Best known as the creator of Captain Ahab and the great white whaleof Moby-Dick, Herman Melville (1819-91) found critical and popularsuccess with his first novels, which he based on his adventures in theSouth Seas. His reputation was diminished by his preoccupation withmetaphysical themes and allegorical techniques in later works; andby the time of his death, his books were long forgotten. Generationslater, Melville's readers recognized his work as keenly satirical andrich in elements that prefigured the emergence of existentialism andFreudian psychology.