Much of the material was difficult to decipher. Transcribing into the log letters, reviews, newspaper articles, old records and annotations and marginalia Melville had written in his books. New material was constantly being discovered or made available, and Parker spent days, months and years at his computer, with a magnifier and perpetual calendar, It was an overwhelming but exciting task, Parker said. His involvement in the project began when his friend and colleague, Melville scholar Jay Leyda, became ill and was no longer able to continue with the chronology. Fletcher Brown Professor of English at UD.īefore he even began to write the book, Herman Melville:, A Biography, Volume 1, 1819-1851, published by the Johns Hopkins University Press, Parker undertook the task of continuing a detailed, daily log of Melville's life. Writing the first volume of what has been called the definitive biography of Herman Melville involved a five-year paper chase for Hershel Parker, H. Hershel Parker's 'Melville' a whale of a biography
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |