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141-531: 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 romanticized account of his experiences in Polynesia ; and Billy Budd, Sailor , a posthumously published novella . At the time of his death Melville

282-429: A Gender Recognition Certificate . Documentary evidence of a change of name can be in a number of forms, such as a marriage certificate, decree absolute (proof of divorce), civil partnership certificate, statutory declaration or deed of change of name . Such documents are mere evidence that a change of name has occurred and they do not themselves operate to change a person's name. Deeds of change of name are by far

423-539: A rented house in Lansingburgh, almost 12 miles north of Albany. Nothing is known about what Melville did or where he went for several months after he finished teaching at Sikes. On November 12, five days after arriving in Lansingburgh, Melville paid for a term at Lansingburgh Academy to study surveying and engineering. In an April 1839 letter recommending Herman for a job in the Engineer Department of

564-626: A visit . The illusion is quite dispelled however when Herman stalks into my room without even the ceremony of knocking, bringing me perhaps a button to sew on, or some equally romantic occupation". On February 16, 1849, the Melvilles' first child, Malcolm, was born. In March 1848, Mardi was published by Richard Bentley in London, and in April by Harper in New York. Nathaniel Hawthorne thought it

705-471: A 160-acre farm in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, Melville had high hopes that his next book would please the public and restore his finances. In April 1851 he told his British publisher, Richard Bentley , that his new book had "unquestionable novelty" and was calculated to have wide appeal with elements of romance and mystery. In fact, Pierre: or, The Ambiguities was heavily psychological, though drawing on

846-460: A 160-acre farm in Pittsfield. Melville called his new home Arrowhead because of the arrowheads that were dug up around the property during planting season. That winter, Melville paid Hawthorne an unexpected visit, only to discover he was working and "not in the mood for company". Hawthorne's wife Sophia gave him copies of Twice-Told Tales and, for Malcolm, The Grandfather's Chair . Melville invited them to visit Arrowhead soon, hoping to "[discuss]

987-507: A Missouri man succeeded in changing his name to "They". The Minnesota Supreme Court ruled that a name change to "1069" could be denied, but that "Ten Sixty-Nine" was acceptable ( Application of Dengler , 1979); the North Dakota Supreme Court had denied the same request several years before ( Petition of Dengler , 1976). In nearly all states, a person cannot choose a name that is intended to mislead (such as adopting

1128-404: A Quebec birth certificate if a name change certificate is issued by another province. Some have used that loophole to legally change their names by temporarily moving to another Canadian province or territory, which follow more permissive common law rules. Additionally, Saskatchewan registers changes of name made outside its jurisdiction and issues a "Registration of Change of Name Effected Outside

1269-454: A Revolutionary War veteran was serialized in Putnam's Monthly Magazine in 1853. From November 1853 to 1856, Melville published fourteen tales and sketches in Putnam's and Harper's magazines. In December 1855 he proposed to Dix & Edwards, the new owners of Putnam's , that they publish a selective collection of the short fiction. The collection, titled The Piazza Tales , was named after

1410-488: A Silver Pitcher, as a token of personal respect, and a public testimonial of his faithful services." In addition, the younger firemen named an engine for him. When a fire broke out at noon on 7 September 1832, in a brick building on Green Street, opposite the Melvill house, the eighty-one-year-old major responded in character. He was active by "furnishing the firemen with refreshments, having an open house to all of them," wrote

1551-603: A bankrupt ... and we removed from the city; for when I think of those days, something rises up in my throat and almost strangles me". With Melville, Arvin argues, one has to reckon with "psychology, the tormented psychology, of the decayed patrician". When Melville's paternal grandfather died on September 16, 1832, Maria and her children discovered Allan, somewhat unscrupulously, had borrowed more than his share of his inheritance, meaning Maria received only $ 20 (equivalent to $ 600 in 2023). His paternal grandmother died almost exactly seven months later. Melville did his job well at

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1692-526: A blank register for indexing remarkable passages from books one had read for easy retrieval. Among the sample entries that Gansevoort made showing his academic scrupulousness was "Pequot, beautiful description of the war with," with a short title reference to the place in Benjamin Trumbull's A Complete History of Connecticut (Volume I in 1797, and Volume II in 1818) in which the description could be found. The two surviving volumes of Gansevoort's are

1833-443: A celebrity's name), that is intentionally confusing, or that incites violence; nor can one adopt, as a name, a racial slur , a threat, or an obscenity. Some examples of typically allowed reasons for name changes in the U.S. include: Under U.S. nationality law, when immigrants apply for naturalization , they have the option of asking for their names to be changed upon the grant of citizenship with no additional fees. This allows them

1974-548: A certain amount of time, and some state motor vehicle departments require updated social security cards to make changes, by first registering a new name with the Social Security office: The fees for registering a new name vary from state to state. The forms, along with the state-specific requirements, can generally be obtained for free. Many states will require reasons for wanting a name change. For example, in Florida,

2115-678: A clerk, Melville joined the U.S. Navy on August 20, as an ordinary seaman on the frigate USS  United States . During the next year, the homeward bound ship visited the Marquesas Islands, Tahiti, and Valparaiso, and then, from summer to fall 1844, Mazatlan, Lima, and Rio de Janeiro, before reaching Boston on October 3. Melville was discharged on October 14. This Navy experience is used in White-Jacket (1850), Melville's fifth book. Melville's wander-years created what biographer Arvin calls "a settled hatred of external authority,

2256-699: A close friend of Melville's father, and Shaw's marriage with Melville's aunt Nancy was prevented only by her death. His warmth and financial support for the family continued after Allan's death. Melville dedicated his first book, Typee , to him. Lizzie was raised by her grandmother and an Irish nurse. Arvin suggests that Melville's interest in Lizzie may have been stimulated by "his need of Judge Shaw's paternal presence". They were married on August 4, 1847. Lizzie described their marriage as "very unexpected, and scarcely thought of until about two months before it actually took place". She wanted to be married in church, but they had

2397-460: A contract on Christmas Day with the ship's agent as a "green hand" for 1/175th of whatever profits the voyage would yield. On Sunday the 27th, the brothers heard Reverend Enoch Mudge preach at the Seamen's Bethel on Johnnycake Hill, where white marble cenotaphs on the walls memorialized local sailors who had died at sea, often in battle with whales. When he signed the crew list the next day, Herman

2538-506: A copy of his father's account of his adventures aboard the Essex . Ten years later, Melville wrote in his other copy of the book: "The reading of this wondrous story upon the landless sea, & close to the very latitude of the shipwreck had a surprising effect upon me". On September 25, the ship reported having 600 barrels of oil to another whaler, and in October 700 barrels. On October 24,

