“Call me Ismael” is one of the most famous and suggestive beginnings in world literature. This is how ‘Moby Dick’ begins, the masterpiece by Herman Melville (New York, 1819-1891). About the great American writer, his compatriot, the professor, literary critic and co-founder of ‘The New York Review of Books’ Elizabeth Hardwick, gives us a brief but wonderful biography where she addresses the main moments of her personal and professional life, her personality — with not a little bit of dark and difficult to understand—, along with the study of his essential books, not only ‘Moby Dick’, and his friendship with Nathaniel Hawthorne. BIOGRAPHY ‘Herman Melville. A biography’ Author Elizabeth Hardwick Publisher Navona Year 2024 Pages 192 Price 20 euros 4Third child of the eight born to the couple formed by Allan Melville – very given to waste, which dragged him to ruin, and suffering from emotional instability – and Maria Gansevoort , Herman Melville’s existence went through several stages – which Hardwick breaks down – although in practically all of them “the mystery of the sea, the infinite and enigmatic waters for which a thousand adjectives are not enough. Its mystical vibrations, the great oceans. Melville embarked on several ships, such as the whaling ship Pequod, where ‘Moby Dick’ takes place with its captain Ahab, an extraordinary character who is not far behind Ismael, the narrator of the novel, experiences that provided him with material for his production. At the time, 1851, ‘Moby Dick’ was a commercial failure and was barely understood, despite the fact that almost a century later, its “Faustian, Promethean, Shakespearian, biblical, Homeric” character was praised, which continues to fascinate us today.
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