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Nothing he wrote after it experienced more than modest success, while much of his output was rejected or criticized. His health and finances declined. He was fo
by legerdemain 3y ago
Nothing he wrote after it experienced more than modest success, while much of his output was rejected or criticized. His health and finances declined. He was forced to abandon writing as the main source of his income. His family worried for his sanity. He was little read at the time of his death.
- Dylan16807 3y agoBut was that because of Moby Dick?
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- everybodyknows 3y agoNo. It was followed by the highly experimental flop Pierre. Maybe the closest he came later to getting back to his marketable sea-adventure formula was Benito Cereno. Aside: There's a grossly unjust moral presumption in Cereno, one that can perhaps most charitably be accounted for by a desperation for book sales on Melville's part, and his assumption of benighted social attitudes among the intended readership.
- tedunangst 3y agoSounds like a fairly common case of late stage authorship.