Redburn: His First Voyage

Redburn: His First Voyage is a novel by Herman Melville published on September 29, 1849, by Richard Bentley in London and on November 14, 1849, by Harper & Brothers in New York City. It is semi-autobiographical and recounts the sufferings of a refined youth among coarse and brutal sailors and the seedier areas of Liverpool. With Redburn, Melville returned to a more commercial format after the failure of his allegorical novel Mardi, which was published earlier in the year. It was written quickly (in less than 10 weeks) and under financial duress. The book does make some social criticisms, including attacks on the evils of drinking alcohol. It contains one of the more notable examples of spontaneous combustion in literature