Whole Oceans Away: Melville and the Pacific

Essays on Melville and the culture of the Pacific

“Like the young Melville, those who imagine Polynesia from the perspective of Europe or North America tend to envision a tropical garden set in a shining sea. But the Pacific experienced by a runaway American sailor in an earlier century presents a different picture, and the Pacifi c experienced by indigenous peoples of today a different one yet.”— from the Introduction

Herman Melville had a lifelong fascination with the Pacific and with the d...