2679-571: A court will not grant a petition for a change of name if it finds that (i) the petitioner has ulterior or illegal motives in seeking the name change, (ii) the petitioner's civil rights are suspended, or (iii) granting the name change will invade the property rights ( e.g. , intellectual property rights) of others. In 1887, the Dawes Act directed that Indigenous Americans adopt a surname. This forcible solidification of individual identities, in pursuance of Western legal and political orders, assisted in

2820-564: A deed poll with the College of Arms ; one may petition the Court of the Lord Lyon for a name change and subsequently receive a Certificate of Recognition of Change of Name. From the medieval age to the 19th century, the era of family dynasties, name changes were frequently demanded of heirs in the last wills and testaments, legacies and bequests, of members of the gentry and nobility who were

2961-495: A deed poll. Only one application of this kind is allowed for each applicant; any application for subsequent change(s) must be made with a deed poll. In the Republic of Ireland , a person earns their name by "use and repute". For most purposes it is enough to simply use the desired name and ask others to call you by that name. This was the traditional practice for a bride adopting her husband's surname. A change of name deed poll

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3102-544: A further meeting of the two. In March 1847, Omoo , a sequel to Typee , was published by Murray in London, and in May by Harper in New York. Omoo is "a slighter but more professional book," according to Milder. Typee and Omoo gave Melville overnight renown as a writer and adventurer, and he often entertained by telling stories to his admirers. As the writer and editor Nathaniel Parker Willis wrote, "With his cigar and his Spanish eyes, he talks Typee and Omoo, just as you find

3243-492: A genial latitudinarianism that gave novelty to a South Sea idyll at once erotically suggestive and romantically chaste". An unsigned review in the Salem Advertiser written by Nathaniel Hawthorne called the book a "skilfully managed" narrative by an author with "that freedom of view ... which renders him tolerant of codes of morals that may be little in accordance with our own". Hawthorne continued: This book

3384-557: A governor of Sailors' Snug Harbor . Part of a well-established and colorful Boston family, Allan Melvill spent considerable time away from New York City, travelling regularly to Europe as a commission merchant and an importer of French dry goods. Both of Melville's grandfathers played significant roles in the American Revolutionary War , and Melville later expressed satisfaction in his "double revolutionary descent". Major Thomas Melvill (1751–1832) participated in

3525-446: A home with Melville regardless of place, a willingness to please her husband by performing such "tasks of drudgery" as mending stockings, an ability to hide her agitation, and a desire "to shield Melville from unpleasantness". The Kennedys conclude that "If the ensuing years did bring regrets to Melville's life, it is impossible to believe he would have regretted marrying Elizabeth. In fact, he must have realized that he could not have borne

3666-602: A lasting impression on both his thought and his art, as did his almost encyclopedic knowledge of both the Old and the New Testaments. In October 1831, Melville left the Academy. While the precise reason is not known definitively, Parker speculates it was for financial reasons, since "even the tiny tuition fee seemed too much to pay". In December 1831, Allan Melvill returned from New York City by steamboat, but he had to travel

3807-467: A legal name (more detail of the decision accepted by the Supreme Court is found at 196 F. 791 (1912)). Usually a person can adopt any name desired for any reason. As of 2009 , 46 states allow a person legally to change names by usage alone, with no paperwork, but a court order may be required for many institutions (such as banks or government institutions) to officially accept the change. Although

3948-476: A lengthy process to have her name legally changed. Initially, the Directeur de l'état civil refused to permit the change on the grounds that someone who was legally assigned male at birth could not bear a female name. According to Quebec law, Montreuil could not change her registered gender because that required proof of a completed gender confirmation surgery , which was not the case for her. On November 1, 1999,

4089-436: A lien or debt or for defaming someone else. Applicants may be required to give a reasonable explanation for wanting to change their names. A fee is generally payable, and the applicant may be required to post legal notices in newspapers to announce the name change. Generally the judge has limited judicial discretion to deny a change of name: usually only if the name change is for fraudulent, frivolous or immoral purposes. In 2004,

4230-486: A lust for personal freedom", and a "growing and intensifying sense of his own exceptionalism as a person", along with "the resentful sense that circumstance and mankind together had already imposed their will upon him in a series of injurious ways". Scholar Robert Milder believes the encounter with the wide ocean, where he was seemingly abandoned by God, led Melville to experience a "metaphysical estrangement" and influenced his social views in two ways: first, that he belonged to

4371-456: A madman. We were somewhat startled at the remark, but still more at learning, a few days after, that Melville was really supposed to be deranged, and that his friends were taking measures to place him under treatment. We hope one of the earliest precautions will be to keep him stringently secluded from pen and ink. On May 22, 1853, Melville's third child and first daughter Elizabeth (Bessie) was born, and on or about that day Herman finished work on

Herman Melville - Misplaced Pages Continue

4512-516: A minister, and attended the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University ), from which he graduated in 1769. In July 1773, he was awarded an honorary Master of Arts degree by Harvard College . Melvill was a close friend of Samuel Adams . "When the citizens of Boston began to evince a determination to resist the arbitrary, offensive and onerous exactions of the British government, Melvill

4653-689: A month as beachcomber and island rover ("omoo" in Tahitian), eventually crossing over to Moorea . He drew on these experiences for Omoo , the sequel to Typee . In November, he contracted to be a seaman on the Nantucket whaler Charles & Henry for a six-month cruise (November 1842 – April 1843), and was discharged at Lahaina , Maui , in the Hawaiian Islands , in May 1843. After four months of working several jobs in Hawaii, including as

4794-630: A most amiable and innocent child, I cannot find it in my heart to coerce him". Emotionally unstable and behind on paying the rent for the house on Broadway, Herman's father tried to recover by moving his family to Albany, New York , in 1830 and going into the fur business . Herman attended The Albany Academy from October 1830 to October 1831, where he took the standard preparatory course, including reading and spelling, penmanship, arithmetic, English grammar, geography, natural history, universal, Greek, Roman, and English history, classical biography, and Jewish antiquities. In early August 1831, Herman marched in

4935-459: A name change requires government approval, though legal name changes have become more common in some jurisdictions over the last years. The reason given for this system is usually the public interest in the unique identifiability of a person, e.g., in governmental registers, although with the advent of personal identification numbers , that rationale may be in need of reconsideration. Changes in law Aug 2018 changes first name and fee will fall under

5076-417: A name change vary between jurisdictions. In general, common law jurisdictions have looser procedures for a name change while civil law jurisdictions are more restrictive. While some civil law jurisdictions have loosened procedures, a few remain complicated. A pseudonym is a name used in addition to the original or true name. This does not require legal sanction. Pseudonyms are generally adopted to conceal

