Melville in Love, Michael Shelden
Melville in Love, Michael Shelden
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Melville in Love
The Secret Life of Herman Melville and the Muse of Moby-dick

Author: Michael Shelden

Narrator: Sean Pratt

Unabridged: 6 hr 48 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 06/15/2016

Synopsis



Herman Melville’s epic novel, Moby-Dick, was a spectacular failure when it was published in 1851, effectively ending its author's rise to literary fame. Because he was neglected by academics for so long, and because he made little effort to preserve his legacy, we know very little about Melville, and even less about what he called his "wicked book." Scholars still puzzle over what drove Melville to invent Captain Ahab's mad pursuit of the great white whale.

In Melville in Love Michael Shelden sheds light on this literary mystery to tell a story of Melville's passionate and clandestine affair with a married woman named Sarah Morewood, whose libertine impulses encouraged and sustained Melville's own. In his research, Shelden discovered documents suggesting that, in their shared resistance to the "iron rule" of social conformity, Sarah and Melville had forged an illicit and enduring romantic and intellectual bond. Emboldened by the thrill of courting Sarah in secret, the pleasure of falling in love, and the excitement of spending time with literary luminaries, Melville found the courage to take the leap from light works of adventure to the hugely brilliant, utterly subversive Moby-Dick.

About Michael Shelden

Michael Shelden is a Pultizer Prize finalist in Biography. For twelve years he was a features writer for the Daily Telegraph (London) and a fiction critic for the Baltimore Sun. He is currently a professor at Indiana State University.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Jean on June 18, 2016

It is 165 years since “Moby Dick” was published. The book was published in 1851. The book was a failure at the time and Melville was ignored by the academics for a long time, and little was done to save his legacy. Little information is now available for biographers doing research. Michael Shelden w......more

Goodreads review by Evelyn on June 12, 2016

Melville in Love is the sixth biography by talented author Michael Shelden and should not be overlooked. It is a wonderful story that reads like a novel. The rich descriptions and flow of words takes us through life in east coast America in the mid 1850’s and beyond. As readers, we touch the furnitu......more

Goodreads review by Paula on July 12, 2016

Did you know that Herman Melville, author of Moby-Dick, climbed Mt. Greylock? In 1851 Melville climbed Mt. Greylock on the trail called Bellows Pipe. This ‘excursion to Greylock’ was by wagon and horses, and on foot. What is most amazing is that he made the climb with his secret lover Mrs. Sarah Moo......more

Goodreads review by Helen on April 05, 2020

This is a fabulous book of literary sleuthing that sheds light on the source of inspiration for Melville's classic "Moby-Dick" as well as subsequent works. The contention of the author is that Melville fell in love with Sarah Morewood, a Berkshires neighbor, though both were married, and when he bor......more

Goodreads review by La Tonya on August 14, 2016

The writer of Moby-Dick, the story of the great whale, had a life a adventure, love, and tragedy. The classic novel was not recognized for its literary accomplishments until long after his death. He did not receive the praise in his life time. It left him a bitter man. The one love of his life Mrs. S......more

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