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"In Melville in Love Pulitzer Prize-finalist Michael Shelden sheds light on this literary mystery to tell a story of Melville's passionate, obsessive, and clandestine affair with a married woman named Sarah Morewood, whose libertine impulses encouraged and sustained Melville's own. In his research, Shelden discovered unexplored 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--like Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes and Nathaniel Hawthorne--Melville found the courage to take the leap from light works of adventure to the hugely brilliant, utterly subversive Moby-Dick."--Jacket flap.… (more)
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1851 and introducing " Sarah Morewood—then regarded as a literary light in the Berkshires" (from publisher's note)
We'll trace the romantic and intellectual coupling of Herman Melvile and Sarah Morewood.
"Literary luminaries"--like Dr.
The book is well researched and quite an interesting snippet drawn from the life of Herman Melville.
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Melville, Herman, 1819-1891.
Morewood, Sarah Huyler, 1823-1863.
Novelists, American -- 19th century --cultural heritage history
He was, but like many of our authors and artists, he had fests of clay. Married to a judge's daughter, he fell in love with a married and very unusual woman, Sarah Morewood. She was his intellectual equal, loved literature, and she made him much more adventurous than he was normally so inclined. He wrote Moby Dick with the hopes of bringing a wide readership, ensuring his reputation in literary circles and making money that could help him get out of a staggering debt load. It failed, this book would not get the recognition he had hoped for until long after his death.
His life, his love, his children, affair, disenchantment with society and his literary downfall are all part of this book. His friendship, which he had hoped for more from, with Nathaniel Hawthorne and Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. Who also found Sarah fascinating is also here.
The book reads well, is interesting as to the insights the author presents about these noted literary icons, simply written. I did feel that there was some repetition, and some belaboring of insights presented, but on the whole I did enjoy much. The history of the times, how Melville was perceived, the press he garnered. I alternately became frustrated with or felt sorry for this very vulnerable man.
The author presented his material in such a way to be very readable. He writes in an easy-flowing style, presenting the facts interspersed with quoted primary material. The narrative flows from point to point easily; the reader doesn't have to wade through chunks of dry material to absorb the information on this literary figure.
The information presented made me see Herman Melville in a whole new light. I hadn't given his personal life much thought besides the fact that he wrote Moby Dick and was an associate of Hawthorne. Yet the author is able to make this man a passionate, frenzied, melancholic, and flawed individual. He gives Melville depth by showing us his associations with friends, acquaintances, family, and lover. I finish this book feeling like I knew him on a very personal level; I'm not sure if this was the author’s intent, but it was achieved.
The author also makes some very interesting points on the writing process and inspiration for Moby Dick. Seeing how Melville's relationship with Mrs. Morewood impacted both his creative endeavors and personal life was the main focus of the book. The author does a fantastic job in shedding a new light onto Melville's inspirations and his primary work.
However, this area is also where the book fails a bit. There were times I felt the author was stressing Sarah's personality, love of nature, and hold over Melville too much. I got the point the author was conveying after the first few times the author makes it. Yet, these aspects are stressed so many times that it almost feels like the author felt his audience was dumb. And for a work this short, the overstressing of points and information is all the more a sin.
For an area that is fairly new to me, this book was engaging. It was informative and fairly entertaining to read. While there were times the author overstressed items and points, I still enjoyed this work as an intimate look into the life of an American literary icon and the impact the woman he loved had over him and his creativity. I would recommend this book to those looking for an informative and light read on a new topic.
Note: Book received for free from the publisher via a GoodReads giveaway in exchange for an honest review.