Typee (1846) is Herman Melville's first book. Based on his own adventures, it tells of a sailor who deserts his whaling ship in the Marquesas Islands and lives for several weeks among the Typee people, fearing that they are cannibals.
The story
The narrator, Tom, and his friend Toby jump ship at Nuku Hiva and cross the mountains into the valley of the Typee. They are welcomed with kindness, but Toby disappears.
Tom lives in comfort, loved by the young Fayaway, but grows anxious about the Typee's tattoos and rumours of cannibalism, and finally escapes to an Australian whaler.
Fact and fiction
Melville did desert the whaler Acushnet in 1842 with a shipmate, Richard Tobias Greene, and spent about a month in the Typee valley, which he stretched to four months in the book.
He added material from travel books, and his British publisher presented the book as a true narrative.
Success
Typee was Melville's greatest success during his lifetime, far more than Moby-Dick. He followed it with Omoo (1847).
Its criticism of missionaries and colonial powers caused controversy, and the American edition was softened.
Anecdotes
Toby returns
When some readers doubted the story, the real Toby, Richard Tobias Greene, came forward in 1846 to confirm it in a Buffalo newspaper; Melville wrote a sequel about his escape.
The man who lived among cannibals
For the rest of his life Melville was known chiefly as 'the man who lived among the cannibals', a reputation he came to resent.
Frequently asked questions
Where is Typee set?
In the Marquesas Islands, in the valley of the Typee on Nuku Hiva.
Is Typee a true story?
Partly: Melville lived among the Typee for about a month, and embellished the rest.
Who is Toby?
The narrator's companion, based on Melville's shipmate Richard Tobias Greene.