By the time he wrote Redburn, his fourth novel, Herman Melville had accrued considerable fame as the author of Typee and Omoo—two largely autobiographical narratives based on his three years’ sojourn as a sailor and vagabond among Polynesian islanders—and incurred critics’ scorn with his third novel, the long, satiric allegory called Mardi. Melville’s early success had encouraged him to make a profession of writing, and the commercial failure of Mardi came at an especially bad time; he had married Elizabeth Shaw in 1847, and their first child was born the month before Mardi’s publication. Financially strained, Melville hastily undertook during the spring and summer of 1849 to write two novels he expected would capitalize on his reputation for tales of maritime adventure. Redburn and White-Jacket were, like the popular first two books, derived from the...
1155 words
Citation: Hager, Christopher. "Redburn". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 16 July 2008; last revised 29 April 2020. [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=2440, accessed 09 June 2026.]
