''Omoo: A Narrative of Adventures in the South Seas'' is the second book by American writer

Herman Melville Herman Melville (born Melvill; August 1, 1819 – September 28, 1891) was an American novelist, short story writer, and poet of the American Renaissance period. Among his best-known works are ''Moby-Dick'' (1851); '' Typee'' (1846), a r ...

, first published in London in 1847, and a sequel to his first South Sea narrative '' Typee'', also based on the author's experiences in the South Pacific. After leaving the island of

Nuku Hiva Nuku Hiva (sometimes spelled Nukahiva or Nukuhiva) is the largest of the Marquesas Islands in French Polynesia, an overseas country of France in the Pacific Ocean. It was formerly also known as ''Île Marchand'' and ''Madison Island''. Herma ...

, the main character ships aboard a

whaling Whaling is the process of hunting of whales for their usable products such as meat and blubber, which can be turned into a type of oil that became increasingly important in the Industrial Revolution. It was practiced as an organized industry ...

vessel that makes its way to

Tahiti Tahiti (; Tahitian ; ; previously also known as Otaheite) is the largest island of the Windward group of the Society Islands in French Polynesia. It is located in the central part of the Pacific Ocean and the nearest major landmass is Aust ...

, after which there is a mutiny and a third of the crew are imprisoned on Tahiti. In 1949, the novel was adapted into the

exploitation film An exploitation film is a film that tries to succeed financially by exploiting current trends, niche genres, or lurid content. Exploitation films are generally low-quality "B movies", though some set trends, attract critical attention, become hi ...

'' Omoo-Omoo, the Shark God''.

Background

In the Preface to ''Omoo'', Melville claimed the book was autobiographical, written "from simple recollection" of some of his experiences in the Pacific in the 1840s and strengthened by his retelling the story many times before family and friends. But scholar Charles Roberts Anderson, working in the late 1930s, discovered that Melville had not simply relied on his memory and went on to reveal a wealth of other sources he drew on in writing the book. Later, Melville scholar Harrison Hayford made a detailed study of these sources and, in the introduction to a 1969 edition of ''Omoo'', summed up the author's practice, showing that this was a repetition of a process previously used in ''Typee'':

"He had altered facts and dates, elaborated events, assimilated foreign materials, invented episodes, and dramatized the printed experiences of others as his own. He had not plagiarized, merely, for he had always rewritten and nearly always improved the passages he appropriated.....first writing out the narrative based on his recollections and invention, then using source books to pad out the chapters he had already written and to supply the stuff of new chapters that he inserted at various points in the manuscript."

Plot

The novel is a sequel to the author's first book, ''Typee'' (1846) and takes up where the earlier story leaves off. The un-named narrator has just escaped an “indulgent captivity” among the natives of

by joining the crew of an Australian whaling ship from Sydney. Soon after coming aboard he meets and forms a friendship with the vessel’s surgeon, a tall thin man known to his crew-mates as “Dr Long Ghost”.

Publication history

The book was published first by John Murray in London on March 30, 1847. In the U.S. a portion was printed on April 24, 1847, in ''The Literary World'', with a complete edition released by the Harper Brothers on May 1 of that year. Murray included both ''Typee'' and ''Omoo'' in his ''

Home and Colonial Library The ''Home and Colonial Library'' was a series of works published in London from 1843 to 1849, comprising 49 titles, by John Murray III. He founded it, as a series of cheap reprints, original works and translations, slanted towards travel literatur ...

'' which was marketed and sold as a collection throughout the British Empire. In it, Melville was listed together with other well-known writers, an event that turned out to be an important watershed for both his sales and reputation. "Over the decades Melville's presence in the library insured the fame of his first two books with two or three generations of English readers all around the world."Parker p. 510.

Notes

References

External links

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Free typeset PDF ebook of ''Omoo'' and other Melville novels optimized for printing, plus extensive Melville reading list
{{Authority control 1847 American novels Novels by Herman Melville Novels set in Tahiti Novels republished in the Library of America American novels adapted into films Novels set in Oceania Books about whaling Nautical novels Novels set in the 19th century