UpDate - Vol. 16, No. 13
December 5, 1996
Hershel Parker to autograph copies of Melville biography

     Hershel Parker, H. Fletcher Brown Professor of English at
the University of Delaware, will sign copies of his recently
published book, Herman Melville-A Biography, Volume I, 1819-1851
from noon-1 p.m., Monday, Dec. 9, at the University Bookstore in
the Perkins Student Center.
     The book covers the life of Melville from his birth until
the publishing of his masterpiece, Moby-Dick. It describes his
growing up years in New York City and near Albany, his adventures
as a seaman on a whaler and the time he spent when he jumped ship
on the Marquesas Islands where he lived with the native
islanders. These experiences were pivotal to the writing of his
novels Typee, Omoo and Moby-Dick.
     Well-known artist Maurice Sendak has done the cover portrait
of Melville for the biography.
     Parker, a well-known Melville scholar, is the coeditor of
Northwestern-Newberry Edition of The Writings of Herman Melville
and editor of Melville's Pierre: Or, The Ambiguities, illustrated
by Sendak.
     An article on Parker and his book will appear in the Dec. 12
UpDate.