5217-556: A name change, provided they fulfil the pertinent regulations (e.g. time lived in province). Quebec, a civil law jurisdiction, has historically had substantial differences from the common law jurisdictions comprising the rest of Canada in how it permits its residents to obtain a change of name—for example, requiring them to be citizens, which was abolished on January 28, 2021, due to a Superior Court of Quebec decision. All Canadian provinces except Quebec also recognize common law name changes—i.e. by "general usage"—even if not registered with

5358-567: A name is often sufficient to allow one to use an assumed name . In some jurisdictions, a trade name distinct from one's legal name can be registered with a county clerk, secretary of state , or other similar government authority. Persons who wish to publish materials and not to be associated with them may publish under pseudonyms ; such a right is protected under case law pursuant to the United States Constitution . A common law name (i.e. one assumed without formality and for

5499-516: A new introductory story Melville wrote for it, "The Piazza". It also contained five previously published stories, including " Bartleby, the Scrivener " and " Benito Cereno ". On March 2, 1855, the Melvilles' fourth child, Frances (Fanny), was born. In this period, his book Israel Potter was published. Name change Name change is the legal act by a person of adopting a new name different from their current name. The procedures and ease of

5640-489: A new ship, the Acushnet . Built in 1840, the ship measured some 104 feet in length, almost 28 feet in breadth, and almost 14 feet in depth. She measured slightly less than 360 tons and had two decks and three masts, but no quarter galleries . The Acushnet was owned by Melvin O. Bradford and Philemon Fuller of Fairhaven, Massachusetts , and was berthed near their office at the foot of Center Street in that town. Herman signed

5781-467: A non-fraudulent purpose) is a legal name. In most states, a statutory method, while quick and definitive, only supplements the common law method, unless the statute makes itself exclusive. A person may sue under a common law name. In California the "usage method" (changing the name at will under common law) is sufficient to change the name. Not all jurisdictions require that the new name be used exclusively. Any fraudulent use or intent, such as changing

Herman Melville - Misplaced Pages Continue

5922-769: A particularly warm and loving father," while Maria was "warmly maternal, simple, robust, and affectionately devoted to her husband and her brood". Melville's education began when he was six. In 1824, the Melvills moved to a newly built house at 33 Bleecker Street in Manhattan . In 1825, Herman and his brother Gansevoort enrolled in New York Male High School. In 1826, the year that Herman contracted scarlet fever , Allan Melvill described him as "very backwards in speech & somewhat slow in comprehension" at first, but his development increased its pace and Allan

6063-494: A period of parties, picnics, and dinners. Nathaniel Hawthorne and his publisher James T. Fields joined the group while Hawthorne's wife stayed at home to look after the children. On one picnic outing organized by Duyckinck, Hawthorne and Melville sought shelter from the rain together and had a deep, private conversation. Melville had been given a copy of Hawthorne's short story collection Mosses from an Old Manse , though he had not yet read it. Melville then avidly read it and wrote

6204-642: A person's identity, but may also be used for personal, social or ideological reasons. In the United Kingdom , citizens and residents have the freedom to change their names with relative ease. In theory, anyone who is at least 16 and resident in the United Kingdom can call themselves whatever they wish. However, over the past hundred years or so, formal procedures that are recognised by record holders such as government departments, companies and organizations have evolved, which enable someone to change

6345-484: A private wedding ceremony at home to avoid possible crowds hoping to see the celebrity. The couple honeymooned in the then-British Province of Canada , and traveled to Montreal. They settled in a house on Fourth Avenue in New York City (now called Park Avenue). According to scholars Joyce Deveau Kennedy and Frederick James Kennedy, Lizzie brought to their marriage a sense of religious obligation, an intent to make

6486-418: A reason. The change of given name directly on a civil registry office can be done only once, and to revert the change, a court order is required. A person's surnames can be changed directly on a civil registry office, in the following circumstances: In India, the person concerned submits a name change request to an appropriate authority, with supporting documents. Subsequently, an application must be made to

6627-530: A registered deed poll which allows you to change your name in the NDLS instantly along with DESAP. Name changes in Malaysia are done at the local office of National Registration Department (JPN). Name changes for children require Malaysian identity cards (MyKad) of both parents, wedding certificates, birth certificate, and MyKid if exists. For name changes at will, a statutory declaration must be signed first, and

6768-544: A review, " Hawthorne and His Mosses ", which appeared in two installments, on August 17 and 24, in The Literary World . Melville wrote that these stories revealed a dark side to Hawthorne, "shrouded in blackness, ten times black". He repeatedly compared Hawthorne to Shakespeare, and urged that "men not very much inferior to Shakespeare are this day being born on the banks of the Ohio." The critic Walter Bezanson finds

6909-431: A rich book "with depths here and there that compel a man to swim for his life". According to Milder, the book began as another South Sea story but, as he wrote, Melville left that genre behind, first in favor of "a romance of the narrator Taji and the lost maiden Yillah," and then "to an allegorical voyage of the philosopher Babbalanja and his companions through the imaginary archipelago of Mardi". In October 1849, Redburn

7050-415: A serious sex offense. If a person is not in any of these categories, then a common law name change is allowed. (Family Code § 2082 also contains some of the same wording.) Many universities, hospitals, and other institutions allow one to use a "preferred name" instead of one's legal name. This name can show up on class rosters, online learning platforms, and student ID cards. The legal name change process

7191-631: A similar death in Pierre . The death of Allan caused many major shifts in the family's material and spiritual circumstances. One result was the greater influence of his mother's religious beliefs. Maria sought consolation in her faith and in April was admitted as a member of the First Reformed Dutch Church. Herman's saturation in orthodox Calvinism was surely the most decisive intellectual and spiritual influence of his early life. Two months after his father's death, Gansevoort entered

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7332-576: A spirit proper enough to a young and adventurous sailor, and which makes his book the more wholesome to our staid landsmen. Pleased but not overwhelmed by the adulation of his new public, Melville later expressed concern that he would "go down to posterity ... as a 'man who lived among the cannibals'!" The writing of Typee brought Melville back into contact with his friend Greene—Toby in the book—who wrote confirming Melville's account in newspapers. The two corresponded until 1863, and in his final years Melville "traced and successfully located his old friend" for

7473-468: A year. A state/territory's RBDM typically has jurisdiction over changes of name for people born in that state or territory, and for people born overseas now residing in that state or territory. Residents born interstate must typically apply to the Registry of Births, Deaths, and Marriages (RBDM) of their birth jurisdiction for a change of name, though there are exceptions. If a person's birth or adoption

7614-521: Is a second option using an 'unenrolled' deed poll, this is a regular deed poll that is signed by yourself in the presence of a witness over 18. This can be used to update your name in banks, schools and other non-governmental institutions. This is the long process as the Irish Passport Office and NDLS require two years of 'proof of usage' e.g bank statements in your new name dating back two years in order to change your name in comparison to

