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Meet the

Author: Henry James
January 3, 1878

       Today we are going to meeting Henry James.  Henry James was born on April 13, 1843 to Mary and Henry James in New York city.  In 1844-1845 his father suffered a breakdown and the family moved to London.  In 1845-1855 his family moved back to New York city.  About one year later his father decided that he and his sibling should move back to Europe in order to get a European education.    While in Europe the children were tutored and attended private schools in varying countries.  In 1860 his family moved  back to the Unites States  where Henry attended Frank Saborn’s Experimental school in Concord, Massachusetts.  From about 1863 to 1876 Henry continued to move back and forth from Europe to the United States.  In 1878 Henry began to publish many books and article in Europe.  He is currently living in New York city as a successful writer.

Herman Melville Dies at 72
September 29, 1891

       Herman Melville, the author of several books such as Moby Dick and Typee died yesterday.  Melville was 72 years old and living in New York as a dock inspector.  Although this man is now gone, his works will always be remembered.

       Melville was born in New York City in 1819.  His father was named Alan Melville and had a reasonably profitable business of importing French dry goods.  However, his father became bankrupt, insane, and died when Melville was 12.  Maria Gansevoort Melville, his mother, was left to raise their 8 children by herself.  In 1826, Melville caught scarlet fever and as a result of this his eyes were weakened. In 1835, Melville attended Albany Classical School in New York.

       When he left school, he had a thirst for Shakespeare and other works of literature.  He worked as clerk, a teacher and farmhand since he was 12, but needed an adventure in his life so he became a cabin boy on the ship Achuschnet.  It was his adventure in the US Navy that led him eventually home to write his first book.  The book was titled Type.  This book tells about Melville’s account of what happened while he stayed with cannibals in the Marquesas Islands. Typee was widely popular at fist. 

       Herman Melville married Elizabeth Shaw, the daughter of the chief justice of Massachusetts, in 1847.

He became a friend to Nathaniel Hawthorne, who convinced him to change the nearly completed Moby Dick, a book full of the details on whaling, to a book that uses a man and  a whale to represent several other ideas not previously mentioned. 

        Melville worked very hard on this novel, but it did not give him the same fame he had received from his previous works.  Previous fans were not expecting this type of story and only a few critics understood how brilliant it truly was.  It only sold 3,000 copies. Because Moby Dick was not as popular as he had hoped, Herman Melville was forced to write Redburn in 1849 and White-Jacked in 1850 for money.  His next book Pierre had an even worse outcome that proved disastrous.  His last completed novel, The Confidence Man , was written in 1857.

Melville was having a very hard life,  his health was in terribly shape and he was struggling to support his family.  After a complete breakdown, Melville took a trip to Europe and the Holy Land.  When he returned to the United States, he had unsuccessful lecture tours from 1857-1860.  He lived in Washington DC and then moved back to New York in 1862.  It was there where he finally died.

       Although Melville had some extremely hard times, he still wrote some brilliant works of art that will hopefully be appreciated for years to come.