrible réputation : on les dit cannibales. Cela n'empêcha pas Melville et son camarade Toby de se réfugier chez eux. Contre toute attente, les deux fugitifs furent très bien accueillis et vécurent avec les Taïpis des mois merveilleux. Melville fait revivre la gentillesse et l'intelligence de ses hôtes, ses amours avec la belle Faïaoahé, ses nobles discussions avec le grand chef Mehevi, ses démêlés avec Kory-Kory son domestique... C'est vraiment un Eden que Melville a recréé.

Taïpi

"Je préférerais ne pas" : telle est la réponse, invariable et d'une douceur irrévocable qu'oppose Bartleby, modeste commis aux écritures dans un cabinet de Wall Street, à toute demande qui lui est faite. Cette résistance absolue, incompréhensible pour les autres, le conduira peu à peu à l'isolement le plus total. Bartleby, s'il n'a pas l'ampleur de ses grands romans, compte pourtant parmi les écrits les plus importants d'Herman Melville. Ce texte bref, mais aux significations inépuisables, a exercé une fascination durable sur des écrivains et philosophes comme Maurice Blanchot, Georges Bataille, Michel Foucault ou Gilles Deleuze.

Bartleby, le scribe - Une histoire de Wall Street

Moby Dick, la terrible baleine blanche ! Depuis qu'elle l'a privé d'une jambe, le capitaine Achab s'est juré de se venger. Ignorant tous les présages funestes, il entraîne pendant de longs mois l'équipage du Pequod dans une folle poursuite à travers les océans.

Moby Dick - Texte abrégé

Poèmes de guerre

Moby-Dick; or, The Whale is a novel by Herman Melville, in which Ishmael narrates the monomaniacal quest of Ahab, captain of the whaler Pequod, for revenge on the albino sperm whale Moby Dick, which on a previous voyage destroyed Ahab's ship and severed his leg at the knee. Although the novel was a commercial failure and out of print at the time of the author's death in 1891, its reputation grew immensely during the twentieth century. D. H. Lawrence called it "one of the strangest and most wonderful books in the world," and "the greatest book of the sea ever written." Moby-Dick is considered a Great American Novel and an outstanding work of the Romantic period in America and the American Renaissance. "Call me Ishmael" is one of world literature's most famous opening sentences. The product of a year and a half of writing, the book is dedicated to Nathaniel Hawthorne, "in token of my admiration for his genius," and draws on Melville's experience at sea, on his reading in whaling literature, and on literary inspirations such as Shakespeare and the Bible. The detailed and realistic descriptions of whale hunting and of extracting whale oil, as well as life aboard ship among a culturally diverse crew, are mixed with exploration of class and social status, good and evil, and the existence of God. In addition to narrative prose, Melville uses styles and literary devices ranging from songs, poetry and catalogs to Shakespearean stage directions, soliloquies and asides. The author changed the title at the very last moment in September 1851. The work first appeared as The Whale in London in October 1851, and then under its definitive title Moby-Dick in New York in November. The whale, however, appears in both the London and New York editions as "Moby Dick," with no hyphen. The British edition of five hundred copies was not reprinted during the author's life, the American of almost three thousand was reprinted three times at approximately 250 copies, the last reprinting in 1871. These figures are exaggerated because three hundred copies were destroyed in a fire at Harper's; only 3,200 copies were actually sold during the author's life.

Moby Dick

En 1799, le capitaine Benito Cereno, commandant un navire marchand espagnol, arrive devant Santa-Maria, petite île déserte au sud du Chili. Le capitaine Delano, un Américain qui fait là son plein d'eau, est très désagréablement impressionné par l'Espagnol. Celui-ci se conduit comme un despote craintif... Outre Benito Cereno, ce recueil comprend Bartleby l'écrivain, un des plus célèbres contes de Melville.

Le paradis des celibataires

Plus de livres de Herman Melville

Critiques

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