7755-620: Is inscribed to Nathaniel Hawthorne". On October 18, 1851, The Whale was published in Britain in three volumes, and on November 14 Moby-Dick appeared in the United States as a single volume. In between these dates, on October 22, 1851, the Melvilles' second child, Stanwix, was born. In December, Hawthorne told Duyckinck, "What a book Melville has written! It gives me an idea of much greater power than his preceding ones." Unlike other contemporaneous reviewers of Melville, Hawthorne had seen

7896-519: Is lightly but vigorously written; and we are acquainted with no work that gives a freer and more effective picture of barbarian life, in that unadulterated state of which there are now so few specimens remaining. The gentleness of disposition that seems akin to the delicious climate, is shown in contrast with the traits of savage fierceness...He has that freedom of view—it would be too harsh to call it laxity of principle—which renders him tolerant of codes of morals that may be little in accordance with our own,

8037-445: Is no online name change facility. One can either personally visit the concerned office and submit or may send by post. The Central Government Gazette office is located at Civil Lines, Near Delhi Metro Station, New Delhi. The office works from Monday to Friday only. For more details one can visit their website. After submission of application one can download the same from their website. Thomas Melvill (American patriot) Melvill

8178-583: Is not required, but provides documentary evidence of a name change. Resident non- EU nationals must apply to the Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service for a deed poll. The deed poll requires a witness affidavit , and may optionally be enrolled in the High Court upon payment of stamp duty . An enrolled deed poll is required for some administrative name changes, such as on a driving licence or when changing legal gender . There

8319-568: Is regarded as a name change which usually requires a deed poll. However, the Immigration Department which is responsible for processing applications for name change allows applicants to submit such applications without deeds poll; anyone who has a phonetic English name only and wishes to include a western-style English name as part of his or her legal English name can apply to the Immigration Department without

8460-532: Is unknown, biographer Hershel Parker says that Maria "thought her mother's money was infinite and that she was entitled to much of her portion" while her children were young. How well the parents managed to hide the truth from their children is "impossible to know", according to biographer Andrew Delbanco . In 1830, the Gansevoorts ended their financial support of the Melvilles, at which point Allan's lack of financial responsibility had left him in debt to both

8601-593: Is usually different from simple usage and includes notifying various government agencies, each of which may require legal proof of the name change and that may or may not charge a fee. Important government agencies to be notified include the Social Security Administration (generally following statutory law, not common law), Bureau of Consular Affairs (for passports ), the Federal Communications Commission ,

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8742-619: The Acushnet cooperatively set about its whaling endeavors several times with the Columbus of New Bedford, which also took letters from Melville's ship; the two ships were in the same area just south of the Equator. On June 16, the Acushnet carried 750 barrels of oil and sent home 200 on the Herald the Second , and, on June 23, she reached the Marquesas Islands and anchored at Nuku Hiva . In

8883-578: The Acushnet crossed the equator to the north, and six or seven days later arrived at the Galápagos Islands. This short visit would be the basis for " The Encantadas ". On November 2, the Acushnet and three other American whalers were hunting together near the Galápagos Islands; Melville later exaggerated that number in Sketch Fourth of "The Encantadas". From November 19 to 25, the ship anchored at Chatham's Isle, and on December 2 reached

9024-545: The American Civil War . In 1867, his eldest child Malcolm died at home from a self-inflicted gunshot. Melville's metaphysical epic Clarel: A Poem and Pilgrimage in the Holy Land was published in 1876. In 1886, his other son Stanwix died of apparent tuberculosis , and Melville retired. During his last years, he privately published two volumes of poetry, and left one volume unpublished. The novella Billy Budd

9165-486: The Attorney-general of Australia 's Document Verification Service. It is a common practice for ethnic Chinese residents of Hong Kong to adopt a western-style English name in addition to their transliterated Chinese name. As they often adopt western-style English names after being registered on the birth register, the fact that they want to include a western-style English name as part of their legal English name

9306-582: The Boston Tea Party , and Melville's maternal grandfather, General Peter Gansevoort (1749–1812), commanded the defense of Fort Stanwix in New York in 1777. At the turn of the 19th century, Major Melvill did not send his son Allan (Herman's father) to college, but instead sent him to France, where he spent two years in Paris and learned to speak French fluently. In 1814, Allan, who subscribed to his father's Unitarianism , married Maria Gansevoort, who

9447-504: The Erie Canal , Peter Gansevoort says his nephew "possesses the ambition to make himself useful in a business which he desires to make his profession," but no job resulted. Just weeks after this failure, Melville's first known published essay appeared. Using the initials "L.A.V.", Herman contributed "Fragments from a Writing Desk" to the weekly newspaper Democratic Press and Lansingburgh Advertiser , which printed it in two installments,

9588-455: The Firemen's Advocate . But in the events he "took a violent cold, which terminated in the diarrhea; and owing to his advanced age, and the violence of the disorder, medicine had no effect in checking its progress." The major died on Sunday evening, 16 September. One of the city's most prominent and colorful citizens, he was mourned and eulogized for weeks. Firemen paid him a meaningful tribute,

9729-643: The Royal Courts of Justice in London. See also College of Arms#Change of names . Residents of Scotland can change their name by deed poll or statutory declaration. Scottish-born/adopted people may optionally apply to the Registrar General for Scotland to have their birth certificate amended to show the new name and have the respective register updated. There is also an alternative route to changing one's name in Scotland, equivalent to enrolling

9870-686: The Selective Service System and the Department of Motor Vehicles (for a new driver's license, learner permit, state identification card, or vehicular registration). Additionally the new name must be registered with other institutions such as employers, banks, doctors, mortgage, insurance and credit card companies. Online services are available to assist in this process either through direct legal assistance or automated form processing. Most states require name changes to be registered with their departments of motor vehicles (DMVs) within

10011-604: The " double-barrelled ", even the "triple-barrelled" name, frequently parodied in literature as epitomising the wealthy " squirearchy " with an embarrassment of inherited estates. In Canada, name changes are handled through the vital statistics bureaux of the various provinces and territories, except in Nunavut , where they are handled by the Courts. All Canadian provinces and territories allow their residents, whether Citizens, Permanent Residents or Temporary Residents, to obtain

10152-405: The 1820s, Melville lived a privileged and opulent life in a household supported by three or more servants at a time. Every four years, the family moved to more spacious and elegant quarters, finally settling on Broadway in 1828. Allan Melvill lived beyond his means, on large sums that he borrowed from his father and from his wife's widowed mother. Although his wife's opinion of his financial conduct

