Comparing Melville And Melville

Melville’s most important contemporary and literary influence was Nathanial Hawthorne. Today, their works are long standing pieces of the American literary cannon and they are two important characters in the definition of Americanness. However, during their lives the two experienced very different levels of popularity. Hawthorne was lauded during is life while Melville was not for any publication after Tpyee and Omoo. Despite the implications that their friendship was a little more than plutonic, their genius impacted each other greatly. Hawthorne read and supplied comments on Moby Dick and Melville provided topics for consideration and a seemingly never ending supply of good faith and support for Hawthorne.
Melville is often defined by his
Herman Melville died with little to say for his writing career. Towards the end of his life he lived publication to publication. In some cases he admitted to sacrificing personal morals in attempt at societal acceptance. He succumbs to the wishes of society as they yearned for stories of adventure allowing them to escape their lives in Industrialization. Melville concedes to their subjects while also including excess information simply because he was paid per page of writing. Despite his actions, Melville was a staunch supporter of creating American literature through dealing with societal flaws rather than succumbing to the wants of popular culture. In “Hawthorne and his Mosses” Melville states “it is better to fail in originality, than to succeed in imitation…Failure is the true test of greatness. ” Melville’s failure to become popular during his time can be attributed to his crossing of societal boundaries into topics that were deemed inappropriate to “civilized” society. In some cases these themes were hidden in allusions and winding prose undetectable to the superficial skimmer, though still evident enough to ensure they would not enjoy the reading. His publications flourished in allusions to then perceived disturbing taboos, they are what make the writings central to our understanding of American literature today, however they were considered unsuitable for publication; some of these include homosexuality, religion, and