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Cover of Typee by Herman Melville

Typee

  • 335 pages · about 6 hours
  • First published 1846
  • 216 editions
  • Free to read

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1 About this book

At one time the most popular of Melville's works, Typee was known as a travelogue that idealized and romanticized a mysterious South Sea island for readers in the ruthless, industrial, "civilized" world of the nineteenth century.

But Melville's story of Tommo, the Yankee sailor who enters the flawed Pacific paradise of Nuku Hiva, is also a fast-moving adventure tale, an autobiographical account of the author's own Polynesian stay, an examination of the nature of good and evil, and a frank exploration of sensuality and exotic ritual. This edition of Typee, which reproduces the definitive text and the complete, never-before-published manuscript reading text, includes invaluable explanatory commentary by John Bryant.

Good for readers who want: adventure, a classic, and a book they can read free online.

  • Indigenous peoples
  • Adventure
  • Classics
  • Thrillers
  • Modern History
  • Sailors
  • Sea stories
  • Description and travel

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3 About Herman Melville

1819–1891

Herman Melville (born Melvill; August 1, 1819 – September 28, 1891) was an American writer of the American Renaissance period. Among his best-known works are Moby-Dick (1851), Typee (1846), a romanticized account of his experiences in Polynesia, and Billy Budd, Sailor, a posthumously published novella.

Bio adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)

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