CUTTING IN: HERMAN MELVILLE

The problem: I realize that I don't really know enough about Herman Melville as I begin this Moby-Dick reading project on which I have embarked.

The solution: Obtain three Melville biographies from three different independent bookstores.

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I knew which biographies of Melville that I hoped to find.

The first is considered to be "definitive." It is a two volume biography—the first volume covering the years 1819 to 1851, the second covering 1851 to 1891—from birth to death, with the break coming at the pivotal point of the publication of Moby-Dick. The author, Hershel Parker, is one of the leading Melville academics.

The second is a small book consisting of a mere 150 or so pages, compared to the 2000 pages of Parker's two volumes. It is a brief look at Melville's life by literary critic and novelist Elizabeth Hardwick. I have read passages of it from a copy I checked out from the library and I find it irritating. Hardwick seems flip with information and not especially concerned about trying to define Melville's life or his work.

Parker's two mammoth volumes and Hardwick's slim tome appear polar opposites. That is why I need all three books.

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I stumbled upon Herman Melville: A Biography (Volume 1, 1819-1851) by happenstance. I was digging through the shelves of King's Books (Tacoma, Washington) and an ex-library copy (Seattle Public Library) of it stared back at me. Other than having a few stickers and markings upon the dust jacket, it was in good condition.

I began poking and prodding through its pages as soon as I got home. I was intrigued by the wealth of information that Hershel Parker had collected and presented on Melville, his life, and his various writings. It was at that moment that I knew that I needed to find the second volume, as well as the Hardwick biography as a counterpoint.

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A quick search of the website of Powell's City of Books (Portland, Oregon) turned up a hardcover edition of Elizabeth Hardwick's Herman Melville. I ordered it and it was in my mailbox within a matter of days (distinctive Powell's packaging pictured above).

I find myself more kind to this book now that I am halfway through it. Hardwick presents her version of Melville. This book is less academic, less scholarly, and less wordy than other biographies, but that is the point. Hardwick has made his life read like a novel. Details are discarded when necessary to move "the plot" along. What I once thought flip and short turns out to be a percussive rhythm.

I am glad that I gave this book another chance.

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Another internet search, this time on Biblio.com, turned up another ex-library copy of volume two of Hershel Parker's Melville biography. Eight days after being ordered, Herman Melville: A Biography (Volume 2, 1851-1891) arrived this afternoon in my mailbox. The good folks at Icapsa Used Books (Grand Rapids, Michigan) helped me to complete my Herman Melville biography "wish list."

My task at hand is to begin to cull through it for facts and nuggets of information, much as I have done with my other two Melville biographies.

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I want to thank three independent booksellers for their excellent customer service and their part in helping to make the "Cutting In" project a reality. Support an independent bookstore today!