Typee | Page 9

help feeling although treated
with pleasant courtesy, that more important matters were in hand than
the perpetuation of a romancer's countenance to future generations; but
a friendly family acquaintance grew up from the incident, and will
remain an abiding memory.
Mr. Melville died at his home in New York City early on the morning
of September 28, 1891. His serious illness had lasted a number of
months, so that the end came as a release. True to his ruling passion,
philosophy had claimed him to the last, a set of Schopenhauer's works
receiving his attention when able to study; but this was varied with
readings in the 'Mermaid Series' of old plays, in which he took much
pleasure. His library, in addition to numerous works on philosophy and
the fine arts, was composed of standard books of all classes, including,
of course, a proportion of nautical literature. Especially interesting are
fifteen or twenty first editions of Hawthorne's books inscribed to Mr.
and Mrs. Melville by the author and his wife.
The immediate acceptance of 'Typee' by John Murray was followed by
an arrangement with the London agent of an American publisher, for its
simultaneous publication in the United States. I understand that Murray
did not then publish fiction. At any rate, the book was accepted by him
on the assurance of Gansevoort Melville that it contained nothing not
actually experienced by his brother. Murray brought it out early in 1846,
in his Colonial and Home Library, as 'A Narrative of a Four Months'
Residence among the Natives of a Valley of the Marquesas Islands; or,
a Peep at Polynesian Life,' or, more briefly, 'Melville's Marquesas
Islands.' It was issued in America with the author's own title, 'Typee,'
and in the outward shape of a work of fiction. Mr. Melville found
himself famous at once. Many discussions were carried on as to the
genuineness of the author's name and the reality of the events portrayed,
but English and American critics alike recognised the book's
importance as a contribution to literature.

Melville, in a letter to Hawthorne, speaks of himself as having no
development at all until his twenty-fifth year, the time of his return
from the Pacific; but surely the process of development must have been
well advanced to permit of so virile and artistic a creation as 'Typee.'
While the narrative does not always run smoothly, yet the style for the
most part is graceful and alluring, so that we pass from one scene of
Pacific enchantment to another quite oblivious of the vast amount of
descriptive detail which is being poured out upon us. It is the varying
fortune of the hero which engrosses our attention. We follow his
adventures with breathless interest, or luxuriate with him in the leafy
bowers of the 'Happy Valley,' surrounded by joyous children of nature.
When all is ended, we then for the first time realise that we know these
people and their ways as if we too had dwelt among them.
I do not believe that 'Typee' will ever lose its position as a classic of
American Literature. The pioneer in South Sea romance--for the
mechanical descriptions of earlier voyagers are not worthy of
comparison--this book has as yet met with no superior, even in French
literature; nor has it met with a rival in any other language than the
French. The character of 'Fayaway,' and, no less, William S. Mayo's
'Kaloolah,' the enchanting dreams of many a youthful heart, will retain
their charm; and this in spite of endless variations by modern explorers
in the same domain. A faint type of both characters may be found in the
Surinam Yarico of Captain John Gabriel Stedman, whose 'Narrative of
a Five Years' Expedition' appeared in 1796.
'Typee,' as written, contained passages reflecting with considerable
severity on the methods pursued by missionaries in the South Seas. The
manuscript was printed in a complete form in England, and created
much discussion on this account, Melville being accused of bitterness;
but he asserted his lack of prejudice. The passages referred to were
omitted in the first and all subsequent American editions. They have
been restored in the present issue, which is complete save for a few
paragraphs excluded by written direction of the author. I have, with the
consent of his family, changed the long and cumbersome sub-title of
the book, calling it a 'Real-Romance of the South Seas,' as best
expressing its nature.

The success of his first volume encouraged Melville to proceed in his
work, and 'Omoo,' the sequel to 'Typee,' appeared in England and
America in 1847. Here we leave, for the most part, the dreamy pictures
of island life, and find ourselves sharing the extremely realistic
discomforts of a Sydney whaler in the early forties. The rebellious
crew's experiences in the Society Islands