To
produce a mighty book, you must choose a mighty theme. ~ Herman Melville
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| Source Wikipedia |
Herman
Melville (Aug. 1, 1819 – Sept. 28, 1891) was born in New
York. He was an American novelist, short
story writer, and poet of the American Renaissance period.
His best known works include Typee (1846), a romantic account of his
experiences in Polynesian life, and his whaling novel Moby-Dick (1851). His work was almost forgotten
during his last thirty years. His writing draws on his experience at sea as a
common sailor, exploration of literature and philosophy, and engagement in the
contradictions of American society in a period of rapid change. He developed a
complex, baroque style: the vocabulary is rich and original, a strong sense of
rhythm infuses the elaborate sentences, the imagery is often mystical or
ironic, and the abundance of allusion extends to Scripture, myth, philosophy, literature, and the visual arts.
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Melville will always be the patron saint of American letters for me. He was basically the anti-Patterson, who chooses to crank out material at the knowing expense of its literary value because it's just so darn lucrative. Melville began writing the kind of stuff everyone loved reading back then, but then moved on to stuff readers actually had to challenge themselves to read. Many decided to give up on him. For the eternal shame of that generation. But the glory of succeeding ones, which better understood that art is the best result of literature worth savoring, and not just reading. Who will be going out of their way to read James Patterson in fifty years? Maybe he doesn't care, but then he will also be completely forgotten, unless someone starts making elegiac movies out of those Alex Cross books. But what're the chances of that? Maybe Patterson will have a change of heart. We'll see. He might lose all his readers, too, but it'll be worth it.
ReplyDeleteI appreciate your comment, Tony. As a Melville admirer, his bio is impressive. And of course Moby Dick is a classic. I also have met James Patterson, and recognize that he was a marketer before he was an author. I would never turn down a chance to co-author with James Patterson, and as an Alex Cross fan I state respectfully that writing as well as authors's intents are subjective. Intelligent comment. Thanks.
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