10293-528: The Agatha story, Isle of the Cross . Melville traveled to New York to discuss a book, presumably Isle of the Cross , with his publisher, but later wrote that Harper & Brothers was "prevented" from publishing his manuscript because it was lost. After the commercial and critical failure of Pierre , Melville had difficulty finding a publisher for his follow-up novel Israel Potter . Instead, this narrative of

10434-534: The Albany city government procession of the year's "finest scholars" and was presented with a copy of The London Carcanet , a collection of poems and prose, inscribed to him as "first best in ciphering books". As Melville scholar Merton Sealts observed, The ubiquitous classical references in Melville's published writings suggest that his study of ancient history, biography, and literature during his school days left

10575-560: The Boston Evening Gazette reported on 22 September. "The members of the 'Melville Fire Association,' attached to the Melville Engine, No. 13, met at their Engine House - attended the funeral - and voted to wear the usual badge of mourning for thirty days." In 1774, Melvill married Priscilla Scollay (1755–1833), the daughter of prominent Boston merchant John Scollay, and sister of William Scollay (1756–1809),

10716-589: The Government Printing Press, which issues an Official Gazette Notification certifying the change of name. In India, name change legal process may be completed either publishing in State Government Gazette or Central Government Gazette. It is always preferred that one should opt for Central Govt. Gazette since it is valid all over world. Central Government Gazette process is explained here. There are four easy steps to complete

10857-591: The JPN.KP16 form is to be filled up at the JPN office. From September 1995, New Zealanders can change their name by making a statutory declaration and, if approved, the new name is registered with the Births, Deaths and Marriages section of the Department of Internal Affairs (Identity Services). Prior to September 1995, they changed their name by deed poll . In general, unlike in common law countries, names cannot be changed at will in civil law jurisdictions. Usually,

10998-612: The Massachusetts Charitable Society (ca.1825-1826); "He was in the state legislature in 1832." Melvill lived in Boston's West End "in an old wooden house on the south side of Green Street, between Staniford Street and Bowdoin Square . ... It was a wooden house of two stories." In 1830, Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. published a poem entitled "The Last Leaf", which was inspired in part by Melvill, "the last of

11139-462: The Melvill and Gansevoort families for a sum exceeding $ 20,000 (equivalent to $ 572,000 in 2023). But Melville biographer Newton Arvin writes that the relative happiness and comfort of Melville's early childhood depended less on Allan's wealth or on his profligate spending, as on the "exceptionally tender and affectionate spirit in all the family relationships, especially in the immediate circle". Arvin describes Allan as "a man of real sensibility and

11280-510: The Ohio River. Inspired by contemporaneous popular cultural reading, including Richard Henry Dana Jr. 's new book Two Years Before the Mast and Jeremiah N. Reynolds 's account in the May 1839 issue of The Knickerbocker magazine of the hunt for a great white sperm whale named Mocha Dick , Herman and Gansevoort traveled to New Bedford, where Herman signed up for a whaling voyage aboard

11421-595: The Philo Logos Society, which Peter Gansevoort invited to move into Stanwix Hall for no rent. In the Albany Microscope in March, Melville published two polemical letters about issues in vogue in the debating societies. Historians Leon Howard and Hershel Parker suggest the motive behind the letters was a youthful desire to have his rhetorical skills publicly recognized. In May, the Melvilles moved to

11562-471: The Province of Saskatchewan". In the United States, state laws regulate name changes. Several federal court rulings have set precedents regarding both court decreed name changes and common law name changes (changing the name at will), including Lindon v. First National Bank . In Christianson v. King County , 239 U.S. 356 (1915), the Supreme Court accepted a name changed using the common law method as

11703-513: The Scrivener ". In 1857, he traveled to England, toured the Near East , and published his last work of prose, The Confidence-Man (1857). He moved to New York in 1863, eventually taking a position as a United States customs inspector . From that point, Melville focused his creative powers on poetry. Battle-Pieces and Aspects of the War (1866) was his poetic reflection on the moral questions of

11844-455: The Universe with a bottle of brandy & cigars" with Hawthorne, but Hawthorne would not stop working on his new book for more than one day and they did not come. After a second visit from Melville, Hawthorne surprised him by arriving at Arrowhead with his daughter Una. According to Robertson-Lorant, "The handsome Hawthorne made quite an impression on the Melville women, especially Augusta, who

11985-460: The authority of local town hall In Belgian law, a name is in principle considered fixed for life, but under exceptional circumstances, a person may apply to the Ministry of Justice for a name change. This requires a Royal Decree (French: Arrêté royal , Dutch: Koninklijk besluit ) for last names, but only a Ministerial Decree for first names. The new name must not cause confusion or cause damage to

12126-664: The bank to man the cap and fur store. In 1835, while still working in the store, Melville enrolled in Albany Classical School, perhaps using Maria's part of the proceeds from the sale of the estate of his maternal grandmother in March 1835. In September of the following year, Herman was back at The Albany Academy , participating in the school's Latin course. He also participated in debating societies, in an apparent effort to make up as much as he could for his missed years of schooling. During this time, he read Shakespeare , including Macbeth , whose witch scenes gave him

12267-521: The bank; although he was only 14 in 1834, the bank considered him competent enough to be sent to Schenectady, New York, on an errand. Not much else is known from this period except that he was very fond of drawing. The visual arts became a lifelong interest. Around May 1834, the Melvilles moved to another house in Albany, a three-story brick house. That same month a fire destroyed Gansevoort's skin-preparing factory, which left him with personnel he could neither employ nor afford. Instead he pulled Melville out of

12408-511: The bearer or others. Examples of requests that are usually considered favorably: In Brazil, legal name changes are regulated by the Public Records Act (Law No. 6,015/1973) and can be requested by any person registered on a Brazilian civil registry office, through a court order or directly on a civil registry office, depending on the case. People over the age of majority (18 years ) may change their given names without specifying

12549-498: The best evidence for Melville's reading in this period. Gansevoort's entries include books Melville used for Moby-Dick and Clarel , including "Parsees—of India—an excellent description of their character, and religion and an account of their descent—East India Sketch Book p. 21". Other entries are on Panther, the pirate's cabin, and storm at sea from James Fenimore Cooper 's The Red Rover . The Panic of 1837 forced Gansevoort to file for bankruptcy in April. In June, Maria told

12690-493: The cap and fur business. Uncle Peter Gansevoort, a director of the New York State Bank, got Herman a job as clerk for $ 150 a year (equivalent to $ 4,600 in 2023). Biographers cite a passage from Redburn when trying to answer what Herman must have felt then: "I had learned to think much and bitterly before my time," the narrator remarks, adding, "I must not think of those delightful days, before my father became

