Herman Melville (Magill’s Survey of American Literature, Revised Edition)

Biography

Herman Melvill, who did not add the final e to his name until after his father's death, was born in New York City on August 1, 1819, to Allan and Maria Melvill. His father, a relatively prosperous merchant and importer, was an open-minded, optimistic man whose Unitarian beliefs contrasted with his wife's sterner Calvinism. Melville's grandfathers were both Revolutionary War heroes: Thomas Melvill had participated in the Boston Tea Party, and Peter Gansevoort had led the forces that defended Fort Stanwix.

In 1830, Allan Melvill went bankrupt and was...

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