By the time he wrote 

Redburn

, his fourth novel, Herman Melville had accrued considerable fame as the author of 

Typee 

and 

Omoo

—two largely autobiographical narratives based on his three years’ sojourn as a sailor and vagabond among Polynesian islanders—and incurred critics’ scorn with his third novel, the long, satiric allegory called 

Mardi

. Melville’s early success had encouraged him to make a profession of writing, and the commercial failure of 

Mardi

 came at an especially bad time; he had married Elizabeth Shaw in 1847, and their first child was born the month before 

Mardi

’s publication. Financially strained, Melville hastily undertook during the spring and summer of 1849 to write two novels he expected would capitalize on his reputation for tales of maritime…

1245 words

Citation: Hager, Christopher. "Redburn". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 16 July 2008; last revised 29 April 2020. [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=2440, accessed 19 March 2024.]

2440 Redburn 3 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

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