NYC Fact: Melville was a Terrible Travel Writer

Herman Melville is New York City’s greatest writer. He was born here, at 6 Pearl St (now indicated by a plain gray wall and a plaque tucked behind a towering skyscraper in Lower Manhattan) and died here after three decades of obscurity.

Before he wrote “Moby-Dick,” he was desperate for “tobacco money,” so he turned to travel writing, capped in his 1849 book “Redburn.” It was universally condemned. The London Britannia wrote that it he “seems to have taken up with the notion that anything will do for the public.” Melville later apologized.

About Robert Reid

Robert Reid is a travel writer (Lonely Planet, New York Times, ESPN), travel expert (Today Show, CNN's Headline News), travel videographer (76-Second Travel Show) and travel artist (don't ask).
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One Response to NYC Fact: Melville was a Terrible Travel Writer

  1. Rutila says:

    Moby Dick isn’t so good either.

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