SOURCE: Gilman, William H. “Art and Autobiography.” In Melville's Early Life andRedburn, pp. 176-205. New York: New York University Press, 1951.

In the following excerpt, Gilman examines the parallels between Melville's early years and that of his fictional character, Wellingborough Redburn.

If the exposition of Melville's intentions in writing Redburn and his own awareness of the artistic process working in him casts light on the book, a detailed study of his method ought to make its nature even more clear. For the framework of fact he selected liberally from the events of his youth and of the voyage to Liverpool late in his twentieth year. His homes on Bleecker Street and Broadway become Redburn's “in old Greenwich Street.” Allan Melvill, like Walter Redburn, was an importer of French goods and a veteran of many trips across the Atlantic. In Melville's home were most certainly the English and French...