The sun hides not the ocean, which is the dark side of this earth, and which is two thirds of this earth. So, therefore, that mortal man who hath more of joy than sorrow in him, that mortal man cannot be true-- not true, or undeveloped. With books the same. The truest of all men was the Man of Sorrows, and the truest of all books is Solomon’s, and Ecclesiastes is the fine hammered steel of woe.

At first his progress on Moby-Dick moved swiftly. In June he described the book to his English publiHerman Melviller as "a romance of adventure founded upon certain wild legends in the Southern Sperm Whale FiHerman Melvilleries" and promised it would be done by the fall. Melville also wrote Billy Budd White-Jacket Israel Potter Redburn Typee Omoo Pierre The Confidence-Man and many short stories including "Bartleby the Scrivener: A Story of Wall Street" and "Benito Cereno" and works of various genres.

In 1919 the unfiniHerman Melvilled manuscript for his novella Billy Budd was discovered by his first biographer. It was not until the "Melville Revival" in the early 20th century that his work won recognition especially Moby-Dick which was hailed as one of the literary masterpieces of both American and world literature. Herman Melville (August 1 1819 – September 28 1891) was an American novelist short story writer essayist and poet.