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Herman Melville, an American author best known today for his novel
Moby Dick, was actually more popular during his lifetime for some
of his other works. He traveled extensively and used the knowledge
gained during his travels as the basis for his early novels. In 1837,
5 at the age of eighteen, Melville signed as a cabin boy on a merchant
ship that was to sail from his Massachusetts home to Liverpool, England.
His experiences on this trip served as a basis for the novel Redburn
(1849). In 1841 Melville set out on a whaling ship headed for the
South Seas. After jumping ship in Tahiti, he wandered around the
10 islands of Tahiti and Moorea. This South Sea island sojourn was a
backdrop to the novel Omoo (1847). After three years away from home,
Melville joined up with a U.S. naval frigate that was returning to
the eastern United States around Cape Horn.
The novel White-Jacket(1850)describes this lengthy voyage as a navy
15 seaman. With the publication of these early adventure novels, Melville
developed a strong and loyal following among readers eager for his
tales of exotic places and situations. However, in 1851, with the
publication of Moby Dick, Melville's popularity started to diminish.
Moby Dick, on one level the saga of the hunt for the great white
20 whale, was also a heavily symbolic allegory of the heroic struggle
of man against the universe. The public was not ready for Melville's
literary metamorphosis from romantic adventure to philosophical symbolism.
It is ironic that the novel that served to diminish Melville's popularity
during his lifetime is the one for which he is best known today.
1. The main subject of the passage is
2. According to the passage, Melville's early novels were
3. In what year did Melville's book about his experience as a cabin boy appear?
4. The passage implies that Melville stayed in Tahiti because
5. How did the publication of Moby Dick affect Melville's popularity?
6. According to the passage, Moby Dick
Back Test with: Reading-Comprehension-Lesson 122 và bài Reading-Comprehension-Lesson 123
