Based on Melville’s own experiences going to sea, Redburn is an account of the first voyage of young Wellingborogh Redburn, a naïve youth who has become enamored with the idea of going to sea.

The book does not have much in the way of plot except to describe Redburn’s experiences on the ship sailing from New York to Liverpool and back. Redburn knows absolutely nothing about sailing and suffers for it. When he goes to sign up as a ship’s boy on a merchant ship called the Highlander, he is accompanied by a family friend, who also knows nothing of ships and how they operate. This friend, Mr. Jones, valiantly tries to represent how Redburn comes from a good family – a tactic which to this day is considered useful in applying for a job in, say, an office. It only convinces the ship captain that he is already rich (when actually his family is in dire financial straits) and can afford to work for next to nothing on his voyage.

Redburn suffers the expected bad food, abuse from his fellow crewmen, and worse abuse from the ship’s officers. He is terrified by the one storm they encounter but is not harmed by it. One distinguishing characteristic of the book is the thorough description of his chores on the ship, and an exceptionally detailed picture of all the various ropes on the sailing ship, their relation to each other, and the knots he is required to learn to keep all this assemblage together in good order and how long it takes to learn all this.

This is also the only book I believe I have ever read involving a voyage that ends in Liverpool and a description of that port. Redburn does find a lot of poverty and corruption there, but in many ways, it seems less disgustingly filthy than depictions of London at about the same time. He makes one weekend outing into the surrounding countryside where he discovers an idyllic small farm and family that he really likes.

He meets an interesting friend in Liverpool, Harry Bolton, supposedly a gentleman’s son, who, as nearly as I can tell has a bad gambling habit. They make an overnight trip to London where Harry leaves Wellingborough alone in a fancy salon somewhere while he goes off and manages to lose what little money he has left. When they return to Liverpool, Wellingborough manages to get Harry a place on the ship for the return voyage to New York.

Of this return voyage, little is said.

I found this book on Scribd.

This was a good coming of age story from Melville. Redburn's naïveté at sea is comical and yet his reflections on sailing and Liverpool contemplate serious topics like slavery, immigration, and progression of society. Overall, three-and-a-half stars because of excessive references and minimal action.

A sophomoric journey through language from Melville at his youngest and most naive. Occasional bits of beautiful prose sparkle over only 2 developed characters, Jackson and redburn. A solid coming of age story through adventure, ironically dry. Full of great nautical slice of life episodes/phrases.

Herman Melville'in yaşamından bir kesit diyebileceğimiz bir kitap. Bir kısmı roman, bir kısmı gezi anıları niyetine okunabilir. Çokça gemicilik terimi var ve bunların ne anlama geldiği dipnotlarda çevirmen tarafından açıklanmış. Bu oldukça önemli bir çalışma gerektiriyor, çevirmeni kutlamak gerekli.

One of Melville's "cakes and ale" books (along with White Jacket), and one of his best despite the author's negative label. Melville seemed perturbed about the reception of Mardi, and felt that the sap-headed public only wanted travel-oriented tales of the seas. Unwittingly, he spun to very well-written books that are something more than cakes and ale--something more than what Typee and Omoo could ever be. In Redburn and White Jacket Melville touches upon his philosophical touchstones in wyas more subtle--and hence more effective--than the anvil clanging of Mardi, making these two books the true progenitors of Moby Dick.

Grades:

Redburn: B+

White Jacket: B+

I feel like what I just finished reading could have been told in about half the number of pages and have been done better. There were certain passages and sentences that showed the make of a brilliant writer, but overall it was underwhelming.

