Omoo: A Narrative of Adventures in the South Seas, Volume Two, Scholarly Edition (Melville)

a Failed Mutiny Lands The Narrator In A Tahitian Jail Where He And His Companion Are Treated With Curiosity And Kindness. After Their Eventual Release, The Two Embark On A Series Of Adventures As They Work At Odd Jobs, View Traditional Rites And Customs On The Island, And Contrive An Audience With The Tahitian Queen. Melville's continuing adventures in the South Seas—now for the first time in Penguin ClassicsFollowing the commercial and critical success of Typee, Herman Melville continued his series of South Sea adventure-romances with Omoo. Named after the Polynesian term for a rover, or someone who roams from island to island, Omoo chronicles the tumultuous events aboard a South Sea whaling vessel and is based on Melville's personal experiences as a crew member on a ship sailing the Pacific. From recruiting among the natives for sailors to handling deserters and even mutiny, Melville gives a first-person account of life as a sailor during the nineteenth century filled with colorful characters and vivid descriptions of the far-flung locales of Polynesia. "Following the commercial and critical success of his first book, Typee, Herman Melville continued his series of South Seas adventure-romances with Omoo. Melville's second book chronicles the narrator's involvement in a mutiny aboard a South Seas whaling vessel, his incarceration in a Tahitian jail, and then his wanderings as an omoo, or rover, on the island of Eimeo (Moorea). Based on Melville's personal experience as a sailor on a South Pacific whaleship, Omoo is a first-person account of life as a sailor during the nineteenth century, filled with colorful characters and detailed descriptions of the far-flung locales of Polynesia."--Jacket A failed mutiny lands the narrator in a Tahitian jail where he and his companion, Doctor Long Ghost, are treated with curiosity and kindness. After their eventual release, the two embark on a series of adventures as they work at odd jobs, view traditional rites and customs on the island, and contrive an audience with the Tahitian queen. Thought-provoking, humorous glimpses of a vanished 19th-century world in the South Seas A sailor escapes from his ship while visiting the Marquesas Islands and joins the crew of a savage boat