Reviews Herman Melville's Whaling Years, by W ilson H eflin and edited by Mary K. Bercaw Edwards and Thom as Fare! Heffernan (Vanderbilt U niv. Press, Nashville, TN, 2004, 332pp, m aps, appen , notes, biblio, index, ISBN 0-8265- 1382-4, $45hc) Imagine yo u've discovered a long-forgotten sea chest, and its contents reveal insights into an author's pivotal life events, experiences arguably influencing all rhar he or she was to write thereafter. Imagine
CJ-lerman (}Vlelville's
Whaling Years WILSON HEFLIN Edited by Aiaiy K Berraw Edwatds and 1homa< J~ud //1jfe1nan
now rhar rhe author is H erman Melville, creator of what some argue to be the "Grear A m eri ca n Novel ," Moby-Dick. W ilson H eflin, fo under of The Melville Society and a US Naval Academ y literature professor, spent a lifetime researching M elville's life at sea and the impact of those experiences on his writings. His labors toward a doctoral dissertation seemingly left no log book unopened, no likely-related waters unsounded. H eflin hadn't completed his thesis by the rime of his dea th in 1985. W hile rhe edi ring of Herman Melville's Whaling Years from twen ty boxes of material began shortly after Heflin's death, the results have only recently been published. M elville's years at sea p rofo undly influenced the yo ung, educated, and impressionable wo uld-be author. Ir was M elville speaking thro ugh Ishmael proclaiming: " ... glory to whaling; for a whale-ship was my Yale College and my H arvard." Melville's early m aritime exp eriences aboard ship ultim ately found their way in to Typee (the populari ty of which set Melville on SEA HISTORY 111 , S UMMER 2005
his literary course), Redburn, White j acket, Omoo, Piazz,a Tales, and m any others. Herman M elville's Whaling Years is a perfect "companion" or long-form annotation to Melville's early life and works. The reader can only wonder at Heflin's indefagarible pursuit of any documentation linking his subject and the sea. Add the meticulous and thorough work of editors Mary K. Bercaw Edwards and Thomas H effernan, and we have a single volume rhar represents the talents of three dedicated researchers ar work. N o study can be a Rosetta stone decoding rhe creativity by which an individual perceives and processes his or her day-to-day existence, which ultimately gives that experience new life through artistic expression. N onetheless, a book can establish a framework by which patterns and links may be delineated and reaso nably speculated. Finally, how often does one get to recommend a book's appendices? No t to be skipped are H effernan's essay on Toby Green e, Melville's Acushnet shipmate who jumped ship with Melville in the M arquesas Islands, Bercaw Edwards brief history of the Marquesas, and an excellent primer on whale oil by D avid Littlefield with Edward Baker. Ir doesn't take a Melvillian to appreciate Herman Melville's Whaling Years. Ir's a sea adventure with one of our greatest authors ar irs center. PETER SORENSEN O ld Mystic, Connecticut
Under Vitus Bering's Command: New Perspectives on the Russian Kamchatka Expeditions, edited by Peter U lf M oller and Natasha Okho rina Lind (Beringiana, Aaarhus University Press, Aarhus, D enm ark, 2003, notes, biblio, ISBN 87-7288 932-2; $33pb) Like m any significant discoveri es and achievem ents of the modern world, rhe Kam chatka expeditions of 1725 -1 7 43 defy ri gid association wi th a single nationali ty. Launched by rhe Russian crown and commanded by the D anish-born Virus Bering, this ambitious endeavo r involved German , French, Russian, and D anish participants. Srudy of the rich multi-lingual docum entary legacy of the expedition calls fo r continuous
internatio nal intellectual and scientific exchange. Under Vitus Bering's Command is a good example of such cooperatio n. Published in D enmark, this anthology contains twelve articles written in English and in Russ ian by D anish, German, and Russian participants of an international workshop on recent results and new perspectives in rhe study of the Kam chatka expeditions. The volume reveals general trends in international research despite the range of topics and approaches. M any authors examined primary documents from European and Russian archives, bringing to light previously unknown or unpublished materials. Topically, rhe most prominent them e is rhe personalities of rhe expeditions' participants and their effect on rhe course of events which followed. The characters of G melin, Steller, and Muller, scientists assigned to the expeditions, receive special attention , and their confrontation with Bering is a recurring motif in several articles. Bering studies are represented by the insightful analysis of the CaptainCommander's changing image in Russian and D anish historiography and by the two contributions examining his private life. Both the article abo ut his wife and the publication of his eleven letters written to his family from Okhotsk offer glimpses into rhe personal affairs of the Commander in rhe midst of his mission. W ith due respect to the articles' lively style and interesting subj ects, Under Vitus Bering's Command is demanding reading. Previo us knowledge of Russian history in general and the Kam chatka expeditions in particular is necessary to appreciate rhe authors' scholarly effort. For initiated readers and scholars of the topic, the anthology's comprehensive bibliography and ample references to archival sources will surely prove an invaluable research tool. EvGENIA ANICHENKO D urch Harbor, Alaska 41