Omoo: A Narrative of Adventures in the South Seas

Omoo: A Narrative of Adventures in the South Seas

by Herman Melville
Omoo: A Narrative of Adventures in the South Seas

Omoo: A Narrative of Adventures in the South Seas

by Herman Melville

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Overview

Melville’s continuing adventures in the South Seas

Following the commercial and critical success of Typee, Herman Melville continued his series of South Sea adventure-romances with Omoo. Named after the Polynesian term for a rover, or someone who roams from island to island, Omoo chronicles the tumultuous events aboard a South Sea whaling vessel and is based on Melville’s personal experiences as a crew member on a ship sailing the Pacific. From recruiting among the natives for sailors to handling deserters and even mutiny, Melville gives a first-person account of life as a sailor during the nineteenth century filled with colorful characters and vivid descriptions of the far-flung locales of Polynesia.

For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781101201473
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Publication date: 03/27/2007
Sold by: Penguin Group
Format: eBook
Pages: 416
File size: 862 KB
Age Range: 18 Years

About the Author

Herman Melville was born in August 1, 1819, in New York City, the son of a merchant. Only twelve when his father died bankrupt, young Herman tried work as a bank clerk, as a cabin-boy on a trip to Liverpool, and as an elementary schoolteacher, before shipping in January 1841 on the whaler Acushnet, bound for the Pacific. Deserting ship the following year in the Marquesas, he made his way to Tahiti and Honolulu, returning as ordinary seaman on the frigate United States to Boston, where he was discharged in October 1844. Books based on these adventures won him immediate success. By 1850 he was married, had acquired a farm near Pittsfield, Massachussetts (where he was the impetuous friend and neighbor of Nathaniel Hawthorne), and was hard at work on his masterpiece Moby-Dick.

Literary success soon faded; his complexity increasingly alienated readers. After a visit to the Holy Land in January 1857, he turned from writing prose fiction to poetry. In 1863, during the Civil War, he moved back to New York City, where from 1866-1885 he was a deputy inspector in the Custom House, and where, in 1891, he died. A draft of a final prose work, Billy Budd, Sailor, was left unfinished and uncollated, packed tidily away by his widow, where it remained until its rediscovery and publication in 1924.

Date of Birth:

August 1, 1819

Date of Death:

September 28, 1891

Place of Birth:

New York, New York

Place of Death:

New York, New York

Education:

Attended the Albany Academy in Albany, New York, until age 15

Table of Contents

Chapter IMy Reception Aboard1
Chapter IISome Account of the Ship5
Chapter IIIFurther Account of the Julia9
Chapter IVA Scene in the Forecastle12
Chapter VWhat Happened at Hytyhoo15
Chapter VIWe Touch at La Dominica19
Chapter VIIWhat happened at Hannamanoo21
Chapter VIIIThe Tattooers of La Dominica25
Chapter IXWe steer to the Westward--State of Affairs28
Chapter XA Sea-parlour described, with some of its Tenants33
Chapter XIDoctor Long Ghost a Wag--One of his Capers36
Chapter XIIDeath and Burial of Two of the Crew39
Chapter XIIIOur Destination changed45
Chapter XIVRope Yarn46
Chapter XVChips and Bungs50
Chapter XVIWe encounter a Gale52
Chapter XVIIThe Coral Islands54
Chapter XVIIITahiti58
Chapter XIXA Surprise--More about Bembo60
Chapter XXThe Round Robin--Visitors from Shore66
Chapter XXIProceedings of the Consul70
Chapter XXIIThe Consul's Departure76
Chapter XXIIIThe Second Night off Papeetee78
Chapter XXIVOutbreak of the Crew83
Chapter XXVJermin encounters an old Shipmate85
Chapter XXVIWe enter the Harbour--Jim the Pilot88
Chapter XXVIIA Glance at Papeetee--We are sent aboard the Frigate93
Chapter XXVIIIReception from the Frenchman97
Chapter XXIXThe Reine Blanche99
Chapter XXXThey take Us Ashore--What happened there102
Chapter XXXIThe Calabooza Beretanee106
Chapter XXXIIProceedings of the French at Tahiti112
Chapter XXXIIIWe receive Calls at the Hotel de Calabooza117
Chapter XXXIVLife at the Calabooza121
Chapter XXXVVisit from an old Acquaintance123
Chapter XXXVIWe are carried before the Consul and Captain128
Chapter XXXVIIThe French Priests pay their Respects131
Chapter XXXVIIILittle Jule sails without Us135
Chapter XXXIXJermin serves Us a Good Turn--Friendships in Polynesia140
Chapter XLWe take unto Ourselves Friends145
Chapter XLIWe Levy Contributions on the Shipping147
Chapter XLIIMotoo-Otoo--A Tahitian Casuist150
Chapter XLIIIOne is judged by the Company He keeps153
Chapter XLIVCathedral of Papoar--The Church of the Cocoanuts155
Chapter XLVA Missionary's Sermon; with some Reflections159
Chapter XLVISomething about the Kannakippers164
Chapter XLVIIHow They dress in Tahiti168
Chapter XLVIIITahiti as it is171
Chapter XLIXSame Subject continued177
Chapter LSomething happens to Long Ghost181
Chapter LIWilson gives us the Cut--Departure for Imeeo185
Chapter LIIThe Valley of Martair188
Chapter LIIIFarming in Polynesia192
Chapter LIVSome Account of the Wild Cattle in Polynesia196
Chapter LVA Hunting Ramble with Zeke199
Chapter LVIMosquitoes203
Chapter LVIIThe Second Hunt in the Mountains205
Chapter LVIIIThe Hunting-Feast; and a Visit to Afrehitoo210
Chapter LIXThe Murphies212
Chapter LXWhat they thought of Us in Martair216
Chapter LXIPreparing for the Journey219
Chapter LXIITamai222
Chapter LXIIIA Dance in the Valley225
Chapter LXIVMysterious227
Chapter LXVThe Hegira, or Flight229
Chapter LXVIHow We were to get to Taloo234
Chapter LXVIIThe Journey round the Beach236
Chapter LXVIIIA Dinner-Party in Imeeo242
Chapter LXIXThe Cocoa-Palm245
Chapter LXXLife at Loohooloo249
Chapter LXXIWe start for Taloo251
Chapter LXXIIA Dealer in the Contraband255
Chapter LXXIIIOur Reception in Partoowye259
Chapter LXXIVRetiring for the Night--The Doctor grows Devout264
Chapter LXXVA Ramble through the Settlement267
Chapter LXXVIAn Island Jilt--We Visit the Ship270
Chapter LXXVIIA Party of Rovers--Little Loo and the Doctor274
Chapter LXXVIIIMrs. Bell277
Chapter LXXIXTaloo Chapel--Holding Court in Polynesia279
Chapter LXXXQueen Pomaree284
Chapter LXXXIWe visit the Court289
Chapter LXXXIIWhich ends the Book294
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