IV.

Settles in Massachusetts

In August 1847 Melville married Elizabeth Shaw, daughter of Massachusetts Supreme Court chief justice Lemuel Shaw. While trying unsuccessfully to get a government job, Melville wrote Mardi (1849), a complex allegorical fantasy, and Redburn, His First Voyage (1849), based on Melville’s first trip to sea. White-Jacket, or the World in a Man-of-War (1850), a fictional version of his experiences in the navy, exposed the abuse of sailors that was prevalent in the U.S. Navy at that time. Melville traveled to England to arrange for its publication there and enjoyed a short holiday in Europe. On his return, he moved with his wife to a farm near Pittsfield, Massachusetts. He hoped to live comfortably as a writer and gentleman farmer.

In Pittsfield Melville became acquainted with American writer Nathaniel Hawthorne. Under Hawthorne’s influence he wrote Moby Dick; or, The Whale (1851), his masterpiece, which he published with a dedication to Hawthorne. Although Moby Dick had some critical success, it failed to achieve the popularity of his earlier books. With Pierre (1852) Melville turned from the sea to a setting in the Berkshire Hills and New York City. After the publication of Israel Potter (1855), he collected some of the tales and sketches that had appeared in Putnam’s and Harper’s magazines and published them as The Piazza Tales (1856). In 1857 came The Confidence Man, a bitter, semi-allegorical satire.