Pierre; or, The Ambiguities (1852), the novel which followed Moby-Dick, is an interesting and bitter novel. Many of the character Pierre's own speculations, and Melville's narrative comments, illuminate the themes in the whaling book.

Billy Budd, the novella completed at the end of Melville's life but not published until 1924, presents an interesting contrast in tone, compared with the earlier novel.

The House of the Seven Gables (1851) by Nathaniel Hawthorne was published at a time when he and Melville were friends. It is the story of a curse on the Pyncheon family and how the curse is eventually broken.

Two Years before the Mast, Richard Dana's 1840 account of life on the waves, was read by Melville while he was a young man.

V by Thomas Pynchon, published in 1963, is a novel of pursuit, dealing in large themes, including romantic delusion.

Elephant Gold...