Herman Melville (August 1, 1819 – September 28, 1891) was an American novelist, short story writer, essayist, and poet. He is best known for his novel Moby-Dick and the posthumous novella Billy Budd. His first three books gained much contemporary attention (the first, Typee, becoming a bestseller), but after a fast-blooming literary success in the late 1840s, his popularity declined precipitously in the mid-1850s and never recovered during his lifetime.

When he died in 1891, he was almost completely forgotten. It was not until the "Melville Revival" in the early 20th century that his work won recognition, especially Moby-Dick, which was hailed as one of the literary masterpieces of both American and world literature. He was the first writer to have his works collected and published by the Library of America

American author, best-known for his novels of the sea and his masterpiece MOBY-DICK (1851), a whaling adventure dedicated to Nathaniel Hawthorne. "I have written a wicked book and feel as spotless as the lamb," Melville wrote to Hawthorne. The work was only recognized as a masterpiece 30 years after Melville's death. TYPEE (1846), a fictionalized travel narrative, was the author's most popular book during his lifetime.
لم يتم الاعتراف بروعة هذه الرواية الا بعد 30 عام من موت المؤلف ( وهذا تحديدا ما يعكس عبقرية المؤلف ويشير إلى أن عقله كان يعمل بصورة خارقة فكان سابق لزمانه حينما سخر طاقات ذهنه الخارقة لإبداع هذه الرواية وهي على الأغلب سوف تكتسب المزيد من الشهرة مع مرور الزمن فالأعمال العظيمة تظهر قيمتها وما فيها رؤى واستشراف كلما مر عليها مزيد من الوقت).
"All that most maddens and torments; all that stirs up the less of things; all truth with malice in it; all that cracks the sinews and cakes the brain; all the subtle demonisms of life and thought; all evil, to crazy Ahab, were visibly personified, and made practically assailable in Moby Dick. He piled upon the whale's white hump the sum of all the general rage and hate felt by his whole race from Adam down; and then, as if chest had been a mortar, he burst his hot heart's shell upon it." (from Moby-Dick)
Herman Melville was born in New York City into an established merchant family. One of his grandfather's had taken part in the Boston Tea Party dressed in Indian garb. Herman was the third child of eight.
His father, Allan Melvill, an importer of French dry goods, went bankrupt and died when Melville was 12.
ولد هرمن ملفل في مدينة نيويورك في عائلة مرموقة من التجار وكان هيرمن الطفل الثالث من ين 8 أطفال. تعرض والده إلى الإفلاس ومات الوالد (الن لفل) عندما كان هيرمن في سن الـ 12
Maria Gansevoort Melvill was left alone to raise the children; at that time the family lived in Albany. Occasionally she received help from her wealthy relatives. Through his mother's influence, biblical stories became a part of Melville's imagination from his early childhood.

He attended Albany (N.Y.) Classical School in 1835. After leaving the school he was largely autodidact, devouring Shakespeare as well as historical, anthropological, and technical works. From the age of 12, he worked as a clerk, teacher, and farmhand.
من عمر 12 سنه أي بعد موت والده عمل في وظائف مثل كاتب ومعلم ومزارع
In search of adventures, Melville shipped out in 1839 as a cabin boy on the whaler Acushnet. He joined later the US Navy, and started his years long voyages on ships, sailing both the Atlantic and the South Seas.

في العام 1839 بينما كان في الـ 20 عمل في سفينة وفيما بعد انضم إلى البحرية الأمريكية حيث بدأ رحلاته التي دامت لسنوات في المحيط الأطلسي والبحار الجنوبية.

In his mid-20's Melville returned to his mother's house to write about his adventures.
وبينما كان ملفل في أوساط العشرينات عاد إلى منزل أمه ليكتب عن مغامراته
Typee, an account of Melville's stay with the cannibals, was first published in Britain, like most of his works.

Tattooing he rejects. Typee sold roughly 6,000 copies in its first two years. Its sequel, OMOO (1847), was based on Melville's experiences in Polynesian Islands, and gained a huge success as the first one. Throughout his career Melville enjoyed a rather higher estimation in Britain than in America. His older brother Gansevoort held a government position in London, and helped to launch Melville's career. With his third book, MARDI AND A VOYAGE THITHER (1849), Melville decided to take distance to the expectations of his readers. In this he also succeeded, and lost his audience.
In 1847 Melville married Elisabeth Shaw, daughter of the chief justice of Massachusetts. After three years in New York, he bought a farm, "Arrowhead", near Nathaniel Hawthorne's home at Pittsfield, Massachusetts, and became friends with him for some time. Melville had almost completed Moby-Dick when Hawthorne encouraged him to change it from a story full of details about whaling, into an allegorical novel.
"In general, it is the non-psychological novel that offers the richest opportunities for psychological elucidation. Here the author, having no intentions of this sort, does not show his characters in a psychological light and thus leaves room for analysis and interpretation, or even invites it by his unprejudiced mode of presentation... I would also include Melville's Moby Dick, which I consider the be the greatest American novel, in this broad class of writings." (Carl Jung in The Spirit in Man, Art, and Literature, 1967)
Inspired by the achievement of Hawthore, Melville wrote his masterpiece, Moby-Dick. He worked at his desk all day not eating anything till 4 or 5 o'clock, and bursting with energy he shouted: "Give me Vesuvius' crater for an inkstand!"

When the novel was published, it did not bring him the fame he had acquired in the 1840s.
عندما نشرت الرواية لم تحقق الرواية المجد الذي كان يطمح له
Readers of Typhee and Omoo were not expecting this kind of story, and its brilliance was only noted by some critics. Through the story Melville meditated questions about faith and the workings of God's intelligence. He returned to these meditations in his last great work, BILLY BUDD, a story left unfinished at his death. Its manuscript was found in Melville's desk when he died.