Herman Melville A to Z: The Essential Reference to His Life and Work (Facts on File Library of American Literature)

An encyclopedic guide to the novelist includes entries on Melville's works and characters, influential events and social issues, friends and family, and journeys.

Gr 9 Up-Filled with solid information, this resource will be useful to novice Melvillians trying to recall who delivered Tashtego from the whale's head, as well as to scholars who need a quick note on the poem "The Ravaged Villa." The entries, which include information on Melville's private and writing life, run from a 15-word note placing an obscure character in a particular work to an 11-page, chapter-by-chapter synopsis of Moby-Dick. The volume also contains a genealogy, a categorical appendix (people, characters, ships, places, etc.), a lengthy bibliography, and an 18-page index. It is illustrated with black-and-white photos and reproductions. As an alternative to Robert Gale's A Herman Melville Encyclopedia (Greenwood, 1995), which is bigger in every way, this relatively slender volume will meet the needs of most school libraries. Academic collections may wish to own both.

Herman Sutter, Saint Agnes Academy, Houston, TX

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

Like Robert L. Gale's A Herman Melville Encyclopedia (Greenwood, 1995), this work by Rollyson and Paddock (Susan Sontag: The Making of an Icon) provide comprehensive, encyclopedic information about Melville's life, travels, works, and times in 675 entries. About a third of the entries are common to both books. While Gale's work has about twice as many unique entries as the book under review, the entries here generally tend to be more detailed. Though Gale includes a bibliography, and his entries frequently include bibliographical citations, Rollyson and Paddock do not even refer to Gale's book in their less-comprehensive list of about 180 books and articles by and about Melville. Both books include very detailed chronologies of Melville's life. Given its larger scope, Gale's book seems the better choice, though it costs nearly twice as much. Libraries with strong Melville collections should have both books.APeter Dollard, Alma Coll. Lib., MI
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Contains entries on Melville's works, characters, publishers, and critical reception, as well the people, places, and events that played a role in his life. This volume follows others in the fine Literary A-Z series, which also covers Chaucer, Dickens, and Hemingway, among others. RBB
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