Typee Author:Herman Melville Typee (originally subtitled A Peep at Polynesian Life), catapulted Herman Melville to fame at the age of 27 upon its publication in 1846. Ostensibly a novel, the story is closely based o the author's four month sojourn with a group of South Sea Islanders, the Typees, after he and a companion deserted their whaling ship. Initially the two Ameri... more »cans are charmed and fascinated by the exotic life of the Typees-their physical beauty, the reagal bearing of their warriors, the gracefulness of their women-and embrace with enthusism their food and customs. And yet, the land of the Typees is not quite paradise: the two men are guests who may not leave, and gradually they lean of custons of a more chilling nature, making their escape from this tropical paradise a necessity. After a century and a half, the freshness of Melville's vision is still appealing, while the moral preceptions the narrator draws from his experiences foreshadow the author's profound concerns in later works.« less