
Typee
'Typee' Summary
A whaling ship stops at a remote Polynesian island. The crew aboard is exhausted after a grueling six-month voyage in which they suffered ill-treatment and drudgery. Two men decide to abandon ship and hide on the island, living off the fruit of the land, until they can get on board a more conducive ship. However, to their consternation they discover that part of the island paradise is peopled by a savage and cannibalistic tribe called the Typees. As destiny would have it, they fall into the hands of the very people they dread. In time, life among the Typees seems very different from their apprehensions, till one day, one of the men mysteriously disappears...
Typee by Herman Melville is reputed to have been the inspiration for various South Sea sagas by writers like Robert Louis Stevenson and Jack London. Based partially on Melville's own experiences, the book is a blend of fact and fiction. He spent many months on one of the Marquesas Islands in the South Pacific as a captive of one of the tribes. The book was received with some skepticism initially though many of the facts were corroborated by a fellow castaway. Today most of us know Herman Melville as the author of Moby Dick, yet in his own lifetime, Typee was his most famous and popular work.
Modern-day readers may find some of the propositions about race quite outdated. However, Melville himself was a staunch critic of missionaries who tried to “civilize” the native races. He also decried the unwholesome influence of Western civilization on the people of other cultures. The book was published in 1846 in England and America, though many of the critical references to Christianity and missionaries were removed in the American edition.
An interesting book which explores the different aspects of human culture and civilization besides being a tale of adventure on the high seas.
Book Details
Authors

Herman Melville
United States
Melville's growing literary ambition showed in Moby-Dick (1851), which took nearly a year and a half to write, but it did not find an audience and critics scorned his psychological novel Pierre: or, T...
Books by Herman MelvilleDownload eBooks
Listen/Download Audiobook
Related books

Abandoned by William Clark Russell
As she walks up the aisle to her waiting husband, a young bride undergoes a sudden change of heart. She goes through the marriage ceremony in a daze,...

Cruise of the Alerte - In Search of Treasure by Edward Frederick Knight
'Cruise of the Alerte' recounts the true story of Edward Frederick Knight, an English barrister, who embarked on a captivating voyage to the South Sea...

The End Of The Tether by Joseph Conrad
At an age when he should, by rights, be embarking on a well-deserved and comfortable retirement, Captain Whalley, a sailor of the old school — and eve...

Toilers of the Sea by Victor Hugo
The story concerns a Guernseyman named Gilliatt, a social outcast who falls in love with Deruchette, the niece of a local shipowner, Mess Lethierry. W...

Captain Blood by Rafael Sabatini
An adventure novel with an unexpected hero, Captain Blood follows the unintended journey of chivalrous and well-educated gentleman Peter Blood, who wi...

The Pirate, and The Three Cutters by Frederick Marryat
It tells the story of a young naval officer, Lieutenant Easy, who finds himself caught up in a battle between pirates and the Royal Navy. Marryat's b...

20000 Leguas de Viaje Submarino by Jules Verne
Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea is a classic adventure novel by Jules Verne, published in 1870. The story follows the journey of Professor Pierr...

Last Entry by William Clark Russell
This classic seafaring novel set in 1837 follows a wealthy former seaman and his daughter as they set sail on his newly restored schooner, headed for...

The Three Lieutenants by William Henry Giles Kingston
Embark on a thrilling maritime journey with "The Three Lieutenants" by William Henry Giles Kingston. Set sail into a world where courage meets the tem...

The Shadow-Line by Joseph Conrad
The Shadow-Line is another one of Conrad’s stories that deals with a hero who is faced by a problem that comes from an unexpected source, and for whic...
Reviews for Typee
No reviews posted or approved, yet...