Un roman d'apprentissage par essence, le récit rend compte de la première croisière de Wellingborough Redburn, un blanc-bec, un jeune homme issu de bonne famille appauvrie et déchue suite à un revers de chance pour les affaires parentales.
Le roman est une riche source de connaissance sur la vie et les nomenclature utilisée en marine marchande et des us et moeurs des matelots en mer et sur terre.
Le récit ne passe pas non plus sous silence les particularités du port de Liverpool, comme hub important pour l'immigration vers l'Amérique à l'époque.
Le récit va plutôt à un rythme modéré, ce qui m'a fait prendre tout ce temps pour le lire. Mais ce que j'ai apprécié le plus, et ce que j'apprécie toujours chez les écrivains contemporains à Melville, c'est le langage utilisé, le style sobre et le choix réfléchis des mots utilisés qui ne choquent pas les sensibilités même quand le sujet est choquant. En voici un simple exemple :
"(...) les matelots lui donnaient depuis longtemps un nom impossible à écrire, mais infiniment expressif des sentiments méprisants qu'ils nourrissaient pour lui."
Donc, je disais que j'ai éprouvé du plaisir en me rendant compte de ce goût pour une écriture "éduquée"

A good sailing story, complete with spontaneous combustion, but not the best of Melville's works. Recommend this to fans of the bildungsroman or those who enjoy sea-based adventures.

Redburn: His First Voyage, Being the Sailor-Boy, Confessions and Reminiscences of the Son-of-a-Gentleman, In the Merchant Service
Redburn Wellingborough, a young man who idealizes his Revolutionary War era father, decides to go to sea, leaving his bereaved mother and sister and taking with him a journal written by his father that he regards as sacrosanct. The moment he leaves home, however, he is ridiculed for his antique clothing, and we become aware that we are in the Jackson Era, during which most Revolutionary Era pieties, institutions, and assumptions, including the assumption of having a prosperous family farm, have been exploded. Redburn is an outcast, a fact which is underscored when he encounters mean bullies in New York City and, even worse, the malignant Captain Riga, a Russian who defrauds him mercilessly. He acquires a friend on the voyage to Liverpool and, when there, he discovers that his father made his money from the slave trade. He attempts to get food for a starving mother and her children and, eventually, makes his way back to the boat for the voyage back to New York City. He has a friend who is ruthlessly and unspeakably bullied--made to engage in the most debasing sexual and social rites--and keeps a measured distance from the victim of the relentless Jackson. When he arrives back in New York, he deserts his friend, who he later learns has died. A very autobiographical novel--given that Melville suffered as a result of his father's failure in business--that is also a rather merciless indictment of slavery, bullying, social hierarchy, and the Jacksonian Era. A very good and important novel in its own right, and very helpful towards understanding Melville as a man and a writer.

Even if Herman Melville did (as he claimed) write this semi-autobiographical novel mainly to earn money, it's a fine account. Like Moby Dick it's full of digressions, but all edifying. The notes to the edition (Penguin 1976), by Harold Beaver, are helpful.

Redburn, hayatı okumayi bilmeyen, kendisiyle ilgili tam ve gercekci fikirleri olmaysn genc bir delikanlidir. Babasının yaptigi gibi bir deniz yolculuguna çıkıp bunun kendisine katacagi degerleri dusunurken hayatin gerceklerini atlamasi onun icin hicte iyi sonuclar dogurmayacaktir.

Kitabin en sevdigim yani yavas yavas bir insanin dusunce biciminin yogurulusunu izlemek oldu. Adim adim hayatin ve getirdiklerinin sorgulanma tarzi, aile ve degerlerle ilgili kaideler, arkadaslar ve yanlislar uzerine cok iyi zamana yayilmis yavas ogrenilisi goruyoruz.

Aci gercekler ve ilk izlenimlerle dolu, herseyin tane tane aciklandigi ama sıkılmadığım muhtesem bir eserdi. Insanlar icin yozlaşmanın varligi ve ogrenilisi, zamanin getirdigi kazanimlar ve dsha niceleri bu kitapta bulabilirsiniz.

I've long since been done with this book; I even wrote my final about it. But I don't want to re-write all my thoughts here. I'm lazy; lazy-dazy. It's a good book. There's gay stuff, spontaneous combustion, and lots-o maps!