12831-522: The chance to teasingly scare his sisters. By March 1837, however, he again withdrew from The Albany Academy. Gansevoort served as a role model and support for Melville throughout his life, particularly during this time trying to cobble together an education. In early 1834, Gansevoort became a member of Albany's Young Men's Association for Mutual Improvement, and in January 1835 Melville joined him there. Gansevoort also had copies of John Todd's Index Rerum ,

12972-407: The coast of Peru and anchored at Tombez near Paita , with 570 barrels of oil on board. On December 27, the Acushnet sighted Cape Blanco, off Ecuador. Point St. Elena was sighted the next day, and on January 6, 1842, the ship approached the Galápagos Islands from the southeast. From February 13 to May 7, seven sightings of sperm whales were recorded, but none were killed. From early May to early June,

13113-518: The cocked hats." Holmes would later write that Melvill had reminded him of "a withered leaf which has held to its stem through the storms of autumn and winter, and finds itself still clinging to its bough while the new growths of spring are bursting their buds and spreading their foliage all around it." When Major Melvill retired from the fire department, the Columbian Centinel for 31 October 1832 wrote, "his associates presented him with

13254-594: The collector, naval officer, and surveyor. They supervised a staff that received cargo manifests from incoming ships, inspected cargoes, assessed and collected customs duties for remittance to the United States Department of the Treasury , and fined those who tried to evade paying duties. The collector, naval officer, and surveyor were paid a portion of the duties and fines they collected, making them lucrative and sought-after positions.) "When

13395-411: The conventions of the romance, and difficult in style. It was not well received. The New York Day Book published a venomous attack on September 8, 1852, headlined "HERMAN MELVILLE CRAZY". The item, offered as a news story, reported, A critical friend, who read Melville's last book, Ambiguities , between two steamboat accidents, told us that it appeared to be composed of the ravings and reveries of

13536-500: The custom house was established in Boston, in 1786, he was appointed surveyor; in 1789 was made inspector, and ... in 1814, he was appointed naval officer of the port." He served as a town fireward (1779–1825);, and for twenty-five years was chairman of the board; an incorporator of Boston's Scots Charitable Society (1786); a founder of the Massachusetts General Hospital (est.1811); and president of

13677-467: The essay "so deeply related to Melville's imaginative and intellectual world while writing Moby-Dick " that it could be regarded as a virtual preface and should be "everybody's prime piece of contextual reading". Later that summer, Duyckinck sent Hawthorne copies of Melville's three most recent books. Hawthorne read them, as he wrote to Duyckinck on August 29 that Melville in Redburn and White-Jacket put

13818-410: The father of a sole daughter and heiress demanded that as a condition of his daughter's dowry her husband should adopt his father-in-law's surname and arms. Thus the progeny of the marriage would continue the otherwise extinct family's name. Such name changes were generally only demanded of younger sons, where an elder brother was available to inherit the paternal estates under primogeniture and carry on

13959-525: The federal government's efforts to remove their ownership of communally-held land. More recently, recipients of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals have been forced to revert to the names on their birth registration documents by USCIS , even where this does not match the name they have been using all their life in the United States. This is especially true with DACA recipients from Spanish-speaking countries, whereby two last names appear on birth registration documents per Spanish naming customs . Even where

14100-471: The first on May 4. According to Merton Sealts, his use of heavy-handed allusions reveals familiarity with the work of William Shakespeare , John Milton , Walter Scott , Richard Brinsley Sheridan , Edmund Burke , Samuel Taylor Coleridge , Lord Byron , and Thomas Moore . Parker calls the piece "characteristic Melvillean mood-stuff" and considers its style "excessive enough [...] to indulge his extravagances and just enough overdone to allow him to deny that he

14241-478: The flow of his delightful mind on paper". In 1847, Melville tried unsuccessfully to find a "government job" in Washington. In June 1847, Melville and Elizabeth "Lizzie" Knapp Shaw were engaged, after knowing each other for approximately three months. Melville had first asked her father, Lemuel Shaw , for her hand in March, but was at first turned down at the time. Shaw, Chief Justice of Massachusetts, had been

14382-461: The genteel classes, but sympathized with the "disinherited commons" he had been placed among and, second, that experiencing the cultures of Polynesia let him view the West from an outsider's perspective. Upon his return, Melville regaled his family and friends with his adventurous tales and romantic experiences, and they urged him to put them into writing. Melville completed Typee , his first book, in

14523-460: The government or ordered by a court. Although a common law name change is still a legal name, formal processes may be required to obtain government-issued ID or change the name on accounts (like banks) that depend on government ID ; this is one situation where a person may have more than one name. Quebec also historically had other strict regulations regarding name changes. For example, the transgender Quebecker Micheline Montreuil had to undergo

14664-467: The last 70 miles in an open carriage for two days and two nights in subfreezing temperatures. In early January, he began to show "signs of delirium", and he grew worse until his wife felt that his suffering deprived him of his intellect. On January 28, 1832, he died, two months prior to reaching his 50th birthday. Since Herman was no longer attending school, he likely witnessed his father's medical and mental deterioration. Twenty years later, Melville described

14805-434: The last males of their bloodline. Such persons frequently selected a younger nephew or cousin as the heir to their estates, on condition that he should adopt the surname and armorials of the legator in lieu of his patronymic. Thus, the ancient family otherwise destined to extinction would appear to continue as a great dynasty in the making. Such changes were also more rarely demanded by marriage settlements , for example where

14946-497: The library of his friend Evert Duyckinck . These readings proved significant, occurring as Melville radically transformed his initial plan for the novel over the next several months, conceiving what Delbanco described in 2005 as "the most ambitious book ever conceived by an American writer". From August 4 to 12, 1850, the Melvilles, Sarah Morewood , Duyckinck, Oliver Wendell Holmes , and other literary figures from New York City and Boston came to Pittsfield, Massachusetts , to enjoy

15087-682: The most commonly used method of providing evidence of a change of name other than changing a woman's surname after marriage. A deed poll is a legal document that binds a single person to a particular course of action (in this case, changing one's name for all purposes). The term 'deed' is common to signed, written agreements that have been shown to all concerned parties. 'Poll' is an old legal term referring to official documents that had cut edges (were polled) so that they were straight. People whose births are registered in England and Wales may, but are under no obligation, to have their deed poll enrolled at

15228-429: The name and arms abandoned by the younger brother. Such name changes were effected by obtaining a private Act of Parliament or by obtaining a Royal Licence . Well known examples are: A less radical procedure adopted from the 18th century onwards was for the legator or settlor to demand only that the legatee or beneficiary should adopt his surname in addition to his patronymic, not in place of it, which gave rise to

