Herman Melville Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Herman Melville - Research Paper Example Library of Congress would then honor him for he actually was the library’s first writer to collect and publish material. The great author was born in the city of New York as the third born child of Maria and Allan Gansevoort Melville. The letter e was added to his family name to making it Melville in the year 1832 by Maria on the death of his father. While growing up, young Melville was attacked by scarlet fever in the mid 1820s which adversely affected his health. Whereas he regained back his health after a short period, the disease permanently impaired Millville’s eyesight. The father was a very accomplished and successful merchant & importer and as such the family led a very good life when Melville was growing. However things changed in the year 1830 when Allan unsuccessfully attempted to enter fur trade. This failure spelt doom for the family’s fortune on his death in the year 1832, Allan left the family in an extremely desperate financial situation. Following the father’s demise, Herman Melville’s oldest brother Gansevoort took over their family business in New York City. Soon after, Melville joined Gansevoort in the business as a partner and later some of their brothers came on board. Melville would enrol with Albany Classical School in the mid 1830s to study literature and while at Albany he participated in the student debates. At the same time he had started his writing career; he wrote some proems short stories and essays. After a period of studies at the Albany Classical School Melville left and took up a job as a teacher in Massachusetts. The teaching job was not fulfilling and therefore after just three months of work, Melville quit his position and returned to New York City. The year 1837 was another bad one for the family, Gansevoort’s business of fur and cap went down again this time round putting the family in a