15369-441: The name recorded on their passport, driving licence, tax and National Insurance records, bank and credit cards, etc., provided that "documentary evidence" of a change of name is provided. Documents such as birth, marriage and educational certificates cannot be changed because these documents are considered "matters of fact", which means that they were correct at the time they were issued. However, exceptions exist, such as holders of

15510-664: The name to the same name as another person's name, may invalidate this type of name change. Specifically in California, Code of Civil Procedure § 1279.5 and Family Code § 2082 regulate common law and court decreed name changes. Code of Civil Procedure § 1279.5 (a) reads, "Except as provided in subdivision (b), (c), (d), or (e), nothing in this title shall be construed to abrogate the common law right of any person to change his or her name." Subdivisions b through e preclude one from changing their name by common law if they are in state prison, on probation, on parole, or have been convicted of

15651-539: The nine guide-books listed in chapter 30 of the book had been part of Allan Melvill's library. He arrived back in New York October 1, 1839 and resumed teaching, now at Greenbush, New York, but left after one term because he had not been paid. In the summer of 1840 he and his friend James Murdock Fly went to Galena, Illinois, to see if his Uncle Thomas could help them find work. Unsuccessful, he and his friend returned home in autumn, likely by way of St. Louis and up

15792-463: The opportunity to adopt more Americanized names. During the naturalization interview, a petition for a name change is prepared to be forwarded to a federal court. Applicants certify that they are not seeking a change of name for any unlawful purpose such as the avoidance of debt or evasion of law enforcement. Such a name change would become final if within their jurisdiction, once a federal court naturalizes an applicant. The "open and notorious" use of

15933-560: The person has only ever used one surname (typically that of the father), USCIS forces them to revert to both surnames, creating a discrepancy in matters such as academic records and credit ratings. Individuals may legally change their name through the state and territory governments of Australia according to state or territory laws and regulations via agencies generally titled "Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages". Exceptions exist for some states such as restricted persons (e.g. jail inmate) and in some states, changes may only be made once

16074-599: The provincial court of appeals ruled that nothing in the law prevented a person who was registered as male from legally adopting a woman's name. Another issue specific to Quebec is married names. Because of the Quebec Charter of Rights , married women in Quebec have been unable to adopt their spouse's surname since 1976. Other provinces allow their residents to change their last name on the strength of their marriage certificate . The Directeur de l'état civil will amend

16215-426: The reality "more unflinchingly" before his reader than any writer, and he thought Mardi was "a rich book, with depths here and there that compel a man to swim for his life". But he cautioned, "It is so good that one scarcely pardons the writer for not having brooded long over it, so as to make it a great deal better". In September 1850, Melville borrowed three thousand dollars from his father-in-law Lemuel Shaw to buy

16356-567: The ship anchored for the first time since Rio, in Santa Harbor. The cruising grounds the Acushnet was sailing attracted much traffic, and Captain Pease not only paused to visit other whalers, but at times hunted in company with them. From July 23 into August, the Acushnet regularly gammed with the Lima from Nantucket, and Melville met William Henry Chase, the son of Owen Chase , who gave him

16497-446: The states ( except Louisiana ) follow common law, there are differences in acceptable requirements; usually a court order is the most efficient way to change names (which would be applied for in a state court ), except at marriage, which has become a universally accepted reason for a name change. Where a court process is used, it is necessary to plead that the name change is not for a fraudulent or other illegal purpose, such as evading

16638-607: The summer of 1842, Melville and his shipmate Richard Tobias Greene ("Toby") jumped ship at Nuku Hiva Bay. Melville's first book, Typee (1846), is based on his stay in or near the Taipi Valley . By around mid-August, Melville had left the island aboard the Australian whaler Lucy Ann , bound for Tahiti , where he took part in a mutiny and was briefly jailed in the native Calabooza Beretanee . In October, he and crew mate John B. Troy escaped Tahiti for Eimeo . He then spent

16779-698: The summer of 1845 while living in Troy, New York. His brother Gansevoort found a publisher for it in London, where it was published in February 1846 by John Murray in his travel adventure series. It became an overnight bestseller in England, then in New York, when it was published on March 17 by Wiley & Putnam. In the narrative, Melville likely extended the period of time he had spent on the island and also incorporated material from source books he had assembled. Milder calls Typee "an appealing mixture of adventure, anecdote, ethnography, and social criticism presented with

16920-489: The task. First, one has to make an affidavit on a Non-judicial stamp-paper. Get notarised. Second, publish in a newspaper about the change of name. Third, fill-in the required forms and attach affidavit and newspaper. Pay the government fee online. Attach the receipt also. Fourth and last step is submit the application. In certain States gazette application may be submitted online but most of the States and Central Government there

17061-426: The ten letters Melville wrote to the older man. In the essay on Hawthorne's Mosses , Melville wrote: "I feel that this Hawthorne has dropped germinous seeds into my soul. He expands and deepens down, the more I contemplate him; and further, and further, shoots his strong New-England roots into the hot soil of my Southern soul." Melville dedicated his book to Hawthorne: "In token of my admiration for his genius, this book

17202-525: The travelogue, the nautical adventure, the sentimental novel, the sensational French romance, the gothic thriller, temperance tracts, urban reform literature, and the English pastoral". His next novel, White-Jacket , was published by Bentley in London in January 1850, and in March by Harper in New York. The earliest surviving mention of Moby-Dick is from a May 1, 1850, letter in which Melville told fellow sea author Richard Henry Dana Jr. "I am half way in

17343-683: The uniqueness of Melville's new novel and acknowledged it. In early December 1852, Melville visited the Hawthornes in Concord and discussed the idea of the "Agatha" story he had talked of with Hawthorne. This was the last contact between the two writers before Melville visited Hawthorne in Liverpool four years later when Hawthorne had relocated to England. After having borrowed three thousand dollars from his father-in-law in September 1850 to buy

17484-489: The weight of those years unaided—that without her loyalty, intelligence, and affection, his own wild imagination would have had no "port or haven". Biographer Robertson-Lorant cites "Lizzie's adventurous spirit and abundant energy," and she suggests that "her pluck and good humor might have been what attracted Melville to her, and vice versa". An example of such good humor appears in a letter about her not yet used to being married: "It seems sometimes exactly as if I were here for

17625-484: The whaler Acushnet , but he jumped ship in the Marquesas Islands . Typee , his first book, and its sequel, Omoo (1847), were travel-adventures based on his encounters with the peoples of the islands. Their success gave him the financial security to marry Elizabeth Shaw, the daughter of the Boston jurist Lemuel Shaw . Mardi (1849), a romance-adventure and his first book not based on his own experience,

17766-614: The work." In June, he described the book to his English publisher as "a romance of adventure, founded upon certain wild legends in the Southern Sperm Whale Fisheries," and promised it would be done by the fall. The original manuscript has not survived. That summer, Melville read Thomas Carlyle , borrowing copies of Sartor Resartus (1833–34) and On Heroes, Hero-Worship, & the Heroic in History (1841) from

17907-406: The younger children they needed to leave Albany for somewhere cheaper. Gansevoort began studying law in New York City while Herman managed the farm before getting a teaching position at Sikes District School near Lenox, Massachusetts . He taught about 30 students of various ages, including some his own age. The semester over, he returned to his mother in 1838. In February he was elected president of

18048-613: Was driven from Boston harbor, Captain Melvill discharged the first guns at the hostile ships, from his battery, at Nantasket ." During the war he "served in the Rhode Island campaigns of 1777 and 1779." After the war, he worked as a naval officer (1786–1820) and surveyor (ca. 1796) of the Port of Boston at the Boston Custom House on State Street . (Customs houses were administered by three political appointees:

18189-641: Was a great fan of his books". They spent the day mostly "smoking and talking metaphysics". Robertson-Lorant writes that Melville was "infatuated with Hawthorne's intellect, captivated by his artistry, and charmed by his elusive personality," but "the friendship meant something different to each of them," with Hawthorne offering Melville "the kind of intellectual stimulation he needed". They may have been "natural allies and friends," yet they were also "fifteen years apart in age and temperamentally quite different" and Hawthorne "found Melville's manic intensity exhausting at times". Bezanson identifies "sexual excitement" in all

18330-580: Was advanced $ 84. On January 3, 1841, the Acushnet set sail. Melville slept with some twenty others in the forecastle ; Captain Valentine Pease, the mates, and the skilled men slept aft . Whales were found near The Bahamas, and in March 150 barrels of oil were sent home from Rio de Janeiro. Cutting in and trying-out (boiling) a single whale took about three days, and a whale yielded approximately one barrel of oil per foot of length and per ton of weight (the average whale weighed 40 to 60 tons). The oil

18471-470: Was born on January 16, 1751, in Boston , Massachusetts , to Scottish-born merchant Allan Melvill (1728-1761) and Jean Cargill (ca. 1730-1759). His paternal grandfather, Thomas Melvill was minister of Scoonie , Fifeshire , Scotland . Melvill was orphaned at the age of 10 and was raised by his maternal grandmother, Mrs. Mary Cargill, a relative of the eccentric Dr. John Abernethy . He intended to become

18612-664: Was committed to her family's more strict and biblically oriented Dutch Reformed version of the Calvinist creed. The Gansevoorts' severe Protestantism ensured that Maria was well versed in the Bible, in English as well as in Dutch, the language that the Gansevoorts spoke at home. On August 19, almost three weeks after his birth, Melville was baptized at home by a minister of the South Reformed Dutch Church. During

18753-587: Was conspicuous among the ardent and gallant young men of the capital, for his zeal and intrepidity, during that momentous advent of ... national independence." Melvill participated in the Boston Tea Party, "that immortal band which in December, 1773, in presence of the Royal fleet, boarded the tea ships in Boston harbor, and threw their rich cargoes into the ocean." In March 1776, when "the British fleet

18894-552: Was kept on deck for a day to cool off, and was then stowed down; scrubbing the deck completed the labor. An average voyage meant that some forty whales were killed to yield some 1600 barrels of oil. On April 15, the Acushnet sailed around Cape Horn and traveled to the South Pacific, where the crew sighted whales without catching any. She then went up the coast of Chile to the region of Selkirk Island , and on May 7, near Juan Fernández Islands , she had 160 barrels. On June 23,

19035-679: Was left unfinished at the time of his death, but was published posthumously in 1924. Melville died from cardiovascular disease in 1891. Melville was born in New York City , on August 1, 1819, the third of eight children to Allan Melvill (1782–1832) and Maria (Gansevoort) Melvill (1791–1872), who were of Scottish and Dutch descent. His seven siblings, who played important roles in his career and emotional life, were Gansevoort (1815–1846), Helen Maria (1817–1888), Augusta (1821–1876), Allan (1823–1872), Catherine (1825–1905), Frances Priscilla (1827–1885), and Thomas (1830–1884), who eventually became

19176-414: Was not well known to the public, but 1919, the centennial of his birth, was the starting point of a Melville revival . Moby-Dick eventually would be considered one of the great American novels . Melville was born in New York City, the third child of a prosperous merchant whose death in 1832 left the family in dire financial straits. He took to sea in 1839 as a common sailor on a merchant ship and then on

19317-630: Was not well received. Redburn (1849) and White-Jacket (1850), both tales based on his experience as a well-born young man at sea, were given respectable reviews, but did not sell well enough to support his expanding family. Melville's growing literary ambition showed in Moby-Dick (1851), which took nearly a year and a half to write, but it did not find an audience, and critics scorned his psychological novel Pierre: or, The Ambiguities (1852). From 1853 to 1856, Melville published short fiction in magazines, including " Benito Cereno " and " Bartleby,

19458-541: Was published by Bentley in London, and in November by Harper in New York. The bankruptcy and death of Allan Melvill, and Melville's own youthful humiliations surface in this "story of outward adaptation and inner impairment". Biographer Robertson-Lorant regards the work as a deliberate attempt for popular appeal: "Melville modeled each episode almost systematically on every genre that was popular with some group of antebellum readers," combining elements of "the picaresque novel,

19599-580: Was registered in Australia, the change will also be noted (in most cases) on the person's birth or adoption registration, and in some states or territories, the name change can be evidenced either through a re-issued birth certificate if born in Australia and/or "Change of Name Certificate". Transgender residents born overseas may receive a recognised details certificate or identity acknowledgment certificate . These certificates are recognised secure identity documents and can be verified electronically through

19740-556: Was surprised "that Herman proved the best Speaker in the introductory Department". In 1829, both Gansevoort and Herman transferred to Columbia Grammar and Preparatory School , and Herman enrolled in the English Department on September 28. "Herman I think is making more progress than formerly," Allan wrote in May 1830 to Major Melvill, "and without being a bright Scholar, he maintains a respectable standing, and would proceed further, if he could only be induced to study more—being

19881-527: Was taking his style seriously". For Delbanco, the style is "overheated in the manner of Poe, with sexually charged echoes of Byron and The Arabian Nights ". On May 31, 1839, Gansevoort, then living in New York City, wrote that he was sure Herman could get a job on a whaler or merchant vessel. The next day, he signed aboard the merchant ship St. Lawrence as a "boy" (a green hand ), which cruised from New York to Liverpool. Redburn: His First Voyage (1849) draws on his experiences in this journey; at least two of

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